Click on the filter tags below for topic specific FAQs.

All/General Information/Gift Cards and Certificates/Health and Safety/IMAX® Movies/IMAX® Victoria Annual Pass/IMAX® with Laser/Seating and Accessibility/

You can renew your pass at the box office or online here.

You can purchase a new pass in person at the box office or online here

You will enjoy the same benefits you have always enjoyed with your pass but with the added benefit of being able to purchase year-round.  All annual passes are valid for 12 months from date of activation.

Plus, for the first time we are offering IMAX® Victoria Annual Passholders reciprocal discounts to local attractions. These include

  • 20% off gallery admission to the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
  • 20% off admission to the Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea
  • 20% off admissions to the Butterfly Gardens
  • 20% off admission to Victoria and Nanaimo WildPlay Parks
  • 15% off admission to Victoria and Nanaimo WildPlay Parks.

To receive your discount, simply show your IMAX® Victoria Annual Pass when purchasing tickets.

  • FREE upsizing to the next size of Soundbites Concession pop and popcorn
  • Unlimited admission to regular documentary films
  • Hollywood feature films at a discounted rate
  • 20% off companion rate discounts for friends and family
  • 20% discount on Royal BC Museum admissions
  • 15% discount on regular priced items at The Shop at IMAX® Victoria
  • 10% discount at the Royal Museum Shop

Plus these reciprocal discounts to local attractions:

  • 20% off gallery admission to the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
  • 20% off admission to the Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea
  • 20% off admissions to the Butterfly Gardens
  • 20% off admission to Victoria and Nanaimo WildPlay Parks
  • $1 off film tickets at Cinecenta

To receive your discount, simply show your IMAX® Victoria Annual Pass when purchasing tickets.

We continue to expand our offerings to our IMAX® Victoria Annual Passholders, including exclusive events and experiences, and remain committed to keeping prices affordable as always while still accounting for rising operating costs.

Yes. Online renewals are active right away, you will just need to come to the box office to have your photo taken and new card printed. Please give yourself extra time to do this.

2020 IMAX® Victoria Annual Passes were automatically extended to March 31, 2022, and 2021 passes were automatically extended to October 31, 2022.

Yes! You are welcome to bring companions with you to visit IMAX® Victoria. Guests of passholders receive a 20% discount on individual film admissions when attending with a passholder.

  1. Yes!  IMAX® Victoria Annual Passholders reciprocal discounts to local attractions. These include
  • 20% off gallery admission to the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
  • 20% off admission to the Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea
  • 20% off admissions to the Butterfly Gardens
  • 20% off admission to Victoria and Nanaimo WildPlay Parks
  • $1 off film tickets at Cinecenta

To receive your discount, simply show your IMAX® Victoria Annual Pass when purchasing tickets.

No, the IMAX® at SilverCity is not affiliated with IMAX® Victoria and they do not honour our passes.

Yes! A Combo Pass gives you access to all the benefits of a Royal BC Museum Membership and an IMAX® Victoria Annual Pass for one great price. Learn more.

Yes! You can purchase a Gift Annual Pass for someone else in person at the box office or online here . Passes can be activated by the gift receiver at any time and will be valid for 12 months after activation.

In person: Present your pass at the Box Office for an admission ticket. Online: Visit the buy tickets page to log in with your IMAX® profile username and password to access online ticketing and companion discounts. For detailed instructions on how to use your pass for online purchases, view the guide. Upon entry to the theatre you must present both your admission ticket and valid pass.

Yes, all passholders must show their current pass with their ticket when the usher scans your ticket. We ask to see your pass upon entering the theatre to ensure that the passholder is the one presenting us with tickets. IMAX® Victoria Annual Passes and tickets are non-transferable.

An expiry date will be printed on your new IMAX® Victoria Annual Pass.

IMAX® Victoria Annual Passes are non-transferable.

Entry to feature-length Hollywood films for IMAX® Victoria Annual Pass holders are discounted to $7 (2D movies) or $8 (3D movies).

Be sure to provide your email address when activating your IMAX® Victoria Annual Pass, plus stay connected through our e-newsletter.  Sign up today.

Passes can be replaced at the box office. There is a $5 replacement fee per card.

Please contact us at IMAX® Victoria by email at imaxevents@royalbcmuseum.bc.ca or call the box office at 250-356-8096. 

Gift cards purchased at The Shop at IMAX® Victoria may be redeemed in The Shop at IMAX® Victoria, and gift cards purchased at the box office may be redeemed at the box office. Please note, they are non-refundable and cannot be redeemed for cash. Full terms and conditions are listed on the reverse of the gift card.

