A film shot on Arri Alexa 65 with IMAX certified cameras. Three quarters of its runtime in native 1.43:1 aspect ratio. The screen literally expanding as you enter space. Greig Fraser behind the lens the same DP who shot Dune and Dune Part Two.

Project Hail Mary opened in India with 5 IMAX screens out of 34.

Dhurandhar had the rest. A film that was remastered for IMAX after the fact, not built for it from the ground up.

I understand the math. Dhurandhar crossed 1000 crore globally in 7 days. Theatre owners are running a business, not a film school. Nobody is going to move those numbers for sentiment.

But here’s what actually bothers me as someone who thinks about filmmaking.

The changing aspect ratio in Project Hail Mary is not a gimmick or a flex. It is a directorial decision. Every time the frame expands, you are meant to feel the scale of space differently from how you feel earth. That is storytelling happening through the screen itself. You lose that on a standard screen and you are watching a technically inferior version of a completely different creative intention.

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller designed this film for that format from day one. Not adapted for it. Designed for it.

And it opened in India with 13 shows across 34 IMAX theatres.

What makes me slightly hopeful is that fan outrage actually moved the needle here. By Friday it had jumped to over 60 IMAX shows. People fought for it on social media and theatres responded. That almost never happens.

But it should not require outrage for a film made for a format to get access to that format.

Someday I want to make something that demands to be seen a certain way. This whole situation made me think about how fragile that intention is once it leaves your hands and enters a distribution system that has its own entirely separate logic.

Have you seen it? IMAX or standard screen ,what was the difference like?

Project Hail Mary issue