The Palms Theatre & IMAX
Waukee · United StatesSingle source
PremiumCinemaIQ rates this IMAX room B, 60/100 — a solid premium screen without being exceptional, 361 m² of lit picture, with 25% of the screen never lit. Two independent sources agree on the projector. Data read 21 September 2026.
200 NE Westgate Drive, Waukee, Iowa, 50263 · Open in maps ↗
Genuinely big screen, strong presentation.
Spec sheet
- Projection
- IMAX GT Dual Laser
- Screen
- 26.2 m × 18.3 m (479 m²)
- Picture area
- 361 m² — 25% of the screen is never lit
- Screen shape
- 1.43:1 — the fabric itself
- Picture shown
- 1.90:1
- 15/70mm film
- No
- Sound
- Not published
- Seats
- Not published
- Screen type
- Not a dome — curvature not recorded
- Opened
- 2018
- Operator
Why IQ 60
⌷ 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 m · picture 792 m², 3% never lit
- 2BFI IMAX · 26×20 m · picture 473 m², 9% never lit
- 3The Palms Theatre & IMAX · 26.2×18.3 m · picture 361 m², 25% never lit
- 4Typical 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 · 479 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
- 479 m²
- Picture
- 361 m²
- Screen used
- 75%
4.5 m of this screen — 25% of it — stays dark for a 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
Nothing materially better within 75 mi — this is your best option locally.
•Where to next
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
- confirmed by 2 sources
- · LF Examiner industry listing (2021)
- · imaxguide, the r/IMAX database ↗
- Operating status
- verified open
Showtimes
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