As 'Spider-Man' Joins 'The Odyssey' in Imax, are Premium Movie Screens Worth the Extra Price?

Some movie fans call premium screenings a 'gimmick.' Others are driving six hours to see 'The Odyssey' in Imax 70mm.

"Spider-Man: Brand New Day" made $360 million domestically during its opening weekend, and an estimated 24% of that was from premium screenings.

For Jonathan Haeffele, seeing Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" was not as simple as buying a movie ticket: It also required a six-hour round trip.

The 34-year-old Michigan banker recently traveled to see the film projected in Imax 70mm - a rare format that has become one of the biggest attractions for movie fans looking for the ultimate theatrical experience.

He also traveled to see Nolan's "Oppenheimer" in the same format in 2023, an experience he said was "terrific" due to the bigger screen and improved sound. So he said he had to see Imax $(IMAX)$ again for Nolan's next major release.

"I have driven just as long, if not longer, to go see a concert, a play or a Cubs game," Haeffele said. "Seeing 'The Odyssey' on Imax film is worth it to me."

Related: Imax's CEO says it's time to hike prices as tickets to 'The Odyssey' resell for $1,000

For Haeffele and many other movie enthusiasts, the format is part of the filmgoing experience. But not every moviegoer sees it that way.

As Hollywood looks for new ways to bring audiences back to theaters, moviegoers are increasingly being asked to choose between a growing list of premium screening options: Imax, Imax 70mm, Dolby Cinema, 4DX, RPX, ScreenX, XL and Disney's $(DIS)$ Infinity Vision.

Some fans see those options as a meaningful upgrade worth paying more for. Others see a confusing list of labels designed to justify higher ticket prices.

And premium screenings are increasingly making up a large chunk of what blockbuster films earn at the box office - such as the latest "Spider-Man" movie from Sony $(SONY)$ and Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe that swung into theaters over the past weekend. Premium screenings, often called premium large formats (or PLFs), accounted for 24% of the box-office performance of "Spider-Man: Brand New Day"'s $360 million domestic opening weekend - with 3-D formats making up 17% of that amount. Screen X and 4DX made up $12.2 million, while Dolby screenings made over $10 million, its highest figure ever, per Deadline. The latest "Spider-Man" film didn't play in Imax in the U.S. this weekend because "The Odyssey" had those theaters secured, but it will enter select Imax theaters beginning Aug. 6.

But is it really worth seeing these blockbusters in Imax? The debate over premium screenings has spilled into TikTok and Reddit (RDDT), and is converging with a historic 2026 movie slate including hotly anticipated films like the third installment in the "Dune" franchise and Marvel's "Avengers: Doomsday" in December.

So what's the difference between all of the different premium options, and are they worth the price?

The rise of the premium movie experience

Premium screenings are not necessarily new. In fact, Imax debuted in 1970. But "The Odyssey" is the first movie to be shot entirely in Imax 70mm (the 70mm refers to the physical width of the film strip itself) - widely considered the gold standard in the film industry because the giant frame provides high resolution that is comparable to roughly 18K, and a floor-to-ceiling aspect ratio that completely fills the huge Imax screen from top to bottom.

Movie theaters have spent decades trying to make the theatrical experience feel bigger and more immersive, introducing new technologies like laser screens, which improve brightness and contrast, and 270-degree viewing, which is designed to separate movies from the experience of watching at home by having scenes on the sides of the auditorium as well as in front of the audience. And some have added other luxuries, like recliner seating and dining options.

"It's an alphabet soup of configurations that can be incredibly confusing," Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, told MarketWatch about all the premium screening options.

But that confusion has not stopped audiences with disposable income from seeking out premium presentations.

"Savvy moviegoers who know the importance of the best possible presentation - particularly for a director such as Christopher Nolan or Denis Villeneuve, for whom the biggest cinematic experience is baked into the DNA of their storytelling - find these premium experiences very appealing," Dergarabedian said. In fact, Nolan and Villeneuve have encouraged audiences to see their films in Imax.

For theaters, these premium presentations offer another way to make a trip to the cinema feel like an event worth getting out of the house (and away from streaming platforms) to see - and to justify charging a higher ticket price.

