IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond isn’t buying Disney’s “Infinity Vision” pitch. In an interview with Business Insider, he characterized the program as “marketing” and specifically tied it to a very real scheduling problem: Disney could not play “Avengers: Doomsday” in IMAX because IMAX had committed to “Dune: Part 3.”

That’s the crux. “Infinity Vision” is Disney’s own large-format, high-fidelity option for theaters that are not IMAX. Disney created it as a certification meant to steer moviegoers toward premium non-IMAX screens, essentially branding the experience they will get when a theater carries the Infinity Vision badge. The promise is about presentation, not a new projection system. Gelfond’s argument is that Disney needed a way to market “Avengers” to audiences without competing for the IMAX footprint it had already allocated to “Dune: Part 3.”

Now zoom out. Come December 18, “Dune: Part 3” and “Avengers: Doomsday” are on a collision course of “Barbenheimer-like proportions,” as the article frames it, but from IMAX’s perspective, the “Dune” side looks pre-positioned. The third installment in Denis Villeneuve’s series has already secured IMAX and IMAX 70mm screens for opening weekend, while Marvel’s “Doomsday,” which brings back MCU Phase One characters and features Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.), is left out of IMAX.

Disney has been explicit about building its own alternative. In April, Disney announced “Infinity Vision,” a certification that gives non-IMAX theaters with premium large-format screens Disney’s technical seal of approval. The Infinity Vision website describes the experience as “exceptional,” including “big screens, with bright images and outstanding sound.” It also claims, “When you see the Infinity Vision badge, you know you are in for an incredible theatrical experience.” For the industry, this is a clean example of how “format strategy” has evolved: instead of only selling a screen, companies can sell a standard.

Gelfond’s take is blunt. When asked about Infinity Vision, he told Business Insider that IMAX is still “the gold standard.” Then he drew the line between brand and technology. “It’s not a new technological advance in any way; it’s a marketing initiative,” Gelfond said, because Disney could not play “Avengers” in IMAX after IMAX had committed to “Dune 3.” He added that Disney “really wanted to figure out a way that they could market to audiences,” and so created Infinity Vision. He further said it is not going to “open an additional projection system,” and it “is not going to add any special look or feel to the film.” In other words, the play is to market “Avengers” through certification and signage, not through changing the production or hardware stack for the specific movie.

The broader context matters because IMAX has been gaining momentum on both fronts: formatting films for its screens and, increasingly, cameras. The article notes that filmmakers have not only had their movies formatted for IMAX, but have also shot content using its cameras. Christopher Nolan is highlighted as a leader in this trend, with his latest movie, “The Odyssey,” shot entirely with IMAX cameras, described as a first. Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part 3” is also said to be riding the IMAX wave, with the director shooting select scenes with IMAX cameras. That matters because it ties a premium brand to both the capture process and the exhibition experience, which is harder to replicate with a badge alone.

IMAX’s commercial pull is visible in ticket behavior and reported performance. The article says presales of “The Odyssey” in IMAX 70mm sold out within hours a year before the movie’s opening. It also reports that in the opening weekend, IMAX earned $51.8 million globally for showings of “The Odyssey,” more than 20% of the movie’s worldwide box office of $264.1 million. Gelfond is quoted saying, “The numbers this movie is going to do for IMAX are going to be among the best numbers in IMAX history.” That track record is the backdrop for why Disney’s Infinity Vision pitch lands with skepticism inside IMAX’s leadership circle.

And even outside the “Dune” versus “Avengers” clash, the strategy signals a more fragmented large-format ecosystem. The article notes that a fellow Marvel release, “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” will also not have any IMAX screens in the US when it opens on July 30, and is on track to have a $200 million-plus opening at the domestic box office. For executives, the implication is straightforward but consequential: the question is no longer whether a film is “big-format,” it’s which ecosystem owns the premium chunk of audience attention on a given weekend, and what backup standard the studio can deploy when IMAX capacity is already spoken for.