AMC Plaza Bonita 14 & IMAX
National City · United StatesSingle source
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, 126 m² of lit picture, with 18% of the screen never lit. The projector rests on a single source. Data read 5 November 2026.
3050 Plaza Bonita Road, National City, CA, 91950 · Open in maps ↗
Premium in name. Weigh it against the surcharge.
Spec sheet
- Projection
- IMAX Laser XT
- Screen
- 15.5 m × 10 m (155 m²)
- Picture area
- 126 m² — 18% of the screen is never lit
- Screen shape
- 1.55:1 — the fabric itself
- Picture shown
- 1.90:1
- 15/70mm film
- No
- Sound
- Not published
- Seats
- 276
- Screen type
- Not a dome — curvature not recorded
- Opened
- 2009
- Operator
⚠ LIEMAX — at 15.5m 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
126 m² of lit picture · full marks at 700 m² · one source
IMAX Laser XT · one source
1.90:1 · the widest frame this room can show
no sound specification published
⌷ Size is scored on the picture, not the fabric. This screen is taller than its projector's frame, so a chunk of it is never lit and doesn't count.
How big, really?
Drawn to scale · figure = 1.7 m
- 1Traumpalast Leonberg IMAX · 38.8×21.0 m · picture 792 m², 3% never lit
- 2BFI IMAX · 26×20.0 m · picture 473 m², 9% never lit
- 3AMC Plaza Bonita 14 & IMAX · 15.5×10.0 m · picture 126 m², 18% never lit
- 4Typical multiplex screen · 12 m wide, height not published
Scale check
Familiar objects, same scale as the screen
2 double-decker buses fit on this screen (1 across × 2 up · 155 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
- 155 m²
- Picture
- 126 m²
- Screen used
- 82%
1.8 m of this screen's height — 18% of it — stays dark for an 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
Dolby Cinema at AMC Otay Ranch 12
Chula Vista · 6.2 mi away
Dolby Cinema at AMC Plaza Bonita 14
National City · in this building
Dolby Cinema at AMC Mission Valley 20
San Diego · 9.2 mi away
Better screens within 75 mi
•Where to next
Also in National City
Where this comes from
Single sourceWe treat a figure as confirmed only when two independent sources agree.
- Screen dimensions
- one source, listed twice — these copy each other
- · imaxguide, the r/IMAX database ↗
- · LF Examiner industry listing (2021)
- Projector
- single source
- Operating status
- verified open
Sources disagree
The 2021 industry listing records this venue as xenon; we publish laseron the strength of a more recent source. IMAX has converted a great many screens to laser since that listing closed, so the newer record usually wins — but you should know the two don't match.
The projector here rests on a single source. It is the weakest field we hold across the network.
Showtimes
Checking listings…