Movie theater screens are big, but just how big? The size of a movie theater screen can vary greatly depending on where you are. In the United States, movie theater screens usually range from 50 feet to nearly 200 feet across.
The first “official” movie theater, The Nickelodeon, opened in Pittsburgh in 1905. At the time, the largest screens were around 20 feet wide.
By the 1930s and 1940s, theaters started to install larger screens; some reached over 50 feet across. This was to accommodate the then-popular Cinemascope films, which used an anamorphic lens to create a wider image than standard films.
IMAX, a large-format film system developed by Canadian filmmakers Graeme Ferguson, Roman Kroitor and Robert Kerr in 1968, became popular in the 1970s and 1980s. IMAX screens can range anywhere between 70 to 100 feet wide and 44 to 77 feet tall. The biggest IMAX screen is located at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C., measuring an astonishing 80 by 60 feet.
Over the last decade or so, most theaters have upgraded their projection systems and some have begun replacing traditional 35 mm film projectors with digital projectors that use high-definition video signals. Digital projectors take up less space than traditional film projectors, allowing for larger screen sizes without having to build bigger theaters. Some of these digital screens can be as wide as 200 feet!
Conclusion: Movie theater screens come in all shapes and sizes; from small 20 foot wide screens of yesteryear to massive 200 foot wide digital projection systems of today. No matter what size screen you’re watching your favorite films on – enjoy it!