THX will bring an IMAX-like theater experience to LA in 2019

For decades, IMAX has been the name most associated with giant movie theater screens accompanied by booming sound systems that can add a few dollars to a regular movie ticket. There are already some alternatives, like Dolby Cinema and Sony Digital Cinema, but now another of the bigger names in movie theater technology has jumped into the premium large format (or PLF) fray.

THX, which provides quality assurance for audio and video technology, announced on Thursday that it will debut its “THX Ultimate Cinema” experience in Los Angeles later this year. THX Ultimate Cinema is an IMAX competitor made in partnership with Cinionic, a brand that sells “innovative solutions” to movie theaters. 

Since THX basically exists to make sure films look and sound how they’re supposed to when shown in theaters, Thursday’s announcement used high-end visual quality and sound fidelity in THX Ultimate Cinema theaters as a selling point.

THX Ultimate Cinema boasts 4K projection courtesy of projection company Barco. It will make its grand entrance at the Regency Westwood Village Theater in LA in either the spring or summer of this year. That particular auditorium seats 1,400. THX said its sound system has already been beefed up in anticipation of the THX Ultimate Cinema premiere.

The press release didn’t specify which movie will be the first to grace the new PLF theater. The only guarantee so far is that the distinctive THX windup noise will probably sound fantastic.

Two of the most immediate concerns for THX are how much it will cost to equip movie theaters with its technology, and how it will grow in what is already a competitive space. The answer to the first question wasn’t readily apparent in THX’s announcement. 

As for the second problem, only time will tell. IMAX, which has north of 1,500 screens around the world, has been synonymous with these kinds of moviegoing experiences for a long time. PLF competitor Dolby Cinema has been growing since it launched in 2014, debuting its 100th location last year.

Even if the tech powering THX Ultimate Cinema is better than Dolby or IMAX, it remains to be seen whether enough theaters will want to adopt it for it to be viable.