For a city defined by its passion for cinema, it is indeed an unkind cut that the two proposed IMAX screens have been teasing film buffs for more than a year now.

Enquiries reveal the two screens — Luxe IMAX at Pheonix Mall in Velachery and Palazzo IMAX at Vijaya Forum Mall in Vadaplani — are yet to get government clearance. One of their requests is to increase the admission price to recover the high cost of projecting films in the IMAX format.

The wait has been agonisingly long for city fans as movie buffs in Bangalore and Hyderabad have, for a long time now, watched movies like Dark Knight Rises, Gravity, Thor and Godzilla that are known to have exploited the Image MAXimum format optimally.

Hardcore movie fans are left with no option but to travel to these cities to catch the films in the format that has globally gained acceptance as the best entertainment experience.

With Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar slated for release this month, the only option at hand for most fans seems to be travel and spending a weekend in either Bangalore or Hyderabad. Nolan is widely acknowledged as one of the masters of the IMAX format.