Esquire IMAX Theatre

Sacramento · United StatesSingle source

PremiumCinemaIQ rates this IMAX room A, 78/100 — a genuinely strong large-format room, 373 m² of lit picture, with 10% of the screen never lit, and it can show the full 1.43:1 frame. The 70mm print is confirmed by IMAX's own engagement list. Data read 5 November 2026.

Standalone downtown Sacramento IMAX with a six-story 1.43 screen and 382 leather rockers.

This cinema's page ↗IMAX's page for this venue ↗Operator's website ↗

1211 K Street, Sacramento, CA, 95814 · Open in maps ↗

IQ 78

Excellent large-format presentation.

Spec sheet

Projection: IMAX 15/70mm Film
Screen: 23.1 m × 18 m (416 m²)
Picture area: 373 m² — 10% of the screen is never lit
Screen shape: 1.28:1 — the fabric itself
Picture shown: 1.43:1 on a 15/70mm print · 1.90:1 digital
15/70mm film: Yes — confirmed, ran The Odyssey in 70mm
Sound: IMAX 6-channel
Seats: 382
Screen type: Not a dome — curvature not recorded
Opened: 1999
Operator: Independent

Why IQ 78

Screen size20/38

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

Projection36/36

IMAX 15/70mm Film · film and digital projectors, each on its own source

Full 1.43 frame18/18

1.43:1 · on a 15/70mm print

Sound4/8

IMAX 6-channel · as 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
3Esquire IMAX Theatre · 23.1×18.0 m · picture 373 m², 10% never lit
4Typical multiplex screen · 12 m wide, height not published

Compare against any screen →

Scale check

Familiar objects, same scale as the screen

8 double-decker buses fit on this screen (2 across × 4 up · 416 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.

dark

Screen: 416 m²
Picture: 373 m²
Screen used: 90%

1.8 m of this screen's height — 10% of it — stays dark for an IMAX 1.43 showing.

Worth travelling for?

Your nearest premium screen isn't always the best one in reach

AMC Metreon 16 IMAX

San Francisco · 74 mi away

You'd get 65% more screen, the full 1.43 frame.

Better screens within 75 mi

•Where to next

Every premium screen in Sacramento · All of United States

Also in Sacramento

Elsewhere in United States

Where this comes from

Single source

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

Screen dimensions: one source, listed twice — these copy each other
Projector: confirmed by 2 sources
15/70mm film: confirmed by 3 sources
Operating status: verified open

Showtimes

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