Bring IMAX to Pakistan
The Issue
Pakistan once had IMAX. We let it die — and no one noticed.
Cinestar Lahore held Pakistan's only IMAX-certified screen. The license expired. No campaign, no public pressure, no story in the papers. It just quietly stopped existing, and the country went back to watching IMAX-format films — films shot and cut for a 70-foot canvas — on standard screens, cropped and compressed, without anyone flagging that something had been lost.
That's the actual scandal here. Not "Pakistan doesn't have IMAX." Pakistan had it, and let it go.
Why this matters beyond nostalgia for a big screen:
Hollywood now designs entire sequences — sometimes entire films — specifically for IMAX's aspect ratio and format. Christopher Nolan shoots on IMAX film cameras. Audiences in Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad are watching a version of these films the filmmakers didn't fully intend them to see. Meanwhile, IMAX has expanded aggressively across the Gulf and South Asia — UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka all have working IMAX screens. Pakistan, a market of over 240 million people, currently has zero.
This isn't a taste problem. It's a market gap nobody has been forced to explain.
What we're asking for:
One thing, in order: Reinstate a certified IMAX screen in Lahore, either through Cinestar's original site or a partnership with an existing chain (Cinepax, Nueplex, or Atrium have the infrastructure to support it). Get that one screen operating and profitable, then use it as the case study for expansion into Karachi and Islamabad.
Not five cities at once. Not a wishlist. One working proof of concept — because that's what actually gets investor and distributor attention, not a list of demands.
If you've ever sat in a standard cinema watching a film that was clearly meant to be bigger than the screen allowed — you already understand the ask.
Sign this petition. Every signature is evidence that the demand exists and isn't just one person's obsession — it's a data point in the case for bringing the format back.
IMAX is not a luxury add-on. It's the format some of the biggest films of the last decade were actually made for — and Pakistan is currently locked out of it.
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The Issue
Pakistan once had IMAX. We let it die — and no one noticed.
Cinestar Lahore held Pakistan's only IMAX-certified screen. The license expired. No campaign, no public pressure, no story in the papers. It just quietly stopped existing, and the country went back to watching IMAX-format films — films shot and cut for a 70-foot canvas — on standard screens, cropped and compressed, without anyone flagging that something had been lost.
That's the actual scandal here. Not "Pakistan doesn't have IMAX." Pakistan had it, and let it go.
Why this matters beyond nostalgia for a big screen:
Hollywood now designs entire sequences — sometimes entire films — specifically for IMAX's aspect ratio and format. Christopher Nolan shoots on IMAX film cameras. Audiences in Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad are watching a version of these films the filmmakers didn't fully intend them to see. Meanwhile, IMAX has expanded aggressively across the Gulf and South Asia — UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka all have working IMAX screens. Pakistan, a market of over 240 million people, currently has zero.
This isn't a taste problem. It's a market gap nobody has been forced to explain.
What we're asking for:
One thing, in order: Reinstate a certified IMAX screen in Lahore, either through Cinestar's original site or a partnership with an existing chain (Cinepax, Nueplex, or Atrium have the infrastructure to support it). Get that one screen operating and profitable, then use it as the case study for expansion into Karachi and Islamabad.
Not five cities at once. Not a wishlist. One working proof of concept — because that's what actually gets investor and distributor attention, not a list of demands.
If you've ever sat in a standard cinema watching a film that was clearly meant to be bigger than the screen allowed — you already understand the ask.
Sign this petition. Every signature is evidence that the demand exists and isn't just one person's obsession — it's a data point in the case for bringing the format back.
IMAX is not a luxury add-on. It's the format some of the biggest films of the last decade were actually made for — and Pakistan is currently locked out of it.
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Petition created on 29 July 2025