Opening date nears for Pooler IMAX, a movie theater featuring the world's tallest screen

Nancy Guan, Savannah Morning News
·2 min read
The new IMAX theater will open in Pooler in February.
The new IMAX theater will open in Pooler in February.

Savannah-area residents will soon be able to watch movies on the world’s tallest IMAX screen right in their own backyard. Royal Cinemas & IMAX, located off Pooler Parkway, announced that their newest IMAX theater will be opening to the public in February.

Pooler's original IMAX theater at 5 Towne Center Drive will continue to screen movies until the new, larger auditorium opens next door.

Plans for the tallest IMAX screen have been five years in the making, said Emily Hagans, general manager for Royal Cinemas & IMAX. Construction for the project, estimated to be upwards of $14 million, started a few years ago, so residents have long been anticipating its launch.

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Record-breaking big screen

IMAX theaters are known for their immersive design and towering screens. Pooler’s record-breaking IMAX screen will boast a height of 76 feet, 2 inches and a width of 101 feet. The canvas is so large that a robotic arm was used to paint the silver vinyl of the screen.

“It was impossible for a human to paint so a robotic arm had to paint it in order to get it from corner to corner,” said Hagans.

An IMAX Theater with the world's tallest screen is coming to Pooler in February.
An IMAX Theater with the world's tallest screen is coming to Pooler in February.

Moviegoers will also experience leather recliner seats featuring a tray table, which Hagans said is the main selling point for the theater since the previous IMAX did not have recliners. The auditorium features stadium seating for a “clear vantage point” from each of its 363 seats.

"Crystal clear IMAX laser projection and Next Generation IMAX precision sound" will deliver realistic images and audio with “striking clarity and depth”, reads the Royal Cinemas press release.

“We were able to watch a 10-minute clip and it was just insane,” said Hagans, “It really feels like you’re part of the movie.”

Movie industry in recovery mode

The movie theater industry took a blow when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and streaming services rose in popularity. Box office sales for the U.S. and Canada plummeted 80% in 2020. The industry recovered to about 40% of its pre-pandemic sales in 2021 as the movie-going audience returned gradually to theaters.

“We shut down for a few months due to COVID-19 and it wasn’t very busy until the end of last year, that’s when it started picking back up,” Hagans said of their local business.

Royal Cinemas is run by Royal Entertainment LLC, a company based in Pooler and owned by Falgun Patel, who also sits on the Pooler Planning Commission.

The theater will continue to encourage moviegoers to wear masks and will implement a thorough, nightly cleaning process as part of its enhanced cleaning routine, said Hagans.

Royal Cinemas will announce an exact opening date closer to its launch next month.

Nancy Guan is the general assignment reporter covering Chatham County municipalities. Reach her at nguan@gannett.com or on Twitter @nancyguann.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: World's tallest IMAX screen is coming to Pooler movie theater