Gift certificates are valid for specific merchandise and have an expiry date. Please note, they are non-refundable and cannot be redeemed for cash. These gift certificates are different from those offered at the box office and are only for use within The Shop at IMAX® Victoria. Full terms and conditions are listed on the gift certificate.

Tickets can be purchased at the box office in the main lobby of the Royal BC Museum, or online.

Please email imaxevents@royalbcmuseum.bc.ca or call The Shop at IMAX® Victoria at 250-952-4206

The box office can be reached by phone at 250-356-8096. For general inquiries, such as showtimes and ticket prices, call the Royal BC Museum general line at 250-356-7226.

Face masks are no longer required to be worn at IMAX® Victoria. For more information on this provincial health order, please visit BC Gov News.

IMAX® Victoria is operating at 100% capacity.

For documentaries, choose any available seat upon entering the theatre. If you require assistance, please speak to the IMAX® staff member on the ramp. For Hollywood feature films, you can select seats when purchasing tickets online or at the box office. View the theatre seating map

Yes, some select seats in the theatre are adjusted to a more reclined position. These seats are:

  • All of the last row in the theatre, row K
  • Seats 1 through 6 in rows D-J
  • All seats in Rows A-C

View the theatre seating map

Yes! There are eight seat-free stalls in Row C that are accessible for wheelchair users. The entrance to the theatre is ramped. Please ask an usher for assistance or any questions.

Yes! Many films are accompanied by tablets that fit in the armrest of your seat and display closed captioning for the film. Ask the usher for a closed captioning tablet as you enter the theatre and if you have any questions on how to use it.

Distributors select where they want new films to play and place restriction on the proximity of other theatres. In Victoria, most films are released in another theatre but serious IMAX® fans will often wait or opt to see it again when it arrives here as they understand the incredible impact of experiencing a film in the IMAX® format.

DMR stands for digitally re-mastered. A conventional film, in the conventional format is digitized, enlarged, and then processed on IMAX® film. Because the original images were not shot on 70mm film, they do not have the same square dimensions. When the picture is expanded the rectangular ratio has to remain in order to avoid distortion.

An IMAX® film is shot with an extremely large camera and projected with a machine the size of a small car. That may seem counter to the current trend towards smaller and smaller technology with bigger and bigger images. It’s logical though when you realize that the beauty and clarity of the famous IMAX® image is only possible with 70mm. If you’ve ever tried to blow up an image you’ll know the difference that size makes.

The IMAX® Experience is the world’s most powerful and immersive movie experience. With breathtaking images on a six-storey tall screen with 12,000-watts of wrap-around digital sound, this amazing technology takes you to places only imagined.

Designed from the ground up for IMAX®’s largest screens, IMAX® with laser features a dual 4K laser projection system that is equipped with an optical engine and suite of proprietary IMAX® technologies capable of projecting an image with up to a 1.43:1 aspect ratio with maximum resolution and sharpness, unparalleled 2D and 3D brightness, industry-leading contrast with the blackest blacks and whitest whites, and an expanded colour gamut that allows filmmakers to present more vivid and exotic colours.

IMAX® Victoria’s laser system includes next-generation IMAX® sound technology that delivers even greater power and precision for ultimate audio immersion. The system has 12 discrete channels plus sub-bass, and includes additional side channels as well as overhead channels that improve the system’s ability to position sounds at any point in the auditorium — even where there may not be a loudspeaker — and further ensure every seat is the best in the house.

IMAX® Victoria’s laser system includes next-generation IMAX® sound technology that delivers even greater power and precision for ultimate audio immersion. The system has been upgraded to 12 discrete channels plus sub-bass, and includes additional side channels as well as new overhead channels that improve the system’s ability to reproduce sounds that seem to originate at any point in the auditorium — even where there may not be a loudspeaker — and further ensure every seat is the best in the house.

Sound is a critical element of the IMAX® Experience and IMAX® uses its patents, proprietary technology, and decades of experience to deliver the best auditory experience. IMAX®’s unique approach to sound begins with the actual patented design of the theatre and incorporates superior acoustical treatment and more effective placement of loudspeakers to ensure an ideal listening environment. Each sound system is custom-developed in-house for each auditorium using high-grade loudspeaker components that provide unprecedented audio fidelity and a wider frequency response. This means higher highs and lows so low they’re as much vibrations as sounds. The system also leverages a technology called proportional point source, which allows IMAX® to reproduce sounds that can seem to originate at any specific point in the auditorium — even where there may not be a physical loudspeaker. In IMAX® Victoria’s next-generation sound system, the additional side channels supplement IMAX®’s ability to reproduce sounds originating from points in between front and rear loudspeakers while the overhead channels improve the system’s ability to position sounds above the audience.

