Sinners: This is What IMAX is For

Sinners isn't always a perfect movie, but it is perfect for IMAX. I cannot count the number of times I've seen a film in IMAX that wasn't worthy of it. You can see A Minecraft Movie in IMAX. Seriously, what are we doing?

For those unaware, IMAX is a much higher resolution and immersive method of capturing and presenting film footage. Where traditional film cameras are capable of shooting on 35mm, IMAX cameras can capture on 70mm. This provides more detailed and richer images, which are often presented in a 1.43:1 aspect ratio (which is larger and squarer than traditional widescreen). Basically, IMAX allows you to see more of the movie. Add to that an enhanced sound system that bolsters the visuals, and you may as well be in it, too. IMAX in so many ways is the ultimate theatre experience - or at least it's supposed to be.

So why do so many movies undercut this experience? Simply put, they're not made for IMAX screens. There's a difference between “experience it in IMAX” and “filmed for IMAX." Movies that are filmed for IMAX physically use IMAX cameras during the production process, whether it be on film or IMAX-certified digital. But some films will undergo an IMAX Digital Remastering process in post-production that allows them to be presented in the same format without necessarily having been filmed on IMAX cameras. Hence, we're able to watch movies in IMAX all year round.

Look, I get it. Not every movie can be filmed for IMAX. The cameras are expensive, they are few and far between. I think Christopher Nolan broke half of them. Plus, theatre owners can't have those cinemas sitting empty for 90% of the year. But I feel this is diluting the IMAX experience.

In 2016, the local IMAX theatre in Sydney closed, and we went for 7 years without an IMAX screen (which also just happened to be the seven years I was living there). It was a dark time. We missed countless hits: Dunkirk, Nope, Oppenheimer. Then, in 2023, it reopened. It was like Christmas for the cinephiles in town. Having gone without it for so long, I was excited to see everything and anything in IMAX and hopefully re-live that cinematic wonder I remembered experiencing in my youth. I saw A Quiet Place: Day One, The Marvels, and The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in a matter of months. It was great to be back. But truth be told, none of these films gave me that IMAX spark.

When I moved to Vancouver, I learned there was not just one, but multiple IMAX screens around town. What a time to be alive! And sure, I was stoked to see The Brutalist in VistaVision and the re-release of Se7en. But Companion in IMAX? And then A Minecraft Movie? The excitement of IMAX was starting to wear thin. Until Sinners.

Sinners is the whole package. Billed openly as Ryan Coogler's vampire horror film starring Michael B. Jordan as twins, Sinner is, in fact, so much more than that. It is a dynamic, soulful, stylish piece of storytelling with great performances, a gripping story, incredible music, and visuals worthy of the big, big screen. It's moody, thrilling, innovative, and an all-around great time. I could go on all day about what I enjoyed about this movie, but the thing that really made Sinners stand out for me was seeing it in IMAX. Coogler filmed this movie on both 65mm IMAX film and Ultra Panavision 70, which means even when the ultra-large aspect ratio of IMAX isn't in action, the image was still captured in all its glorious detail on film. But when those larger-aspect IMAX scenes do hit the screen, it's like a bolt of lightning.

Not to spoil any of the key moments in Sinners, but if I could erase my memory of one IMAX moment to re-live it again, it would be the scene in which Katniss Everdeen rises on the podium into the arena in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and the aspect ratio expands from widescreen to full IMAX. Some people find this kind of cinematography jarring, but I think it's electric, and Sinners has a moment just like it. A moment where the letterboxing shifts and you just know something visually epic is about to go down. That's what I love about IMAX.

Sinners isn't short of these ‘oh, shit’ moments. There are several scenes filmed for IMAX that were basically a religious experience in the cinema: the ethereal juke joint dance scene, a drive through the expansive fields of the Mississippi Delta, the climactic vampire showdown. They all add to the narrative that Sinners is weaving and the world that it is inviting us into.

It reminded me that it's not enough to just film in IMAX, it has to be a scene that's worth the effort. In reality, these IMAX cameras are large, heavy, and loud to use on a film set, so the moment has to be absolutely essential to capture in this format. Sinners did not waste these moments. It's an example of a filmmaker's vision, a unique and great story, and the IMAX format all working in tandem. Sinners is a film that is crafted for IMAX, not the other way around. If you're on the internet (and if you like film), you've probably seen this image that was posted by a projectionist, sharing their view of a packed IMAX screening on the opening weekend of Sinners. Now this is the magic we're showing up for.

Despite the sermon on IMAX, I'm actually not the biggest cinematography nerd (I promise IMAX did not pay me to write this). I know my widescreen from my 4:3, I'm aware of anomorphic lenses, and I respect a good 35mm screening. Apart from that, I am an average cinemagoer. But I do know that if I'm forking out those extra dollars for IMAX, I want the movie I'm seeing to be worth it. Sinners is worth it. It gave me a reason to go downtown on a Friday night, pay those extra dollars for a ticket, and sit in a packed cinema of strangers for a few hours (and with the standard of cinema behaviour these days, I need a lot of incentive).

Looking at the list of films playing in IMAX in the coming months, I'm not sure how often I'm going to get that kind of experience. The next film that is at least partially using an IMAX 65mm camera is Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, which isn't coming out until July 2026. Mission: Impossible - The Finale Reckoning, Fantastic Four, and F1 all used IMAX-certified digital cameras, so I'm sure that they'll be a good time. But Lilo & Stitch in IMAX? We're right back to what are we doing here?

I'm not saying that these movies shouldn't be allowed to screen in IMAX, I just wish more of them had the intention and vision to use it the way Sinners does.