BOURNEMOUTH’S Imax may be long gone – but giant-screen cinema is returning to the town with the advent of ISENSE.

The biggest screen at the town’s new Odeon multiplex will measure a massive 18metres by 10metres (59ft x 32ft), the Daily Echo can reveal.

And while that pales beside the town’s demolished Imax screen – which was the height of four double decker buses – it is bigger than many screens that carry the Imax brand name today.

The Odeon, due to open in early 2017, is part of the West Central leisure development being built at Exeter Road, on the site once occupied by the town’s bus station. Its arrival will mean the closure of the Odeon and ABC on Westover Road, which have been sold to developers.

An Odeon spokesman told the Daily Echo: "The new Odeon cinema in West Central will offer guests state of the art technology, premium comfort and great hospitality when it opens in 2017.

“Our guests in Bournemouth deserve the very best, so the new cinema's biggest screen will offer our full ISENSE experience with picture-perfect high definition digital images from a 4k projector and a Dolby Atmos sound system.”

The largest screen would be bigger than the Odeon Southampton’s main screen, which has carried the Imax name since 2010 when an enhanced digital projection system was installed.

A ticket for a midweek ISENSE showing of the new James Bond film Spectre at Odeon’s Birmingham Broadway Plaza - the only other ISENSE in operation at the moment - currently costs £8.25, compared with £6.25 for a 2D adult ticket.

Odeon says of ISENSE: “Our ISENSE screens are huge; the perfect canvas for our state-of-the-art 4K digital projectors. Four times the resolution of standard projectors, they deliver almost nine million pixels for an even brighter, clearer and more detailed picture.

“We are able to show all films in ISENSE, but those specifically mastered in 4K are even more spectacular. Each auditorium houses the largest screen possible and each screen is specifically curved to maximise light reflection, which is particularly important for 3D films.”

Roger Marley, former manager of the ABC cinema, said: “The new format must be exceptional quality.

“It’s time the cinemas in Bournemouth moved on. This is going to be outstanding quality and to have a screen that’s the size they suggest, it’s got to be good."