SM North Edsa IMAX Theatre – My Early Thoughts

SM North Edsa, the Philippines’ largest mall just opened the second IMAX theater in the country. My bro and I watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on its first public screening there. You can consider this just an early review because I’m sure things will change there in the coming months. I also took a few shots of the newest IMAX theater in the metro.

The waiting area is spacious enough but I couldn’t help but compare it to the gorgeous-looking lounge area of Mall of Asia’s IMAX. Without sponsorships, the lounge of SM North’s IMAX just looks bland and uninspired. I expect they’d improve this in due time.

My biggest gripe though is the size of the screen and the theater itself. I already knew beforehand that this one will be smaller than the IMAX in the south. But I was still underwhelmed by the size of it once I entered the theater. Most people have this notion that IMAX is the grandest cinematic experience. The screen was large alright but it looked like it was only a few couple of meters bigger than a regular theater’s screen. It simply cannot be compared to Mall of Asia’s IMAX screen. 

One curious thing I noticed though is that the movie (Half-Blood Prince) filled the whole screen! Some IMAX movies I’ve seen in Mall of Asia didn’t use the entire screen at all. So I guess this issue becomes moot now. Hahaha! Also, I didn’t see any obvious difference in the picture quality which is great news. Still, what I like about IMAX is the imposingly huge screen and theater. For me, the bigger the screen and audience, the better. The theater was only about half-full on our screening.

Let’s now talk about the sound system. I don’t know if it’s because of our seat’s location (center of M row, 3rd from the last row) but I wasn’t satisfied by the sound output here. It just wasn’t powerful enough for me, again, unlike Mall of Asia’s IMAX. Maybe they didn’t amp up the volume enough. Or maybe it’s because of the movie itself. Half-Blood Prince generally seems to be a more subdued film especially at the end. Whatever the reason, there were times I didn’t feel that immersed in the movie because of the quality of audio I heard there. But then again, that was like only the first public screening so they’re probably still ironing some things out in the theater.

So right now, here is what I’ll probably do for IMAX movies. If the movie is in FULL 3D, I will watch it in SM North Edsa. Not because it can show 3D scenes better but because I live closer to this mall. If the movie has NO 3D scenes at all, then by all means it will be in Mall of Asia. But for movies with SELECT scenes only on 3D, it’s a toss-up for me.

My personal opinion, Half-Blood Prince didn’t have enough 3D so I would have seen this in Mall of Asia instead. If it had more 3D scenes (the cave and Quidditch should have been in 3D! ), I wouldn’t have felt the admission price to be unjustifiable. I am ecstatic that IMAX is now here at the north too. But frankly, I think they should lower their price a bit because of the differences to the Mall of Asia IMAX.

Let me emphasize also that these are just my early thoughts on this new theater. These could change on my next IMAX movie there. I plan to see Avatar there this December. That one’s in full 3D so SM North should be sufficient for me. And yes, as you can see I already wear glasses so using those 3D glasses aren’t exactly that comfy. But cool people like me and Harry wear glasses so to hell with contacts!

Oh, and just so you know, I liked Half-Blood Prince despite the anti-climactic ending. It is now my favorite Harry Potter film by far. I’ll post my review after I watch it again this weekend. Not in IMAX anymore though. I’m eyeing Trinoma’s new digital cinema.

Disclaimer: This is a “personal” review and was purely based on my own sensory experience. You should still give SM North Edsa’s IMAX a shot so you can make your own conclusions.