Although the IMAX format has been around since 1970, Hollywood has only come to embrace it within the last 25 years. Now, IMAX films are such a key part of the cinema landscape that studios jockey to lock up the most IMAX screens for their big-budget movies. Unfortunately, not all films are created equal and it’s not enough to have an IMAX screen if the movie doesn’t lend itself to the format.
If we had to pick the best movie to watch in IMAX in 2024, we probably would have gone with Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, which was rereleased last year to sold-out IMAX theaters. It’s still incredible to watch 10 years later. But since we’re here to pick the five best 2024 movies to watch in IMAX, we have to leave Interstellar out of the mix. Regardless, these five films below proved their worth on Hollywood’s biggest canvas. We’ll just have to hope they’re rereleased in the future if we ever want to see them in IMAX again.
5. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
There’s something about giant monsters that plays really well on the biggest screens available. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire may not have been the best movie of the MonsterVerse franchise, but it’s just fun to watch these titans on the big screen punching and fighting other monsters. It’s a concept that’s tailor-made for IMAX, and fans showed up to make it a cinematic event.
The only problem with having Kong and Godzilla team up is that there’s not much room for another sequel to up the ante. We’ve already seen them fight and we’ve seen them join forces. Any future Godzilla and Kong movies are going to need to show us something new.
4. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Director Wes Ball’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes wasn’t quite as impressive as the reboot trilogy that came before it, but it’s still a worthy continuation of that franchise. The opening scenes of the film featuring Noa (Owen Teague) and his ape friends looking for eagle eggs was visually arresting on IMAX screens. Those gorgeous jaw-dropping visuals may not have existed outside of a computer, but it gave the movie a real sense of scope and location.
The climax of the film was also IMAX-worthy, as the titular kingdom of Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) collapsed around him in epic fashion. Ball is supposedly working on a live-action Legend of Zelda movie for Sony, which may be even more difficult to pull off than this film. But if he can bring the same level of craft to that film, we’d be to first in line to see an IMAX screening of Zelda.
3. Inside Out 2
Pixar has mastered the art of fusing incredible on-creen pictures with heart-rending emotions like few other studios in Hollywood. Inside Out 2 may have been Kelsey Mann’s feature-length directorial debut, but he’s a veteran filmmaker who has been with the studio for 15 years, and it shows.
All of the really impressive IMAX-level sequences take place in the mind of a young girl named Riley Andersen (Kensington Tallman) as her personified emotions try to guide her actions. Every scene inside her mind is a spectacular wonderland that fills up the screen, but even Riley’s down-to-earth moments in the real world are breathtaking in their own way. When given a grand canvas, Pixar’s animators always know how to make the most of it.
2. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Let’s get this out of the way: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga isn’t as great as its predecessor, Mad Max: Fury Road. But it is a fantastic action movie that proved that director George Miller still has a keen mind for cinema. Miller’s devotion to practical special effects is well-served by IMAX screens. The action looks real because in some ways it is real. Those are real vehicles being filmed in a real desert with real people. Those are the kind of things that IMAX captures in intense detail.
Nothing makes the world of Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) more believable than the settings around her, as well as the dirt and grime on Taylor-Joy herself. She and the rest of the actors look like they belong in this postapocalyptic hell hole, and sometimes that’s a special effect in of itself.
1. Dune: Part Two
There’s really only one clear choice for the best 2024 movie to watch in IMAX. Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two made the alien world of Arrakis seem more alive and believable than ever before. The director personally oversaw the conversion of the film to the IMAX 70 mm format, and it filled the screen like no other movie this year. Although there’s more CGI flourish in this film than in Furiosa, Villeneuve also took the cast around the world to various locations to create a realistic setting around them. The results speak for themselves.
This film has set a new standard for sci-fi epics that will be difficult to match. It’s an exciting reminder that the IMAX medium can still be pushed further. It also makes us eager to see what Villeneuve has in mind for Dune Messiah in the future.
