IMAX Sydney winds down as demolition approaches

The IMAX Cinema at Sydney’s Darling Harbour is about to close for three years for redevelopment of the site.

Stretching 35.7 metres wide and 29.7 metres tall, the world’s largest cinema screen and its 520 seats are to be demolished, as the facility and its associated shops and restaurances are replaced by a new 20-storey developmen that includes a 588-room, luxury hotel, restaurants and shops as well as a new IMAX.

The new building will house a new giant screen with 430 seats and a smaller supplementary 40-seat premium cinema experience with restaurant meal service.

Commenting on the closure of IMAX Sydney, Chief Executive Mark Bretherton told the Sydney Morning Herald that the site was the second most profitable IMAX worldwide in terms of ticket sales.

Bretherton conceded that the new screen will be "marginally smaller" for engineering reasons but will still be the biggest in the world.

As for the seating reduction, the new seats will be larger with Bretherton adding “no-one has seats that narrow any more plus they were designed for films that were 45 minutes.

"Now, with feature films, people are sitting there longer."

The new layout will cater for longer, feature-length, films.

IMAX Sydney opened in 1996 and has expanded from showing IMAX documentaries into Hollywood blockbusters.

A statement from the developers on the new building explains “the IMAX site represents a unique opportunity to contribute to the revitalisation of Darling Harbour and Cockle Bay together with other adjacent projects of major significance in the precinct.

“The built form is derived directly from the consideration of its urban context, site constraints, adjacent development proposals and site potential.”

IMAX Sydney will close on 25th September.

Images: IMAX Sydney (top) and an artist's impression of the new 20-storey building that will replace it (below).

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