Maybe you already knew this.

But I went to see the new “Mission Impossible” movie on Saturday and I learned something new. Something that has been in existence since 2012 and is really old news in the movie biz. But somehow, this technology has avoided me like the plague.

So, when I went to buy tickets on Fandango and get my senior discount, we were hoping for a movie early afternoon and there was one that was at 12:45pm. Perfect! I went through the motions and bought our tickets for $19.60 each. Really? That’s what movies are up to these days? Or, is Tom Cruise just trying to get his money back sooner?

This is what the listing looked like:

Notice anything unusual? There’s the IMAX screen. Yeah, I don’t need that big of a screen. I just want to watch the movie on a traditional sized movie screen. Noon was too early, so we went with the 12:45p showing.

Notice anything about that showtime? Right below the word Standard and above the 12:45p is the phrase “Screen X”. I didn’t even give it a second thought.

That is, until we were in the movie theater and suddenly found ourselves surrounded by the movie. The screen in front and both side walls of the theater. That’s what Screen X means. They don’t do it for the whole movie, but for certain scenes, you can follow past the edge of the traditional screen and the scene just keeps going. On both sides of you!

Wait. What. Huh?

Apparently, they’ve done this for a lot of movies since 2012. The cost of an old-fashioned “just a movie ticket” was $15.10, while the Screen X version was $19.60. Was it worth the extra $4.50? Not really. This first time, it came as a surprise and was a gentle reminder that, Tim, no, you don’t know everything. I’m fairly certain they weren’t intentionally keeping it a secret from me, but I couldn’t have been more surprised.

So, it looks like this:

Weird, huh?

As my old broadcast partner Bruce Murdock would say, “It’s a pretty poor day when you don’t learn something.”

Maybe I just made you a little richer.

Tim Hunter