IMAX - Reasons why to attend

 

The format boasts an image surface area that is up to ten times the size of normal 35mm film. Using 70mm film turned on its side with 15 perforations per frame, the frame size is square-shaped (1.34:1) as opposed to the wider processes of standard 35mm film. With such a large frame surface area, more light is capable of striking the negative, which results in sharper images with less grain. Audience seating in IMAX theaters such as the Ontario Cinesphere in Toronto– the world’s first permanent IMAX venue — consist of stadium rows that begin above –not below– the screen, which gives the impression of vertical as well as horizontal immersion.

The IMAX format imposes particular possibilities and limitations. Since the viewer sits lower in relation to the IMAX screen than in a conventional theatre, the frame’s centre lies about a third of the way up from the bottom of the screen. Close-ups therefore need plenty of headroom. While long shots can be framed wider than usual, the movement from extreme long shot to medium close-up can be very condensed and the screen’s enormity cannot tolerate grainy or irresolute images.

Imax, which is coming off a bumpy few years marked by struggling ticket sales and multiple earnings restatements — the company acknowledged last summer it overstated revenue between 2002 and 2005 — now finds itself filling theatres well in advance.
In Chicago, for example, The Dark Knight is sold out for the next week, the company said.
Mr. Gelfond said Tuesday that Imax is now in talks with several other directors who want to duplicate Mr. Nolan’s model, where scenes are shot for the oversized Imax screens, and then shrunk for regular theatres.

Digital Screen Network

The average Hollywood blockbuster opens on 300-plus screens across the UK; most independent films, restored classics, documentaries and foreign language films still struggle to reach over ten per cent of those screens.

Digital screening cuts the cost of releasing films (a digital copy costs around one tenth of a 35mm print). That's why UK Film Council (now BFI) and the Arts Council England created the Digital Screen Network – a £12 million investment to equip 240 screens in 210 cinemas across the UK with digital projection technology to give UK audiences much greater choice.
Cinemas in the network have already screened non-mainstream films including Control, This is England, Good Night and Good Luck and the Oscar®-winning The Lives of Others, as well as classics like Meet me in St Loius, The Wizard of Oz and Casablanca.
Digital Screen Network cinemas hosted the UK Film Council and BBC Two's Summer of British Films season - a sell out tour running from July to September 2007 featuring British classics such as Goldfinger, Brief Encounter, Billy Liar, Henry V, The Wicker Man, The Dam Busters and Withnail and I.

Digital Screen Network Funding

In the last 2 years we have made £1.3million available for cinemas to make refurbishments and upgrades to their facilities such as improving disabled access.

In 2006 we allocated £800,000 through our Small Capital Fund to help smaller cinemas meet the costs of essential building refurbishments and other improvements such as disabled access.
Demand for funding was very high and consequently we made £500,000 available in 2007 through our Capital and Access Fund for Cinemas to help cinemas upgrade their equipment and premises to improve the cinema-going experience.
Please note: no funding is currently available for cinemas.

