How IMAX Film Runs Sideways

Ferguson, Kroitor, Kerr, and Shaw co-founded IMAX in Canada in September 1967. Four founders, one oversized screen obsession.

The founders first named the company Multiscreen Corporation. An attorney warned descriptive words can't be trademarked, so they invented IMAX on a placemat.

IMAX runs 65 mm film horizontally using fifteen perforations per frame. This allows greater image width than the film stock itself.

IMAX film moves just over 6 km/h.

The first permanent IMAX installation opened at Toronto's Cinesphere theatre in May 1971. The building survived Ontario Place closing.

At Expo 74 in Spokane, a 27 by 20 metre screen hosted five million visitors watching Man Belongs to the Earth. Big screen, short film.

In 2008, IMAX introduced a digital system using two 2K projectors. This allowed conversion of multiplex auditoriums, growing screens past 1,000.

Newer digital cinemas with smaller screens were called LieMAX. The company marketed them like large format originals.