AMC Bay Street 16 & IMAX
Emeryville · United StatesConfirmed ×2
PremiumCinemaIQ rates this IMAX room D, 39/100 — a small room carrying a premium badge — it fails the large-format premise on size, whatever the projector, 120 m² of lit picture, with 10% of the screen never lit. Two independent sources agree on the projector. Data read 21 September 2026.
5614 Shellmound Street, Emeryville, CA, 94608 · Open in maps ↗
IMAX in name. Weigh it against the surcharge.
Spec sheet
- Projection
- IMAX Commercial Laser
- Screen
- 15.1 m × 8.8 m (133 m²)
- Screen shape
- 1.72:1 — the fabric itself
- Picture shown
- 1.90:1
- 15/70mm film
- No
- Sound
- Not published
- Seats
- 309
- Screen type
- Not a dome — curvature not recorded
- Opened
- 2008
- Operator
⚠ LIEMAX — at 15.1m wide this is in the smallest tenth of IMAX screens worldwide (the median is 20 m), showing a 1.90 frame. Good projection can't buy back screen size.
Why IQ 39
How big, really?
Drawn to scale · figure = 1.7 m
- 1Traumpalast Leonberg IMAX · 38.8×21 m · picture 792 m², 3% never lit
- 2BFI IMAX · 26×20 m · picture 473 m², 9% never lit
- 3AMC Bay Street 16 & IMAX · 15.1×8.8 m · picture 120 m², 10% never lit
- 4Typical multiplex screen · 12×5 m
Scale check
Familiar objects, same scale as the screen
2 double-decker buss fit on this screen (1 across × 2 up · 133 m² total)
What you actually see
Switch format — watch what lights up on this screen · why this matters
IMAX digital — what most “IMAX” showings actually are
- Screen
- 133 m²
- Picture
- 120 m²
- Screen used
- 90%
0.9 m of this screen — 10% of it — stays dark for a IMAX 1.90 showing. The projector here can't produce the full 1.43 frame, so the top and bottom of the screen are never used at all.
Worth travelling for?
Your nearest premium screen isn't always the best one in reach
AMC Metreon 16 IMAX
San Francisco · 6.9 mi away
You'd get 416% more screen, real 15/70mm film, the full 1.43 frame.
Tech Interactive
San Jose · 41 mi away
You'd get 454% more screen, the full 1.43 frame.
Regal Hacienda Crossings IMAX
Dublin · 24 mi away
You'd get 198% more screen, real 15/70mm film.
Better screens within 75 mi
•Where to next
Also in Emeryville
Where this comes from
Confirmed ×2We treat a figure as confirmed only when two independent sources agree.
- Screen dimensions
- confirmed by 2 sources
- · imaxguide, the r/IMAX database ↗
- · LF Examiner industry listing (2021)
- Projector
- confirmed by 2 sources
- · LF Examiner industry listing (2021)
- · imaxguide, the r/IMAX database ↗
- Operating status
- verified open
Showtimes
Checking listings…