Dhruvil Shah
Google
I went to watch Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle (English version) in IMAX at Cineplex Odeon Eglinton Town Centre, expecting the large-scale, vibrant experience that IMAX is supposed to deliver. Unfortunately, what I got was far from it.
From the very beginning, I could tell something was wrong. The Tron: Ares trailer that played before the movie had a strange yellow tint instead of its signature red visuals. Even the Crunchyroll intro, which is normally bright orange, looked dull and yellow. Once the movie started, the same issue continued – the entire screen had a heavy yellow tint, making everything look washed out and unnatural. Characters who should have clear, vivid colors looked dull, and the overall picture quality felt nothing like what the trailers and promotional material showcased.
When I raised this issue with the manager, she admitted that they didn’t know much about the quality and said they were simply playing the print provided. She also mentioned there “could be a problem” and that they would raise it to IMAX/Cineplex’s main office. She gave me a refund, but what was frustrating is that it seems the theatre was aware of the problem yet still continued playing the movie in this poor condition for paying customers.
The bigger issue here is that Cineplex is marketing these showings as IMAX, but what we’re actually getting at this location feels like a downgraded version. After checking, it looks like this theatre is still using older IMAX Xenon projectors, which cannot reproduce the brightness and full color range of IMAX Laser. That would explain the dim, yellowish image. Other fans who watched in true IMAX Laser or Dolby confirmed that the movie has vibrant, sharp, and accurate colors – nothing like what we got here.
For the premium price Cineplex charges for IMAX tickets, customers deserve transparency. If a theatre doesn’t have proper IMAX Laser projectors, Cineplex should make that clear instead of selling it under the same “IMAX” branding. Right now, it feels misleading – we’re paying for IMAX quality, but only getting the name.
Very disappointed with this experience. I hope Cineplex and IMAX take this seriously and fix it, because fans expect a premium viewing experience, not a flawed, washed-out version of one of the most anticipated anime films.