Sinners, Kesari 2 & Jaat: IMAX Audience Betrayed

The Hollywood film Sinners, known for being shot on special IMAX 65mm cameras, released on April 18. Many people in India were excited to watch it in IMAX.

But surprisingly, three major standalone IMAX theatres — Eros IMAX in Mumbai, and Priya and Paras IMAX in Delhi — didn’t screen it at all. Instead, these theatres chose to play Hindi films Kesari Chapter 2 and Jaat, which were not made for IMAX.

This upset viewers, especially because Sinners was designed for the IMAX experience. Warner Bros, the studio behind Sinners, requested these theatres to show the film, even offering them other big movies like Minecraft and Interstellar to sweeten the deal. But the theatres still refused.

They said Sinners was too niche and might not fill seats, and as single-screen IMAX cinemas, they can’t afford low occupancy.

Industry insiders felt the theatres should have at least tried playing Sinners for the weekend. Ironically, Kesari Chapter 2 didn’t even do well in those IMAX halls, showing empty seats.

The bigger issue is that audiences expect proper IMAX films at such theatres — so when regular movies are shown instead, people just go to other multiplexes. It’s a lose-lose situation for both sides.