IMAX Plans to Do “Something” About Complaints

Published by Jeff Leins on May 23, 2009

Earlier this month a rant by “Parks and Recreation” actor Aziz Ansari sparked a backlash of moviegoers demanding more clear branding from the IMAX Company.  (For all the background, here is Part I of this ongoing story.)

The issue is this: IMAX has been steadily expanding their business the last few years to include not only the gigantic stadium screens they made their name with, but they are now retrofitting traditional theaters with a closer (yet average-sized) screen, a digital projector, and a sound system upgrade.  The problem lies in IMAX’s lies, which has been branding the new conversion theaters as “the IMAX experience,” the same as the massive 72 ft. cinemas.

Since the issue was brought to light, the Toronto-based company has been barraged by angry consumers now dubbing the smaller theaters “Fake IMAX.”  The debate includes famous critic Roger Ebert who wrote IMAX has “lowered its traditional standards” and recently an article in Variety that summarizes the controversy perfectly.  “Imax’s slogan used to be ‘Think big,’ but now some of its customers complain they’re being told to read the fine print.”  A website called Liemax.com has even appeared to identify which screens are original (or “real”), and which ones are “fake.”

Similar misleading statements come directly from IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond, who continues to conjure facts to support his floundering argument, and for a numbers man he tends to cite plenty of outrageous figures.  Weeks ago Gelfond claimed 90% of comments on Ansari’s blog were disagreeing with the rant, a percentage easily refuted by actually reading the responses.

Now Gelfond is claiming their advance market research said only 2% of customers felt the new IMAX screens weren’t a comparable experience to the old.  This means IMAX believes 98% of the movie-going public can’t tell the difference between the two grossly unequal experiences.

I’ve modified the helpful comparison diagram created by the LF Examiner to clearly illustrate the two screens.  Depicted in the boxes is a scene from The Dark Knight, which director Christopher Nolan filmed using an IMAX camera (70mm).  The special scenes were intended for the original huge screen and not simply the digital projectors of the “new” theaters.  Please click to enlarge the image on the right, and then tell me if you don’t notice the screen difference.  That must be some advanced market research team.

At least the company is acknowledging the complaints.  Now the question is, “What will IMAX do about this (if anything)?”  Gelfond’s response:  “We are going to do something (about the complaints). We hear the people.”

Something. They plan to do “something,” but as yet he isn’t sure what.  Nevermind logical suggestions like “IMAX-D” that would still allow the company to stamp the modifications with their seal, but would actually provide a clear message to their customers.  After all, no one is particularly against the company’s expansion.  The only thing angry film fans want is an easy distinction.

Gelfond continues by saying they’re not yet sure what portion of their customers are actually unhappy.  It seems they don’t want to tell the truth unless it will affect a sizable amount of people.  My guess is that number needs to be higher than 2%.  Get that advanced research team out there to crunch some more phony data.

In reality, I expect IMAX to simply wait out angry customers and monitor idle talk of boycotts.  There’s no need to make a costly switch if the money is still coming in.  As CEO, Gelfond cares about one figure: the stock price.  While it took a small hit around the start of the controversy, the traded company is up almost 20% from this time last month and is steadily rising as they report further successful openings during a strong year at the box office.  Debuts like Star Trek ($22 million in a two week run) and this weekend’s Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.  The last time the price was this high it was August 2008 and The Dark Knight was posting record-breaking returns on IMAX screens.

The IMAX Company has largely ignored the issue already, I would be surprised if they decide to do the right thing now.  Not without pressure.