I have been to the IMAX theater at the Tech Museum in San Jose, California and at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. As I understood it, IMAX meant that a movie was filmed with a super wide field of view and projected on a dome theater that surrounds the audience.Then yesterday I went to see Ant-Man in IMAX at a local movie theater and to my surprise, it was an entirely normal theater except that the screen was slightly curved. There was no dome and the movie seemed to be identical to one shown at any normal theater made with a normal camera that produced a normal rectangular image with a normal field of view. This left me really confused, wondering why they called this IMAX. It seems I paid extra to simply have a slightly curved screen.I thought IMAX movies were produced with special cameras and displayed on a special domed theater, yet they are now calling standard movies shown on essentially standard screens the same thing. What is the reason that the two are both called IMAX? Is there actually a difference that I missed? How can I tell the difference in the future? What does "IMAX" even mean?
The simple answer is space. Not all venue have the space. Some added IMAX later on. Most of the time its not true IMAX which is 70mm and a square film cell. Regular film is 35mm which is square format but not as tall and is usually frame out to be rectangular. Most theaters now just have an enlarged screen and call it IMAX but it isn't true IMAX. As the screen its shown on isn't true to the image captured.
