The BFI IMAX in London is one of the most iconic film locations in the country. Its large, circular, glass-surrounded design sits in the center of a roundabout, and posters on the latest releases can be seen from a distance. At 20 meters across, by 20 meters high, the BFI often boasts that the screen is the largest in all of Europe. Its height means it can show 1.43:1 “full frame” content projected from one of the few IMAX 15/70mm film projectors still in operation, making it the location of choice for many moviegoers across the country – especially since Manchester’s Vue Printworks lost its film projector.

The cinema is relatively short, but the rake is tall, so all 489 viewers get a good view. It’s so large that seating near the back is preferable, so you can take in the entire vista in front of you without neck ache – as anyone who has sat in the front couple of rows will confirm. Not that being that close to the front is necessarily bad. I can recall the feeling when Batman’s flying “Bat” appeared on screen in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises: the bass was so strong I could feel the craft taking off in front of me – hey, 4DX, eat your heart out.

The problem with the BFI IMAX for several years, however, is that IMAX 15/70mm film prints are virtually extinct. Yes, Christopher Nolan films always get prints, but that’s one single film every few years, along with the occasional showing off his back catalog. However, aside from that, the film projector is left gathering dust. Films with 1.43:1 content are released regularly, No Time To Die, Dune, Lightyear, and Nope are all examples in the last couple of years – but only in digital form.

It may be the biggest, but is it the best?

To fill a 1.43:1 screen with a full-frame digital image a dual laser-based projector is needed, and the BFI’s 2K Xenon lamp-based digital projector is only capable of showing them in 1.90:1, robbing them of their full impact.

Having seen several films with IMAX 1.43: scenes I can vouch for the impact they have, and as laser projectors have been around for several years, the inability of the BFI to project digital 1.43 was a real blot on its claims to be the UK’s premier film location.

With Odeon in charge of the ticketing at the BFI for the last few years, it seemed unlikely that this would change but since the BFI has taken back control, (to coin a phrase), rumors were about that the BFI IMAX would finally get its laser projector – and in late September 2022 it was finally announced that this would be the case – and alongside this would be an all-new screen, and a 12-channel IMAX sound system – an upgrade from the six-channel.

However, there was good news, and bad. The good is that the 15/70mm film projector would be retained, but the bad news is that rather than a dual-laser system, the BFI confirmed on Instagram that it would be a commercial laser (CoLa) – which means that even after all these years of waiting – visitors would not be able to see IMAX 1.43:1 films digitally.

There is another hope for Londoners and those in the vicinity, This is the London Science Museum, which does indeed have both dual-laser and 15/70mm projectors in its booth. The problem here is that, for reasons unknown, the Science Museum no longer shows commercial films.

As it stands then, the Manchester Printworks retains its place as the UK’s only IMAX 1.43:1 digital-capable venue. If you’re a London-based film fan then, and you want to change this, then you should fill in this survey and make the case that you want to see more films shown there. Let’s make it happen.