What does 'premium' actually mean?

The average price of a movie ticket in the U.S. is around $12.75 in 2026, per EntTelligence, but can vary widely if you are in a large metro area. Premium tickets cost an average of $18 nationally, but can run as much as $30 per adult in cities such as New York.

And there are a lot of premium formats to choose from.

A glossary of the premium movie-screening formats popular this year.

Some premium formats emphasize bigger screens. Imax and Imax 70mm are built around scale and immersion, with the latter using rare 70mm film projection that has become a major draw for movie enthusiasts.

Others focus on picture and sound quality. Dolby Cinema pairs Dolby Vision HDR with Dolby Atmos audio, while laser projection offers brighter images and sharper detail than older digital systems.

Still others try to make audiences feel like they're inside the movie. Formats such as 4DX add motion seats, as well as wind, water and other physical effects, while ScreenX projects portions of the film onto the auditorium's side walls to expand the field of view.

The newest addition is Infinity Vision, Disney's certification program for "Avengers: Doomsday." Unlike Imax or Dolby Cinema, Infinity Vision isn't a projection format; rather, it's a designation for auditoriums that meet certain standards for screen size, projection and sound.

And that's where many moviegoers say things become less clear.

Even hardcore movie fans are confused by the new labels

Haeffele considers himself the person that friends and co-workers ask when they have questions about movies and the best format to see them in. But even he was unsure what to make of Disney's new Infinity Vision.

"I thought Infinity Vision was going to be a rebrand of premium theaters as a marketing gimmick since Disney can't have any Imax screens," Haeffele said. "I would love more clarification as to what that exactly means."

He said a theater near him was advertising an Infinity Vision screen, but that he was unsure whether the theater would receive actual upgrades or if it was a certification.

Kal Storch, a 36-year-old production accountant based in Atlanta, had a similar reaction. Storch bought tickets to see "The Odyssey" in Imax 70mm because he considers Nolan's use of the format part of what makes the experience special. But he is more skeptical of some newer premium branding.

"I think something like Infinity Vision is a joke to fleece moviegoers into thinking they're getting a premium experience when they're really not," Storch said.

His issue is when a new label does not clearly communicate what audiences are receiving. "If it's just slapping a brand name on a pre-existing screen, that feels very deceptive and dishonest to me," Storch said.

Joey Puricelli, a 40-year-old teacher in the Midwest, sees Infinity Vision differently. To him, the branding is simply another way to identify theaters offering an upgraded experience.

"Disney's Infinity Vision branding is just a way to highlight those pre-existing deluxe screens," Puricelli said.

In interviews with more than 10 theatergoers, MarketWatch found that almost every consumer said they could spot the differences among premium formats, with screen scale serving as the primary differentiator.

For some fans, the format is part of the movie

For movie enthusiasts, the appeal of premium formats is not just about having a larger screen.

Storch said he chose Imax 70mm for "The Odyssey" because the format itself made the movie feel like a big deal, and because the director has praised it so often.

"I wanted to see 'The Odyssey' in the absolute best experience possible, because it's an event," he said. "I've also watched a lot of interviews with Christopher Nolan and other filmmakers and the process of making 70mm Imax prints, and Nolan is one of the few, if not the only director who prioritizes image fidelity of the Imax format itself."

'It made me rediscover and fall in love with cinema again.'Tom Weaver, 36, from the U.K.

Tom Weaver, a 36-year-old town planner in the U.K., said he barely went to see films in theaters for 10 years. But then one extra-large, high-resolution screen changed the way he viewed movies.

After watching "Avatar: The Way of Water" at an Imax theater in London, Weaver began going to the movies more often and prioritizing more theatrical experiences, including older films and specialty screenings. It eventually turned going out to the cinema into one of his biggest hobbies.

"All this hype for PLFs I think has the potential to hook casual and infrequent cinemagoers into becoming lovers and enthusiasts of cinema," Weaver said. "It made me rediscover and fall in love with cinema again."

For him, premium screenings are not just about technology - they are about creating a reason to go to the theater in the first place.

Not every premium experience is created equal

Even fans of premium screenings acknowledge that the experience depends heavily on the theater.