IMAX Success Is Rising

Is IMAX taking over the movie theatre industry?

BY COLIN ENQUIST

Jumping into your seat, staring skyward, wondering exactly where the screen ends and the ceiling begins, you sit, waiting patiently for the film to start. A flash of light, sound bursting inside your eardrums, you can almost hear a drum roll playing as the film is about to start. Extra money well spent you tell yourself, not on the popcorn or the drink but the ticket stub that says The IMAX Experience.

For those who don't know, IMAX is short for Image MAXimum and it is a motion picture film format and projection standard created by Canada's IMAX Corporation which debuted the new technology at Expo ‘67 in Montreal, Canada. IMAX screens have the capacity to display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems. Standard IMAX screens are 22 metres (72 ft) wide and 16.1 metres (53 ft) high, but they can vary. As of April 2009, there are 320 IMAX theatres in 42 countries (65% of these are located in Canada and the United States). About 60% of these are commercial theatres with the other 40% being located in educational venues. Cinesphere (pictured above right), is the world's first permanent IMAX theatre, opening its doors in 1971 at Ontario Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The intent of IMAX is to dramatically increase the resolution of the image by using a much larger film frame. To achieve this, 65 mm film stock is run horizontally through the cameras. While traditional 65 mm film has an image area that is 48.5 mm wide and 22.1 mm tall, in IMAX the image is 69.6 mm wide and 48.5 mm tall (comparison pictured left). In order for the film to expose at standard film speed of 24 frames per second, three times as much film is needed to move through the camera each second.

An IMAX projector (pictured below left) is therefore a substantial piece of equipment, weighing up to 1.8 tonnes and towering at over 70" [178 cm] tall and 75" [195 cm] long. The xenon lamps (pictured right) used are made of a thin layer of quartz crystal, and contain xenon gas at a pressure of about 25 atmospheres; because of this, projectionists are required to wear protective body armour (yikes!) when changing or handling these in case the lamp breaks (so they better not drop them!) because the flying shards of crystal could be extremely deadly when combined with the high pressure of the gas within.

Disney produced Fantasia 2000: The IMAX Experience, the first full-length animated feature released exclusively (on January 1st, 2000) in the IMAX format (the film would later have a conventional theatrical release). Many other films would later open in IMAX the same day they debuted at conventional theatres such as the two Matrix sequels, Superman Returns, Spider-Man 3, Watchmen and all the Harry Potter films released since 2004. Almost all these films had successful runs at the IMAX.

The most successful was the Batman Begins sequel The Dark Knight which featured six sequences (a total of 30 minutes) shot using IMAX technology. This was the first time ever that a major feature film has been even partially shot using IMAX cameras. The film broke box office records for IMAX, taking in about $6.3 million from 94 theatres in the U.S. and Canada over the opening weekend. Star Trek debuted last week surpassing The Dark Knight’s IMAX take, cashing in for $8.3 million. During its second week, Trek’s IMAX portion of its gross was down 29 percent to an estimated $5.1 million at 138 sites, which was a record second weekend for the format. The IMAX tally is $17.4 million, accounting for nearly 12 percent of the overall total. Starting May 22, Star Trek is scheduled to relinquish its IMAX screens to Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, who will have a tough time topping the Star Trek haul.

Slowly but surely IMAX is taking over the movie theatre industry. The only thing stopping them is their lack of theatres. Many people would rather pay the extra $2-$5 for a movie ticket just to see the film of their choice in IMAX. I know I would, the superior picture is nice for sure, but I can’t get over the sound difference compared to a conventional theatre. If the record openings continue we may get more IMAX theatres opening worldwide.

Check out some of these films upcoming in IMAX in 2009 and beyond that you may need to buy tickets for. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, A Christmas Carol and the highly anticipated Avatar are all being released in 2009 under the IMAX 3D Experience banner. Around the corner in 2010 is Alice in Wonderland, Shrek Goes Fourth, The Tree of Life and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part I. Three films have already been announced for 2011 as well, Spider-Man 4, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Part II of the Deathly Hollows.