Don't Be a Victim: Imax, AMC, and Regal Are Ripping You Off

Are you aware, as I wasn’t last week, that if you buy a ticket to an Imax showing for which you’ll likely pay an additional $5 premium, that you may end up viewing your movie on a screen roughly the same size as a standard theater screen? Aziz Ansari, who costars in Parks and Recreation (NBC’s new show featuring Amy Poehler), wasn’t aware of that either until he went to see Star Trek at an AMC multiplex in Burbank. He blogged about his less than satisfactory experience the following day. You may read his blog entries here.

Ansari's Blog I

It seems those complicit in this Imax small screen scam claim the smaller screens still present an enhanced viewing experience because of improved sound and digital quality. Whatever. I know if I, like Ansari, pay an extra $5, I want my big honkin’ Imax screen. The near regular sized screen, whose enhancements are questionable at best, do not justify the premium price.

I strongly suggest you click on the link, as Ansari writes quite effectively and pulls no punches. Quite telling is the size comparison of an Imax and the far smaller “fake Imax” screens.

The chairman of Imax responded, and Ansari followed up with another blog entry.

Ansari's Blog II

 It included this gem:

“The overwhelming majority of comments on that guy’s blog this morning, more than 90% of them, are vehemently disagreeing with him. And consumers are confirming this with their continued purchases of tickets.”

And Ansari Responds:

"WHAT A SURPRISE ANOTHER IMAX LIE. Who did those numbers? The same guy who measures your bullshit tiny IMAX screens???"

Elsewhere on the net, at   http://filmdrunk.uproxx.com/tag/imax   (Cranky won’t allow more than two embedded links), Richard Gelfond, CEO of Imax, compared Imax to BMW. Gelfond stated that people don’t say a 3-Series isn’t a BMW because it’s smaller than a 7-Series. The article’s author rightly points out that people don’t expect to wind up with a 3-series for the price they paid for a 7-series either.

 Aziz Ansari is spot on. I won’t be spending/wasting my dollars at either Imax, AMC, or Regal Theaters until they stop ripping off the public. I would urge my fellow Crankizens to do the same and to let these chains and Imax know how you feel.  To those complicit in this scam, I have some bad news: Size matters.