BFI IMAX
London · United KingdomSingle source
PremiumCinemaIQ rates this IMAX room S, 88/100 — one of the best rooms we have measured, 473 m² of lit picture, and it can show the full 1.43:1 frame. That rests on a single source. Data read 21 September 2026.
UK's largest cinema screen, run by the BFI again since July 2022; a single-laser IMAX CoLa 4K system was fitted in the 2022 refurbishment (the booth was too small for the dual-laser GT rig) alongside its retained 15/70 film projector.
Destination screen. Worth travelling for.
Spec sheet
- Projection
- IMAX Commercial Laser
- Screen
- 26 m × 20 m (520 m²)
- Screen shape
- 1.30:1 — the fabric itself
- Picture shown
- 1.90:1
- 15/70mm film
- Yes — confirmed, ran The Odyssey in 70mm
- Sound
- IMAX 12-channel
- Seats
- 493
- Screen type
- Curved
- Opened
- 1999
- Operator
- BFI
Why IQ 88
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
- 3Typical multiplex screen · 12×5 m
Scale check
Familiar objects, same scale as the screen
8 double-decker buss fit on this screen (2 across × 4 up · 520 m² total)
What you actually see
Switch format — watch what lights up on this screen · why this matters
Only on a 15/70mm print here — the digital projector caps at 1.90, so the same film shows smaller on a digital night.
- Screen
- 520 m²
- Picture
- 473 m²
- Screen used
- 91%
1.8 m of this screen — 9% of it — stays dark for a IMAX 1.43 showing.
Worth travelling for?
Your nearest premium screen isn't always the best one in reach
Nothing materially better within 75 mi — this is your best option locally.
•Where to next
Every premium screen in London · All of United Kingdom
Also in London
Where this comes from
Single sourceWe treat a figure as confirmed only when two independent sources agree.
- Screen dimensions
- single source
- · LF Examiner industry listing (2021)
- Projector
- single source
- 15/70mm film
- confirmed by 2 sources
- · IMAX's Odyssey 70mm engagement list ↗
- · LF Examiner industry listing (2021)
- Operating status
- verified open
Two systems, one booth
The 2021 listing records film and a newer source records laser. Both are true: this is a dual booth, running a print on some nights and digital on others. Neither source is wrong and neither supersedes the other.
The projector here rests on a single source. It is the weakest field we hold across the network.
Showtimes
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