IMAX Theater at Tennessee Aquarium
Chattanooga · United StatesSingle source
PremiumCinemaIQ rates this IMAX room S, 85/100 — one of the best rooms we have measured, 495 m² of lit picture, with 11% 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.
Six-story aquarium-run 1.43 screen (87.3 x 68.9 ft), one of the largest institutional film screens in the US.
201 Chestnut Street, Chattanooga, TN, 37401 · Open in maps ↗
Destination screen. Worth travelling for.
Spec sheet
- Projection
- IMAX 15/70mm Film
- Screen
- 26.6 m × 21 m (559 m²)
- Picture area
- 495 m² — 11% of the screen is never lit
- Screen shape
- 1.27:1 — the fabric itself
- Picture shown
- 1.43:1 — full IMAX frame
- 15/70mm film
- Yes — confirmed, ran The Odyssey in 70mm
- Sound
- IMAX 6-channel
- Seats
- 291
- Screen type
- Not a dome — curvature not recorded
- Opened
- 1996
- Operator
- Independent
Why IQ 85
495 m² of lit picture · full marks at 700 m² · one source
IMAX 15/70mm Film · film and digital projectors, each on its own source
1.43:1 · on a 15/70mm print
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
- 2IMAX Theater at Tennessee Aquarium · 26.6×21.0 m · picture 495 m², 11% never lit
- 3BFI IMAX · 26×20.0 m · picture 473 m², 9% never lit
- 4Typical multiplex screen · 12 m wide, height not published
Scale check
Familiar objects, same scale as the screen
8 double-decker buses fit on this screen (2 across × 4 up · 559 m² total)
What you actually see
Switch format — watch what lights up on this screen · why this matters
The full IMAX frame — the tallest picture that exists
- Screen
- 559 m²
- Picture
- 495 m²
- Screen used
- 89%
2.4 m of this screen's height — 11% 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
Nothing materially better within 75 mi — this is your best option locally.
•Where to next
Also in Chattanooga
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
- 15/70mm film
- single source
- Operating status
- verified open
Two systems, one booth
The 2021 listing records laser-dual and a newer source records film. 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
Checking listings…