Word: imax
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
James Cameron directed Aliens. He also directed Titanic. His latest movie, which opened last week, combines themes from both films and is called--what else?--Aliens of the Deep. This one's a documentary, shot in IMAX 3-D. It's his cinematic take on the emerging science of astrobiology, the search for life in other worlds. Paradoxically, astrobiologists are equally fascinated with outer space and the ocean depths, where water superheated by magma from the Earth's crust spews from cracks called hydrothermal vents and sustains a bizarre menagerie of bacteria and other aquatic life...
Well, maybe. Until recently, IMAX was not exactly what you would call Hollywood hip. Founded in 1967, the Ontario-based entertainment company was known for its eight-story-tall screens in museums and its educational films on such subjects as dolphins and space--some in 3-D. Cool? Definitely. Profitable? Not very, especially considering the $8 million cost of an IMAX theater. But over the past 21 months, IMAX has introduced a new technology that allows multiplex operators to retrofit existing theaters for about $1.6 million. The company also developed a way to digitally convert films to its giant-screen...
...once staid IMAX now has Hollywood sizzle and a new customer base: multiplex owners. The updated business model appears to be working. In the past year, IMAX had successful runs with three Hollywood titles, including Spider-Man 2, and has inked deals for 25 theaters worldwide. IMAX now operates 245 theaters in 35 countries, including China and India...
Eric Wold, an analyst for Merriman Curhan Ford & Co., believes IMAX gives movie studios and multiplex owners a competitive advantage--and generates extra revenues for both. Or as Dan Fellman, head of domestic theatrical distribution for Warner Bros. (owned by TIME'S parent company), puts it: "IMAX 'event-izes' your movie. It's that simple...
...Will IMAX be able to pull couch potatoes away from their plasma TVs? Polar Express's director, Robert Zemeckis, thinks so. "The one thing that IMAX delivers," he says, "you can't get in your home-theater system: this great big, beautiful image." Whether IMAX is the answer to Hollywood's troubles, though, may yet prove to be as ethereal as those magical 3-D snowflakes...