A mammoth 30,000-square-foot mansion being built in Bel Air that includes a massive IMAX Private Theatre has its owner, quasi-celebrity and real estate developer Mohamed Hadid, facing criminal charges.
According to the LA Times, the unfinished home has violated several building codes, including the construction of an “approximate 75 x 125-foot irregular shaped basement addition at the east of the building under the motor court for an unauthorized theater.”
Hadid, who has appeared on “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” and his photogenic daughters Gigi and Bella are magazine cover girls, was hit with three misdemeanor charges for code violations. Each charge carries a potential six-month jail sentence and $1,000 fine. Hadid has hired Robert Shapiro of O.J. Simpson fame as his lawyer.
To be clear, the code violations are not specifically related to the construction of the IMAX Private Theatre itself, but for the room which is due to house the cinema, which forced a stop work order from the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety.
IMAX debuted its Private Theatre project back in 2013. The base price for one of the theaters is $2 million. IMAX also has a custom, patented surround-sound system featuring 7.1 channel laser-aligned loudspeakers, special theater design, a proprietary screen and 3D glasses as part of the offering.
One of the key features that distinguishes an IMAX theater is the company’s dual projection system that displays images with greater brightness, contrast and resolution, as well as a much greater vertical height and a larger aspect ratio than a conventional theater. Most films today are made in a 2.40:1 ratio of width to height, while IMAX theaters generally provide between a 1.91:1 and a 1.43:1 ratio, offering up to 40 percent more image than a standard commercial theater.
Also, when the image is projected onto a floor-to-ceiling IMAX screen, it isn’t simply larger; it is curved, taller and positioned closer to the audience. The result for the viewers is a fuller panoramic view that fills their peripheral vision and immerses them into the film.
IMAX’s stock price (NYSE: IMAX) has tumbled recently to a two-year low as worldwide commercial box office of IMAX films has fallen.
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