Why This Screen, Specifically
The AMC Lincoln Square 13 at 1998 Broadway, between West 68th and West 69th Streets, has the largest commercial movie screen in New York City. It is one of only fifteen 1.43:1 native-aspect IMAX laser screens in the United States. The screen is 76 feet wide and 58 feet tall — six stories of resolved image. The sound system is a 28,000-watt 12-channel IMAX 12-track surround that Tom Cruise has cited by name in three different Mission: Impossible press interviews as the screen he frames action sequences for. The Final Reckoning's helicopter dogfight, the biplane wing-walking sequence, and the submarine pursuit were all shot in 65mm IMAX and scanned for the 1.43:1 ratio. On any other screen in the city — and there are a lot of IMAX-branded screens in the city — the image is letterboxed to 16:9 or 1.90:1, which means you are losing 26 percent of the frame.
On the Lincoln Square laser screen the image fills the wall. That is the difference between Mission: Impossible IMAX and Mission: Impossible IMAX-the-way-the-director-of-photography-meant-it.
The Memorial Day Window
The Final Reckoning returns to AMC Lincoln Square for an anniversary IMAX-only engagement Friday May 22 through Memorial Day Monday May 25, 2026. Showtimes run every 2.5 hours from 11am to 11pm. The 11am Friday is the Memorial Day weekend's quietest screening — roughly 40 percent occupancy. The 7:30pm Saturday is sold out for the second consecutive year.
If you want a guaranteed good seat, book the Tuesday May 26 7:30pm — the day after Memorial Day, the weekend crowd has gone home, and the auditorium is rarely more than half full. The seat to choose is row J or K, dead center, six rows back from the screen. That is the sweet spot where the 76-foot screen still fills your peripheral vision but the perspective does not warp at the corners.
The Movie Itself
The Final Reckoning is the eighth Mission: Impossible film. Tom Cruise has spent thirty years building the franchise around physical stunts at increasing scale — the Burj Khalifa climb in Ghost Protocol, the airplane fuselage hang in Rogue Nation, the cargo plane HALO jump in Fallout, the motorcycle BASE jump in Dead Reckoning Part One, and in The Final Reckoning a biplane wing-walking sequence shot 8,000 feet above the South African veldt. The film is the highest-grossing Mission: Impossible at $581 million worldwide. The 65mm IMAX sequences run a cumulative 28 minutes of the film's 169-minute runtime — the longest IMAX native-photography ratio of any non-Nolan tentpole.
If you saw the movie at a non-IMAX theater the first time, the wing-walking sequence is the single most worth-it argument for re-watching it on a proper laser screen. The biplane occupies the full 1.43:1 frame for eight unbroken minutes. The audio is mixed for the 12-channel system. On any home setup the sequence is impressive. On the AMC Lincoln Square IMAX it is physiological — you can feel the propeller pulse in the seat.
The Lincoln Square Building Itself
AMC Lincoln Square 13 opened in 1994 as the Sony Theatres Lincoln Square. The architect was David Rockwell, who designed the building as a tribute to the lost movie palaces of the 1920s. The lobby is a three-story rotunda with reproductions of the Roxy Theatre proscenium, the Capitol Theatre mezzanine railing, and the Loew's State chandelier. The escalators ascend through a curved cobalt-glass atrium. The whole building treats moviegoing as ceremony, which is appropriate for a Mission: Impossible IMAX night.
The IMAX auditorium is on the second floor, accessed via the curved escalator at the back of the lobby. It seats 720. The screen sits behind a recessed velvet curtain that opens automatically two minutes before each showtime. The opening curtain reveal is theatrical in the literal sense and worth being in your seat for.
The Pre-Show Routine, Specifically
Arrive 25 minutes early. The Lincoln Square IMAX auditorium opens 20 minutes before showtime. The 25-minute buffer gives you time to use the bathroom on the second floor before the line forms, grab popcorn from the second-floor concession (faster than the lobby), and walk into the auditorium with five minutes to settle into row J/K center. The seat is reserved and identified by your ticket but the open seating policy means earlier arrival lets you pick adjacent seats if you have a group.
AMC's pre-show on the IMAX auditorium runs a 14-minute reel of upcoming IMAX-format trailers — Avengers: Doomsday, Avatar 3 The Seed Bearer, Mission: Impossible 9 teaser if AMC has it. The trailers are themselves in 1.43:1 and are the only legitimate reason to be in the auditorium 15 minutes before showtime.
The Pre-Film Dinner Move
AMC Lincoln Square's neighborhood is a 90-second walk to three of the better quick-pre-movie restaurants in midtown. Walk north on Broadway one block to West 70th Street — Cafe Luxembourg is the upscale option, $40 for a steak frites; The Smith on Broadway and 71st is the casual reliable, $25 for a burger and pickle plate; Magnolia Bakery on Columbus and 69th is the dessert-after option if you want to extend the evening.
For pre-7:30pm showtimes: reserve The Smith for 5:30pm, two-course meal in 55 minutes, walk to the theater at 6:50pm, in your seat by 7:10pm. For 11pm showtimes, eat first at a normal hour and arrive at the theater for the late showing fresh.
Practical Notes
- Address: AMC Lincoln Square 13, 1998 Broadway between 68th and 69th, New York, NY 10023.
- Format: 1.43:1 native-aspect IMAX laser, 76 ft × 58 ft screen, 12-channel 28,000-watt sound. Only one of its kind in NYC.
- Engagement window: May 22 to May 25, 2026, with extended weekend through Tuesday May 26.
- Best showtime: Tuesday 7:30pm. Best seats: row J or K, center. Worst showtimes: Saturday evening (sold out).
- Tickets: $26.99 adult IMAX. AMC Stubs A-List covers it. Book on amctheatres.com or the app.
- Getting there: 1 train to 66 St – Lincoln Center, walk two blocks north on Broadway. Or B/C to 72 St, walk three blocks south.
- Arrive: 25 minutes early for the trailers and the curtain reveal.
- Runtime: 169 minutes plus 14 minutes of trailers.
Why This Window
Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is one of the few movies in current theatrical release that was photographed substantially in 65mm IMAX. The Lincoln Square is the only New York screen with the native projection ratio to display that photography correctly. The combination of a Memorial Day weekend re-engagement, a Tom Cruise franchise finale, and a single venue in a city of nine million is the kind of specific alignment that doesn't repeat. The next major IMAX 1.43:1 release at Lincoln Square is Avengers: Doomsday in December. Between now and then, the screen will run mostly 1.90:1 cropped releases.
If you have not seen The Final Reckoning the way it was framed, this is the week. Right on time, in the largest commercial frame in New York City, for the price of a regular IMAX ticket.
Tags: #missionimpossible #finalreckoning #tomcruise #imax #amclincolnsquare #rightontime #karpofinds #nyc #moviesnyc #imaxlaser #memorialdayweekend #upperwestside
Sources consulted: AMC Lincoln Square 13 · IMAX 1.43:1 Theatre Locations · Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning
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