Downtown Chicago is finally getting a new IMAX theater, but will it offer 70mm movies?

Chicago doesn't have a shortage of great movie theaters, but it is lacking when it comes to the size of said screens. (And yes, in this case, size does matter, fellas.) The Windy City is home to just two IMAX theaters—at AMC Roosevelt Collection in South Loop, and Regal City North on the border between Bucktown and Logan Square—those larger-than-life viewing experiences that turn mere movies like The Odyssey and the Dune franchise into true cinematic spectacles. But that tally is getting a major boost with a soon-to-come new IMAX theater in downtown Chicago. 

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Per NBC Chicago, building permit records indicate that one of the auditoriums at AMC River East 21, located at 322 E. Illinois St. in Streeterville, is being converted to include IMAX capability. An opening timeline has not yet been made public, nor have details about whether or not the theater will have 70-millimeter capability. (Unlike regular 70mm film that runs vertically, with 5 perforations per frame, IMAX 70mm film runs horizontally through the projector, with 15 perforations per frame—in layman's terms, that means you're getting the highest resolution and image clarity, a.k.a. the most immersive cinematic experience possible.)

Frankly, any new IMAX theater on American soil is a big deal, particularly if it offers that high-end 70mm format. There are about 350 IMAX theaters in the U.S. but only 25 with 70mm capability—unsurprisingly, Los Angeles and New York tie for having the highest concentration of IMAX screens, with the City of Angels edging out the Big Apple for the most 70mm IMAX screens. 

Currently, the only theater in the Greater Chicago metropolitan area with an active 70mm IMAX projector is the Cinemark Seven Bridges and IMAX out in the suburbs of Woodridge, Illinois. But if the new downtown IMAX theater does come equipped with that coveted 70mm capability (stay tuned on that!), the Windy City's movie-theater scene will be getting a seriously big boost.