Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater — Local services in Washington

I live near the Chantilly Air and Space Museum, and I always watch movies there. I received an email recently saying that this theater inside the Air and Space museum in DC has finished renovation and has show times for Formula 1, so I took that drive to check it out for the very first time. The new seats are so nice. I wish they had them in Chantilly because the Chantilly A&S IMAX chairs are outdated, with no cup holders.

I'm afraid the projector was skewed and needs calibration. As soon as the trailers came, I noticed it was off. I was hoping it was only the trailers and not the movie, but unfortunately,y the movie was also skewed. Check pics. Not only was the projector skewed, but it was also shifted too far up. I always go to Chantilly A&S IMAX because they have adjusted perfectly. I don't even go to Tyson's IMAX. This isn't acceptable, and I won't be back until it's fixed. This is an easy adjustment and doesn't require any extra hardware or renovation. The image just needs to be properly aligned. In fact, I've emailed Smithsonian so they will assign someone to calibrate this.

Another reason I have to think twice about coming back (other than the long drive to DC and parking) is not an easy fix. In fact, I don't think there will be a fix. The way the seats and screen are positioned, you have to be looking up from most of the rows. In Chantilly Airbus, you only have to look up if you're in the bottom half of the rows. Here in DC, at Lockheed IMAX, only the top two rows do not require you to look up. The way the seats and screens are aligned, you really have to be looking up the whole time, and it's not comfortable. What a shame, because I was really looking forward to them finishing the renovation.

It is still better and cheaper than any regular IMAX theater. This is true. Also, sad that no popcorn was available...

After seeing Star Wars: The Force Awakens opening night, we were so blown away by it that we decided to see it a second time at the National Air and Space Museum IMAX Theater. I’ve never seen a movie twice in theaters until Star Wars, and it was only appropriate that we see it in the true IMAX experience on 70mm film. Only National Air and Space Museum and the Udvar-Hazy Center theaters offer 70mm in the area.

We tried to get tickets for a 5pm showing, but when we went into the museum we saw the extremely long and winding line that extended to the front doors. So we opted to come back at 10pm. Best decision ever! There was probably only 30 people for the 10pm showing, so we were able to secure great seats without having to run into the theater like it’s Black Friday.

The screens measure up to 6 stories tall. The images are super bright and clear, 10 times the resolution of 35mm film. High-resolution, clear picture, and amazing sound system. Especially with Star Wars, the shots of the different settings and the sounds of the lightsaber fights was fantastic. However, the seats aren’t super comfortable and there aren’t any cup holders. Thankfully, it wasn’t crowded in the theater so I could put my belongings in the seat next to me and my cup on the floor without having to worry about other people tipping it over.

The Lockheed Martin IMAX closed on January 11 to upgrade to IMAX with laser, meaning bigger, better brightness, contrast, color, and sound. They’re reopening in early March. So this really was the last opportunity to watch Star Wars in 70mm IMAX, and I’m so glad I was...

Do NOT try and go here for the opening weekend of a big Hollywood movie. My friends and I thought it would be the coolest thing to see the new Star Wars movie here. It was a cluster. The line organization was terrible, there was no line control, no one knew where to go or what line to stand in or who was where in line. It was a mad dash to the front door when the time came. My friend got elbowed in the stomach by a man rushing in front of her. We eventually got in and everything went smooth afterwards. Fast forward to when a different group of friends wanted to see the new avengers movie there opening weekend. Again, no line management and people were aimlessly walking around trying to figure out where to stand or be for when they let people in. We all finally set on forming a line close to the theater entrance. When the gates opened, again, random people tried to rush the front. My friend even politely told a few people as they were attempting to cut in front of us that the back of the line wrapped around the corner and got verbally assaulted. Once we got in and seated, the movie was cut off 10 minutes in due to technical difficulties and it would be 5 ton10 minutes to sort it out. Neither experiences were pleasant. Once is an incidence, twice is a pattern. Dont go see movies opening weekend here. Find a theater with...