Digital Screen Network Cinemas

Scotland
Belmont Picturehouse Aberdeen, The 1 screen
Cameo Edinburgh, The   2 screens
Cineworld Aberdeen 1 screen
Cineworld Dundee  1 screen
Cineworld Edinburgh 2 screens
Cineworld Falkirk    1screen
Cineworld Glasgow Renfrew Street     2 screens
Filmhouse Edinburgh   2 screens
Glasgow Film Theatre   1screen
Macrobert Stirling   1 screen
New Picture House St. Andrews  1screen
Pavilion Cinema Galashiels:  1 screen
Perth Playhouse:    1 screen
Vue Hamilton    1 screen
Vue Inverness    1 screen
Vue Livingston    1 screen
Northern IrelandVue Belfast    1 screen
Queen's Film Theatre Belfast 1 screen
North West
Brewery Arts Centre   1 screen
Cineworld Ashton under Lyne  1screen
Cineworld Bolton  1 screen
Cineworld Didsbury  1 screen
Cineworld Liverpool  1 screen
Cineworld Runcorn   1 screen
Cineworld St Helens   1 screen
Cornerhouse Manchester   2 screens
Dukes Lancaster, The  1 screen
Empire Wigan  1 screen
Odeon Printworks Manchester  1 screen
Picture House @ FACT Liverpool  2 screens
Plaza Cinemas Workington  1screen
Royalty Cinema Bowness   1 screen
Vue Blackburn    1 screen
Vue Bury    1 screen
Vue Carlisle    1 screen
Vue Cheshire Oaks   1 screen
Vue Preston    1 screen
Vue Southport    1 screen
Zeffirellis Ambleside   1 screen
Yorkshire
Cineworld Bradford   1 screen
Cineworld Castleford   1 screen
Cineworld Hull  1 screen
Cineworld Sheffield  2 screens
Cineworld Wakefield   1screen
City Screen York    2 screens
Hull Screen    1screen
Leeds (The Light ) Ster Century  1 screen
NMPFTV Bradford   1 screen
Palace Cinema Malton, The   1 screen
Parkway Cinema Cleethorpes  1 screen
Picture House Cinema Keighley  1  screen
Plaza Cinema Skipton   1 screen
Showroom Cinema Sheffield  2 screens
Rheged Cinema Penrith
Vue Doncaster    1 screen
Vue Leeds    1 screen
Vue Scunthorpe    1 screen
North East
Cineworld Boldon  1 screen
Cineworld Middlesbrough 1 screen
Showcase Teesside   1 screen
Tyneside Cinema    2 screens
Vue Hartlepool    1 screen
Wales
Cineworld Cardiff  2 screens
Cineworld Llandudno   1 screen
Cineworld Newport  1 screen
Theatr Mwldan    1 screen
West MidlandsCineworld Birmingham Broad Street     2 screens
Cineworld Burton on Trent   1 screen
Cineworld Rugby    1 screen
Cineworld Shrewsbury   1 screen
Cineworld Solihull   1 screen
Cineworld Wolverhampton  1 screen
Courtyard Hereford, The   1 screen
Light House Wolverhampton  1 screen
Showcase Walsall    1 screen
Stratford Picture House   1 screen
Vue Birmingham Star City   2 screens
Vue Newcastle Under Lyme  1 screen
Vue Worcester    1 screen
Warwick Arts Centre   1 screen
East Midlands
Broadway Cinema Nottingham  2 screens
Cineworld Chesterfield   1 screen
Cineworld Northampton 1 screen
Cineworld Nottingham 1 screen
Curzon Cinema Loughborough  1 screen
Metro Cinema Derby   1 screen
Odeon Leicester    1 screen
Odeon Lincoln    1 screen
Phoenix Arts Leicester   1 screen
Regal Cinema Melton Mowbray  1 screen
Ritz Belper, The    1 screen
Stamford Arts Centre   1 screen
Vue Leicester    1 screen
East
Aldeburgh Cinema, The   1 screen
Arts Picturehouse Cambridge  2 screens
Cinema City Norwich   1 screen
Cineworld Bedford  1 screen
Cineworld Braintree   1 screen
Cineworld Bury St Edmunds  1 screen
Cineworld Harlow  1 screen
Cineworld Huntingdon   1 screen
Cineworld Ipswich  1 screen
Cineworld Luton    1 screen
Cineworld Stevenage   1 screen
Ipswich Film Theatre   1 screen
Odeon Chelmsford   1 screen
