Aziz Ansari Rails Against "Fake" Imax Theaters

Small screens in Imax theaters are "fakes" and "take advantage" of moviegoers, according to Aziz Ansari on his blog, Aziz Is Bored. Ansari stars in the new NBC comedy, Parks and Recreation, and joins a star-loaded comedy cast in Judd Apatow's soon-to-be-released, Funny People.

Ansari became upset when he went to see the new Star Trek movie in Burbank, California, paid an extra $5 for an Imax showing, and the theater screen was only slightly larger than normal. According to Ansari, an Imax screen should be 72 feet high. He called for a boycott of the smaller Imax screens and invited others to re-blog his rant.

Imax executives have generally sloughed off Ansari's complaints. They claim that their format offers more than screen size and that high Imax ticket sales prove that Ansari is in the minority. While they also claim most posts on his blog have responded negatively to Ansari, a quick review shows the majority of posted comments supportive of his complaints about small-format Imax.

Imax Corporation defines the Imax experience differently from Ansari. The Company's website claims an Imax theater "delivers the world's most immersive movie experience through a revolutionary projection system, a powerful digital audio system and customized theatre geometry." Imax does not define itself by the screen size.

Star Trek broke the Imax box office record for an opening weekend and accounted for nearly 15% of all tickets sold to the film. The J.J. Abrams sci-fi adventure took in $8.5 million at 138 Imax screens in the United States, and $9.6 million worldwide. Subsequent features showing on Imax screens will focus on sequels: Night At The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian on May 22, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on June 24 and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on July 17, 2009. Some scenes in the second installment of the Transformers franchise have been filmed in the Imax format rather than remastered to fit it.

Moviegoers can find out in advance whether their local Imax theater meets Ansari's standards. The LF Examiner website provides good explanations of the three large format projection systems. It also lists each domestic Imax theater by state and provides information on the manufacturer of the system, the projection format, whether the screen is flat or a dome, whether 3D is available, the number of seats and date of construction. For example, my recent list of the five best movie theaters in St. Louis included two Imax facilities; Ronnie's 20 Cine and St. Louis Science Center Omnimax. According to the LF Examiner list, both of those theaters offer the full Imax experience and would even meet Aziz Ansari's standards.

SOURCES
http://azizisbored.tumblr.com/post/106587114/reblog-the-fuck-out-of-this-warning-amc-theaters-are
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1201167/
http://www.imax.com/
http://www.lfexaminer.com/theaUSA.htm
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1702047/the_five_best_movie_theaters_in_st.html?cat=40