Another important component in IMAX® sound is that in all IMAX® films the soundtrack itself has been enhanced. Through IMAX®’s proprietary Digital Media Re-Mastering process, the sound of the original movie is re-mixed in post-production together with the filmmakers to recapture its full dynamic range and tweaked to make it brighter, crisper, and more exhilarating. This process takes full advantage of the unique, responsive sound system in an IMAX® theatre and means you are hearing the movie the way the filmmaker intended.

By focusing on every aspect that makes great sound, IMAX® is able to deliver the most visceral and captivating sound experience available.

IMAX® with laser represents IMAX®’s largest research and development project in the company’s history. The system was designed from the ground up specifically for IMAX®’s largest screens (75 feet and above), a magnitude which previously required IMAX®’s 15/70 film projection systems to fill.

While there will always be slight differences between film and digital formats, IMAX® believes the new laser system meets, and in many cases exceeds, the performance of its 15/70mm film projection.

The completely re-designed optical engine and laser light source allows IMAX® to reach unparalleled levels of contrast, 3D brightness, sharpness, and colour with two 4K laser projectors running simultaneously in sub-pixel alignment for both 2D and 3D, IMAX® is able to achieve a perceived resolution greater than 4K.

IMAX®’s xenon system continues to be the best-in-class solution for its mid-sized screens.

Contrast is the difference between the whitest white and the blackest black. Filmmakers love it, but it’s been a problem with existing digital projection systems. IMAX® has always delivered the greatest contrast, but now with laser, IMAX® has reached contrast levels substantially higher than ever before. Getting more contrast means more detail in the image — particularly in very dark or bright scenes — and a heightened level of realism that makes you forget you are watching a movie.

A laser light source provides substantially more brightness than a xenon bulb, and allows IMAX® to power its largest screens with even sharper and more lifelike images. This is significant for 3D because 3D glasses dim the image. With IMAX® laser, audiences are able to experience full brightness in 2D and 3D.

IMAX® Victoria is equipped with state-of-the art 3D glasses that were selected to optimize the experienced provided by the laser system.

IMAX® has a long history of innovation. It’s constantly looking at how it can do things better. In developing its next-generation laser system, it took a radically different approach from others in the industry. This wasn’t about making a few tweaks and enhancements here and there, or just swapping out xenon bulbs for a laser light source. It abandoned the way projection systems have been built until now and started from the ground up. Partnering with Barco and combining the patents it acquired from Kodak and its own intellectual property, IMAX® invented a system that takes advantage of all of the benefits laser provides.

This means you’re going to experience the sharpest, brightest images the movie industry has ever seen. IMAX®’s laser system is about more than just a handful of innovations — it’s a re-imagination of the movie theatre experience.

All films presented through IMAX® Victoria’s laser system are digitally re-mastered specifically for the 4K laser system to take advantage of the increased contrast, brightness, colour, and other attributes it can deliver. The soundtracks are also re-mixed for IMAX®’s 12-channel system.

IMAX® is excited to work together with today’s leading filmmakers to push this technology to the limits.

About IMAX® Victoria

IMAX® Victoria is located inside the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, BC, Canada.

The 369-seat, 8-wheelchair-stall theatre features 4K IMAX® with laser providing a 2D and 3D experience; with a projected area more than 6 stories high and 80 feet wide, it is the biggest screen in BC and fills the viewer’s entire field of vision.

The theatre opened in June 1998 and hosted more than 80,000 people in the first month. Local residents and visitors loved the new theatre in town and its first feature film, Whales. Since that time, more than seven million people have enjoyed the IMAX® Experience at IMAX® Victoria.

IMAX® History

The IMAX® system has its roots in EXPO ’67 in Montreal, QC, where multi-screen films were the hit of the fair. A small group of Canadian filmmakers/entrepreneurs who had made some of those popular films, decided to design a new system using a single, powerful projector, rather than the cumbersome multiple projectors used at that time. The result: the IMAX® motion picture projection system that would revolutionize giant-screen cinema.

IMAX® technology premiered at the Fuji Pavilion, EXPO ’70 in Osaka, Japan. The first permanent IMAX® projection system was installed at Ontario Place’s Cinesphere in Toronto in 1971. IMAX® Dome (OMNIMAX®) debuted at the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theatre in San Diego in 1973.

In March of 1994, the sale of IMAX® by the original partners was finalized to Brad Wechsler, Rich Gelfond, and Wasserstein Perella Partners. In June 1994, IMAX® was taken public on the NASDAQ stock exchange providing IMAX® with the capitalization necessary to take advantage of numerous growth opportunities.

© Copyright — IMAX® Victoria — Royal BC Museum