Technologies

IMAX

EYE-max

Cinema

Citation Formats

General Reference

Film and Media Atlas. "IMAX." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://media.interactiveatlas.org/technologies/imax.

APA Style

Film and Media Atlas. (n.d.). IMAX. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://media.interactiveatlas.org/technologies/imax

BibTeX

@misc{filmandmediaatlas-imax,
  author = {Film and Media Atlas},
  title = {IMAX},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://media.interactiveatlas.org/technologies/imax},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

The large-format projection system developed in Canada, running 70 millimeter film horizontally to expose a frame roughly ten times the area of standard 35 millimeter, shown on screens several stories tall. Premiered at Expo 70 in Osaka, it spent decades in museums and science centers before becoming a premium format for mainstream features.

Facts

Introduced Year

1970 1

The first IMAX film, Tiger Child, screened at Expo 70 in Osaka; the first permanent IMAX theatre opened in Toronto in 1971.

Origin

IMAX Corporation's predecessor was established in September 1967 by Graeme Ferguson, Roman Kroitor, Robert Kerr and William C. Shaw; the first IMAX film, Tiger Child, was shown at Expo 70 in Osaka, Japan. 2

Cross-Tradition Connections