Today, a big blockbuster launching in and/or getting filmed with IMAX cameras isn’t much of a novelty. It’s more shocking when a massive tentpole doesn’t have the support of IMAX screens. These titles contribute mightily to an average blockbuster movie’s grosses in the modern world, with audiences specifically seeking out new Avatar or Dune installments in this format. Nearly every week brings a new feature into your local IMAX auditorium, making it typically unsurprising to hear a certain motion picture received an IMAX theatrical run. It’s just a cornerstone of the theatrical business, now.
Videos by ComicBook.com
However, in the 20 years since Treasure Planet began the practice of launching new release movies simultaneously in traditional theaters and IMAX runs, not every title that’s received an IMAX launch has become as synonymous with the format as, say, Avengers: Endgame or Oppenheimer. In fact, over time there have been several movies that will seem like total head-scratchers over how and why they played in IMAX theaters. Behold…a collection of motion pictures that seem antithetical to the IMAX experience, yet played in these auditoriums all the same.
The Earliest Inexplicable IMAX Releases
In the earliest days of English-language narrative films receiving IMAX releases, there was real selectiveness on what films played in this format. However, that tendency didn’t prevent The Ant Bully from playing in IMAX 3D auditoriums back in late July 2006. Only the second fully animated IMAX 3D feature in history (following fellow Warner Bros. title The Polar Express), this feature proved an instant box office bomb upon its opening weekend. The Ant Bully has faded into obscurity, yet it technically holds an important historical position as one of the earliest IMAX 3D narrative films.
The Ant Bully began a streak of inexplicable titles launching in the IMAX format. Such inexplicableness tended to orient around IMAX auditoriums making room for titles that didn’t fit into the realms of family features, action tentpoles, or concert movies. Anytime IMAX auditoriums strayed from those molds, it was more than a bit odd. An early instance of this came with October 2010’s Paranormal Activity 2. Grainy camcorder footage is the name of the game for this saga. Would that kind of imagery really look exceptional blown up to an IMAX screen?
2010 and 2011 largely featured expected motion pictures making their way into IMAX screens. In May 2012, though, heads turned over news that June 2012 feature Rock of Ages would launch on IMAX screens. A musical movie doesn’t sound like a bad idea for an IMAX experience given how this genre is known for grand visuals and spectacle. Titles like 3 Idiots, La La Land, and Moulin Rouge! would look great on IMAX screens thanks to their expansively lavish musical numbers. However, Rock of Ages emphasizes grimier, small-scale bursts of musicality. It just doesn’t have the glorious imagery of, say, Wicked.
Starting in 2012, IMAX screens started getting almost weekly new movies, which slightly increased the number of inexplicable choices for features launched in this format. The Will Smith/Margot Robbie crime movie Focus, for instance, launched in IMAX theaters in late February 2015. It’s the kind of low-to-the-ground feature that doesn’t exactly sparkle on massive IMAX screens.
Have Inexplicable IMAX Movies Continued in Recent Years?
Warner Bros. Pictures has always had a great relationship with IMAX screens, which could explain why the studio puts even seemingly incompatible movies like Focus into IMAX auditoriums. Two months after Focus, Warner Bros. put out another puzzling feature into a domestic IMAX run: The Water Diviner. This Russell Crowe directorial effort didn’t even launch in wide release in North America, but it did get a splashy IMAX run in this territory. At the end of summer 2015, EuropaCorp title The Transporter Refueled scored IMAX screens despite turning into one of the season’s biggest duds.
In December 2017, a rate kind of genre graced IMAX screens: a straightforward comedy movie. Not an action/comedy, but a general comedy featuring Seth Rogen and James Franco. This title was The Disaster Artist, which also functioned as one of A24’s earliest forays into IMAX releases. Audiences could hear Franco say “oh hai Mark” in IMAX speakers, as God intended. 2018 largely saw typical expected titles from all over the world (including big Indian and Chinese blockbusters) make their way into IMAX screens. However, at the dawn of 2020, Tom Hooper’s Cats graced IMAX theaters in Japan. This tremendous exploitation of IMAX technology was presumably restricted to just one country solely to contain the sheer power of Skimbleshanks in IMAX.
Clearly, as long as IMAX theaters are open and need new movies to play on a regular basis, there’ll always be inexplicable features launching in this format. As late as September 2021, grounded musical Dear Evan Hansen had a one-week run in IMAX theaters, while 2022 saw Amsterdam playing in IMAX venues for unexplainable reasons. IMAX has left the days of The Ant Bully far behind in terms of its pop culture notoriety. However, this format will clearly never leave the practice of projecting highly unexpected movies fully in the past.
