National Air and Space Museum IMAX
Washington · United StatesConfirmed ×2
PremiumCinemaIQ rates this IMAX room B, 55/100 — a solid premium screen without being exceptional, 278 m² of lit picture, with 14% of the screen never lit. Two independent sources agree on the projector. Data read 5 November 2026.
Genuinely big screen, strong presentation.
Spec sheet
- Projection
- IMAX GT Dual Laser
- Screen
- 23 m × 14 m (322 m²)
- Picture area
- 278 m² — 14% of the screen is never lit
- Screen shape
- 1.64:1 — the fabric itself
- Picture shown
- 1.90:1
- 15/70mm film
- No
- Sound
- Not published
- Seats
- 487
- Screen type
- Not a dome — curvature not recorded
- Opened
- 1976
- Operator
Why IQ 55
278 m² of lit picture · full marks at 700 m² · 2 independent sources
IMAX GT Dual Laser · 2 independent sources
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
- 3National Air and Space Museum · 23×14.0 m · picture 278 m², 14% never lit
- 4Typical multiplex screen · 12 m wide, height not published
Scale check
Familiar objects, same scale as the screen
6 double-decker buses fit on this screen (2 across × 3 up · 322 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
- 322 m²
- Picture
- 278 m²
- Screen used
- 86%
1.9 m of this screen's height — 14% 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
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
Chantilly · 23 mi away
You'd get 54% more screen, the full 1.43 frame.
Better screens within 75 mi
•Where to next
Every premium screen in Washington · All of United States
Also in Washington
Where this comes from
Confirmed ×2We treat a figure as confirmed only when two independent sources agree.
- Screen dimensions
- confirmed by 2 sources
- · LF Examiner industry listing (2021)
- · the cinema's own website ↗
- Projector
- confirmed by 2 sources
- · LF Examiner industry listing (2021)
- · imaxguide, the r/IMAX database ↗
- Operating status
- verified open
Showtimes
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