Ladies and gentlemen, the film is about to begin… The 93-metre Feadship Lady S is the first superyacht in the world to be fitted with a Dolby 3D IMAX theatre. In an extraordinary feat of engineering and construction – not to mention a great deal of input from movie theatre technicians – the giant cinema takes up two-thirds of the yacht’s 14-metre beam, cocooned in a floating box within the hull to ensure maximum insulation.

As they relax in some exceptionally comfortable reclining chairs, the owners and their guests can enjoy the ultimate immersive movie experience on a curved screen measuring 5.8 metres by 3.4 metres. Two mammoth 4K Barco projectors are housed in a dedicated room, part of a setup that took four years to design and implement. This industry-first project involved both the owner’s team and IMAX itself, with the company looking to set the benchmark for future projects on superyachts.

Whisper quiet

Enjoying perfect sound quality within the theatre was a prerequisite for earning official certification from IMAX. The sophisticated insulation we developed offers less noise and vibration in the theatre at 16-knot cruising speed than the contractual harbour condition for owners and guest areas. The rest of Lady S was also designed to be as quiet as possible to ensure no sounds infiltrate the theatre. Equipped with a mixing table, the cinema is so quiet that a film director could use it as an editing suite.

Serious about sound

Film buffs will notice how unusual it is to see the words Dolby and IMAX in the same sentence. IMAX films are mixed using proprietary sound programming but the owners of Lady S prefer the sound of Dolby Atmos. Uniquely, these two highly competitive companies agreed to work together and pair their systems for Lady S. The result from the large number of speakers and subwoofers is an aural sensation, enhanced by binary diffuser panels that absorb any sound reflections.

Playing it cool

The smart engineering did not end there. IMAX projectors generate a lot of heat and to ensure no dust particles reach the projector lenses or window this heat is cooled with clean cold air. Special ventilation duct locations keep the cooling silent. We also had to take the issue of weight into account as the insulation, speakers and subwoofers are all rather heavy, as are the projectors, which are mounted on a special lift so they can be moved for regular servicing.