How large must a city be before an IMAX theater becomes a good investment?

Dick · 07-13-2006, 08:19 PM

I live in Maine. I am always reading about these terrific IMAX presentations, and I've been to IMAX theaters in other states. But the nearest one to me is a good three hours away. I'd love to see an IMAX in, say, Portland or South Portland. I wonder if it could be econimically feasible.

Andrew Pratt · 07-13-2006, 08:37 PM

There's one in Halifax which might not be that far depending on where you're located in Maine

Alon Goldberg · 07-13-2006, 08:37 PM

Hi Dick - there are four IMAX theatres in Massachusetts and another four in Quebec.. But Portland has under 100,000 people, so its unlikely you'll see an IMAX theatre in Maine anytime soon

I'm in Vancouver, BC where we're lucky enough to have five IMAX theatres all within 30 miles, I guess because IMAX was invented in Canada!

Jason Adams · 07-13-2006, 09:49 PM

But there is only one IMAX in NYC that plays hollywood films, two if you count the one in the American Museum of Natural History, but that one only plays educational films.

David Williams · 07-13-2006, 10:21 PM

Tulsa has an IMAX with a population of just under 400,000 (city)/550,000 (county).

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Kyle McKnight · 07-14-2006, 12:39 AM

We're getting one and we're around 25k! (yes, 25) Should be opening up this fall.

Dave Mack · 07-14-2006, 04:59 AM

ARGH!!! Freakin' Imax!!!!
There is one in the Bay Area in SF! We tried to see Superman Returns there opening day, took off early from work, barted into the city, there was a one hour delay before they gave up and we all had to get a refund because they couldn't get it to work! Waited 1/2 an hr. for the refund, people were pissed! We got extra free screening passes and my gf wound up making a big stink to corporate and writing some local news outlets, not so much because it broke but because of the crappy and incompetent CS at the Loew's AMC theatre. A few days later we get a call from the manager who felt bad, invited us back as his "guest". We trek all the way back into SF on Saturday and I joked, "wouldn't it be funny if we get there and it happened again and people are on line to get a refund?" Guess what?!?! It DID!!! It broke down an hour before we got there, DURING a show and people were pissed! The transformer in the booth blew and they had no power at all! I raised hell, said we just spent $12.00 again to come into town, they guy felt bad, gave us 4 passes and comps to see POTC II... Imax in SF? Never again, We will stay on the other side of the bay.

PS: a guy on line with us said that this was the 3rd time he had this happened to him at the IMAX theater!

Jimi C · 07-14-2006, 09:53 AM

We have one in Buffalo, 300k in the city, 1.2mil metro.

Todd K · 07-14-2006, 12:42 PM

My parents are in Buffalo, and usually I'm the first to get everything. Not this time though -- DC's only IMAX theaters are in the Air and Space Museums, and mostly show educational films. But, one of them is actually showing Superman Returns in 3D IMAX now. So I get all exited about it, and go to the website to buy tickets, and what do I see in big red letters? "IMAX 3D Movies Will Not Be Shown in 3D."