American Museum of Natural History IMAX

New York · United StatesSingle source

PremiumCinemaIQ rates this IMAX room D, 31/100 — at the bottom of the premium range, 213 m² of lit picture, with 13% of the screen never lit. The projector generation was never established, so the score is indicative. Data read 21 October 2026.

We don't have a link to this cinema's own page yet.

Map position approximate (city centre)

~IQ 31provisional

Premium in name. Weigh it against the surcharge.

Spec sheet

Projection: Not established
Screen: 20.1 m × 12.2 m (245 m²)
Picture area: 213 m² — 13% of the screen is never lit
Screen shape: 1.65:1 — the fabric itself
Picture shown: 1.90:1
15/70mm film: Recorded in 2021, unconfirmed
Sound: Not published
Seats: 598
Screen type: Not a dome — curvature not recorded
Opened: 1982
Operator

⚠ Still trading, but no longer an IMAX venue. Museum's own page markets the Samuel J. and Ethel LeFrak Theater as a 2D giant-screen theatre with no IMAX branding; de-branding year not found.

⚠ A 2021 industry listing recorded a 15/70mm film projector here, and we could find nothing to confirm or refute it. Most multiplex film systems were removed years ago; many museum ones still run. Rather than guess either way, this venue is scored as if the projector were unknown — so if it does still run film, the score below understates it substantially.

Why IQ 31

Screen size12/38

213 m² of lit picture · full marks at 700 m² · one source

Projection11/36

digital, generation never established · recorded 2021 · one source

Full 1.43 frame8/18

1.90:1 · the widest frame this room can show

Sound0/8

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
3American Museum of Natural History · 20.1×12.2 m · picture 213 m², 13% never lit
4Typical multiplex screen · 12 m wide, height not published

Compare against any screen →

Scale check

Familiar objects, same scale as the screen

2 double-decker buses fit on this screen (1 across × 2 up · 245 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

dark

Screen: 245 m²
Picture: 213 m²
Screen used: 87%

1.6 m of this screen's height — 13% 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

AMC Lincoln Square 13 IMAX

New York

You'd get 189% more screen, the full 1.43 frame.

Dolby Cinema at AMC Neshaminy 24

Bensalem · about 65 mi away

Dolby Cinema at AMC Bay Plaza Cinema 13

Bronx

Better screens within 75 mi

•Where to next

Every premium screen in New York · All of United States

Also in New York

Elsewhere in United States

Where this comes from

Single source

We treat a figure as confirmed only when two independent sources agree.

Screen dimensions: single source
Projector: single source
15/70mm film: single source
Operating status: verified not-imax

The projector here rests on a single source. It is the weakest field we hold across the network.

Showtimes

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