Word: imax
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...theater-system screen is a major attraction at museums, science centers and vacation destinations like Las Vegas. Now the company is bringing scaled-down versions to smaller cities, betting that even a 55-ft. version will shake 'em up in such places as Tulsa, Okla., and Fresno, Calif. "The IMAX format is the best theater presentation in the world, bar none," raves Bruce Olson, president of Marcus Theatres, which has signed on to build two 3-D theaters, in Columbus, Ohio, and Addison, Illinois. Since 1997, IMAX has signed deals for 73 new theater systems from Canada to New Zealand...
Going smaller is the strategy devised by IMAX's co-CEOs, Bradley Wechsler, 46, and Richard Gelfond, 42, two former investment bankers who were part of a group that acquired IMAX for $90 million in 1994. They saw in the Canadian firm a sleepy moneymaker. IMAX, founded in 1967, was "run like a candy store by its five original founders," says Wechsler. "There was really no business discipline." Since then, revenues have doubled, to $158.5 million in 1997, while profits have increased, to $20.7 million from a loss of $11.6 million in 1994. In the first quarter, revenues were...
...Since IMAX went public in June 1994, its stock price has risen from about $6.75 a share to $29 in March before settling at about $22. That makes the company worth around $650 million. The two co-bosses took advantage of that upturn to sell 100,000 shares each recently, but analysts still see IMAX as a coming attraction. "It's a very undervalued company," says senior analyst Steven Bernard at Everen Securities. "We don't think it's well known on Wall Street...
Suburban movie-theater owners say that in a world of media choices, the bulked-up metroplex is the best way to keep customers coming. "People want a reason to leave home," says Dennis Kucherawy, vice president of corporate relations at Famous Players, a Viacom subsidiary that is building IMAX theaters in Canada. "We wanted to restore the excitement of the movie palace of the past. We are building the movie palace of the future...
...movie palace of the future isn't cheap to build: as much as $8 million for an IMAX screen, in contrast to about $1 million for a conventional one. The projection system uses the largest commercial film format available--15-perforation 70 mm--10 times as large as conventional 35 mm. But IMAX and the theater owners hope to scale down costs too, for instance by replacing the $300 liquid-crystal eyeglasses used for 3-D movies with disposable polarized goggles. (The 3-D system can also show 2-D movies like Everest) IMAX films are shorter, so more customers...