ImaxWhen IMAX was first introduced, it was in massive theaters. Before IMAX was a mainstay in at least one major movie theater in every major city, you would only find IMAX theaters in museums, or stand alone sites where the structure of the theater would tower anything you ever dreamt of watching a movie on. IMAX movies used to be shorter than normal feature films and the content would be something worthy of a gigantic screen, amazing visuals and loud, booming audio. Dinosaurs, planets and tornadoes are just some of the things you could find in IMAX theaters years ago.

Fast forward to present day and there seems to be an IMAX theater in every major city in every state. IMAX today though isn’t about science or even science fiction, it’s about taking the biggest blockbuster movies (typically intense action flicks) and putting them on the biggest screen possible. But does that mean that every IMAX theater is the same, gigantic size?

According to this report from Business Insider, all IMAX theaters aren’t created equal, and that doesn’t seem to bother the IMAX company. “If there are people out there who have a problem with it, they’re not telling us.” IMAX CEO, Greg Foster, told Business Insider.

When IMAX was introduced it was in theater structures specifically built for IMAX as described above. Now, IMAX is making a pretty penny retrofitting older theaters with technology that enhances the picture resolution and the sound quality. In other words, not traditional IMAX. In fact it’s not really IMAX at all, at least not the kind you may have grown up with.

Some of the larger movie chains, like AMC are having an IMAX theater built when they open new multi screen theater complexes. Others are stuck with the retrofit version.

So no, not all IMAX theaters are created equally.