Incredible Climbing Documentary 'Free Solo' Coming To IMAX For One Week, Which Could Result In Your Most Intense Theatrical Experience Of 2019

Free Solo, a documentary about rock climber Alex Honnold, is coming to IMAX theaters for a one week run in early 2019. This is great news – the film is a pulse-pounding look at a man who attempts to scale El Capitan, the 3,000 foot sheer rock face in Yosemite National Park, by himself and without any assistance from ropes. The opportunity to experience Free Solo's jaw-dropping cinematography on the largest screen possible will be a wonderful post-holiday gift from National Geographic Documentaries and IMAX. Read on for more details about this stunning documentary's upcoming IMAX run.

I watched Free Solo last week via a screener on my TV at home, and even on a comparatively small screen, it was one of the most intense movie-related experiences I had in 2018. My palms were sweating (even sitting on my couch!), and more than once, I wished I could be seeing these incredible shots unfold on an IMAX screen. Now you'll have that chance. National Geographic Documentaries has announced that Free Solo is getting a one-week IMAX engagement in the United States and Canada starting on January 11, 2019.

The IMAX release of FREE SOLO will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology. The crystal-clear images, coupled with IMAX's customized theater geometry and powerful digital audio, create a unique environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie.

One of the best aspects of Free Solo is how it shows the directors grappling with whether or not the very act of making the movie could contribute to Honnold's death – whether the cameramen's presence on the mountain with him (where they achieve some truly spectacular shots, as you can see in that trailer above) could alter his plans or make him take an unnecessary risk. It's mesmerizing, terrifying, and exhilarating at the same time.

In the movie, Honnold talks about how there aren't many ways to achieve perfection anymore, but this – free soloing one of the world's biggest rock faces – is one of them. While tons of movie exhibition options have been popularized over the past few years (4DX, ScreenX, etc.), IMAX still rules them all, and I can't think of a better way to soak in Honnold's quest for perfection than on the biggest screen possible.

Free Solo is in theaters right now, but if you're anywhere near an IMAX theater, you're going to want to wait until January 11, 2019 to see it.

From award-winning filmmaker E. Chai Vasarhelyi and world-renowned filmmaker, cinematographer and mountaineer Jimmy Chin (Meru), FREE SOLO is a breathtaking portrait of the free soloist climber Alex Honnold, as he prepares for an unprecedented feat: climbing the face of the world's most famous rock...the 3,200-foot El Capitan in Yosemite National Park...without a rope.