Odeon Colchester    1 screen
Odeon Hatfield    1 screen
Odeon Norwich    1 screen
Odeon Southend    1 screen
Vue Thurrock    1 screen
Vue Watford    1 screen
South West
Barn Cinema Dartington, The  1 screen
Cineworld Cheltenham   1 screen
Cineworld Gloucester 1 screen
Cineworld Swindon   1 screen
Cineworld Weymouth   1 screen
Cineworld Yeovil    1 screen
Curzon Community Cinema Clevedon, The   1 screen
Orpheus Cinema Bristol   1 screen
Pendle Stairway Cinema   1 screen
Plaza Cinema Dorchester   1 screen
Plaza Cinema Truro, The   1 screen
Plymouth Arts Centre   1 screen
Roses Tewkesbury, The   1 screen
Royal Cinema St Ives   1 screen
Vue Bristol Longwell Green  1 screen
Vue Plymouth    1 screen
Watershed Cinema Bristol   1 screen
Wells Film Centre    1 screen
Wotton Electric Picture House  1 screen
South
Capitol Horsham, The   1screen
Carlton Cinema Westgate on Sea  1 screen
Cineworld Ashford   1 screen
Cineworld Bexleyheath   1 screen
Cineworld Brighton  1screen
Cineworld Chichester   1 screen
Cineworld Crawley  2 screens
Cineworld Didcot    1screen
Cineworld Eastbourne 1 screen
Cineworld Milton Keynes   1 screen
Cineworld Newport Isle of Wight  1 screen
Cineworld Rochester 1screen
Corn Exchange Newbury, The  1 screen
David Lean Cinema - Croydon Clocktower 1 screen
Duke of York's Picturehouse Brighton, The   1screen
Empire Slough  1 screen
Empire Swindon 1 screen
Harbour Lights Picturehouse, Southampton 1 screen
King Street Picturehouse East Grinstead 1 screen
Kino, Hawkhurst    1screen
Odeon Guildford    1 screen
Odeon Kingston Upon Thames  1screen
Odeon Maidenhead    1 screen
Odeon Tunbridge Wells   1 screen
Phoenix Picturehouse, Oxford  2 screens
Picture House Uckfield, The   1 screen
Screen at Oxted, The  1 screen
Screen at Reigate    1 screen
Screen at Winchester, The  1screen
Vue Basingstoke    1 screen
Vue Croydon Purley Way   1 screen
Vue Portsmouth    1  screen
Vue Reading    1  screen
Vue Thanet    1  screen
London and Greater LondonBarbican    2  screen
Chelsea Cinema    1  screen
Cineworld Chelsea  1  screen
Cineworld Enfield 2  screens
Cineworld Feltham   1  screen
Cineworld Fulham Road 2  screens
Cineworld Haymarket 1  screen
Cineworld Ilford   1 screen
Cineworld Shaftesbury Av  2  screens
Cineworld Staples Corner 1  screen
Cineworld Wandsworth   1  screen
Cineworld West India Quay 1  screen
Cineworld Wood Green   1  screen
Clapham Picturehouse   2  screens
Curzon Mayfair    1  screen
Curzon Soho    2  screens
Everyman Cinema Club   1  screen
Gate Cinema Notting Hill, The  1  screen
Genesis Cinema, Mile End  1  screen
Greenwich Picturehouse   1  screen
ICA Cinema    1  screen
National Film Theatre London  1  screen
Odeon Covent Garden   3  screens
Odeon Greenwich    1  screen
Odeon Panton Street London  1  screen
Odeon Whiteleys    1  screen
Odeon Wimbledon    1  screen
Peckham Multiplex   1 screen
Phoenix Cinema London   1  screen
Renoir Cinema    2  screens
Rich Mix Cinema, Bethnal Green  1  screen
Rio Cinema Dalston   1  screen
Ritzy Cinema Brixton   2  screens
Screen On The Green   1  screen
Screen on the Hill   1  screen
Tricycle Cinema, The   1  screen
Vue Acton    1  screen
Vue Dagenham    1  screen
Vue Finchley North   1  screen
Vue Finchley Road   1  screen
Vue Fulham    1  screen
Vue Harrow    1  screen
Vue Islington    1  screen
Vue Romford (The Brewery)  1  screen
Vue Shepherds Bush   1  screen
Vue Staines    1  screen
Vue West End    2  screens