Imax Systems Corp

The film is called "Blue Planet," but when it is finished, the colors likely to make the greatest impression on viewers are brown and gray--brown for the barren expanses of erosion visible to a camera 170 miles above Earth, gray for the layer of smoke that blankets the burning Amazon rain forest.

Watching "Apollo 13" in Imax (opening Friday), you'd think that Ron Howard's 1995 movie about the heroic rescue of three NASA astronauts on an aborted mission to the moon was made for the giant format.

From the blackness of outer space, the camera tilts downward until the rim of the planet Earth comes into view. Then from 180 miles in space Baja California rises onto the screen. This would be opening sequence of a movie filmed by astronauts aboard the space shuttle Discovery, which was scheduled to land at Edwards Air Force Base this morning.

Coming to a gigantic screen near you: Imax Corp. and Lucasfilm Ltd. entered into a joint agreement to digitally remaster and re-release "Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones." It's the first time Imax has used its proprietary technology on a film shot using digital cameras--a distinction that helped retain the look and feel of the original movie, even when it's been blown up to fit the huge screen.

If the really big picture simply isn't big enough, hang onto your seats, because big-screen king Imax is bringing the West Coast's first 3-D sight-and-sound theater to Orange County. The six-story screen will open in late November at the Edwards Theatres complex in the Irvine Spectrum Entertainment Center, a $50-million, Moroccan-themed entertainment, restaurant and retail complex now under construction near the El Toro Y.

Robert J. Corrigan, who surprised the computer industry last May by announcing his retirement as head of IBM's personal computer operations, is leaping into high-tech entertainment. Imax Corp., the Toronto-based pioneer of giant-screen movies for theme parks and museums, said Tuesday that it has tapped Corrigan, 54, to be president and chief executive. As president of IBM Personal Computer Co.

Imax Corp. hired financial advisors to evaluate options that include a sale or merger of the maker of projection and sound systems for big-screen theaters. The company said Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Wasserstein, Perella & Co. will search for alternatives. Imax shares rose $4.06, or 18%, to close at $26.50 in Thursday's trading on Nasdaq. Its shares have fallen 18% this year. Wasserstein Perella, Imax's largest shareholder, supports the move, it said.

Watching "Apollo 13" in Imax (opening Friday), you'd think that Ron Howard's 1995 movie about the heroic rescue of three NASA astronauts on an aborted mission to the moon was made for the giant format.

The Big Picture: The West Coast's first 3-D Imax theater will open Friday at the Irvine Entertainment Center near the El Toro Y, where the 5 and 405 freeways meet. Edwards Theaters Circuit Inc., the Newport Beach-based operator, is hoping the massive screen, with its high-tech sight-and-sound system, will find a place among Southern California's wealth of tourist attractions and generate annual ticket sales of $5 million.

Imax Announces Expansion Plans: Imax Corp. said it plans to open 40 large-format movie theaters that it will own and operate during the next five years. Toronto-based Imax now only leases its theaters, but it sees potential cost efficiencies in ownership, Chairman Bradley Wechsler said at the company's annual meeting. This strategy will complement the company's film production business, Wechsler said, as the new theaters will have an existing film library.

Imax Corp. hired financial advisors to evaluate options that include a sale or merger of the maker of projection and sound systems for big-screen theaters. The company said Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Wasserstein, Perella & Co. will search for alternatives. Imax shares rose $4.06, or 18%, to close at $26.50 in Thursday's trading on Nasdaq. Its shares have fallen 18% this year. Wasserstein Perella, Imax's largest shareholder, supports the move, it said.

Theater owner Imax Corp. and film studio DreamWorks SKG on Wednesday said they plan to show a three-dimensional version of the upcoming animated film "Shrek" in Imax's large-screen venues. The agreement reflects Imax's efforts to expand the types of films shown in its theaters.

IMAX (IMAX) (Jim: Buy) (Mike: Buy) Jim: I'm assuming, Mike, that you've had the "IMAX experience"? Mike: Certainly, Jim. As a family man and a connoisseur of kitsch, most recently I attended Walt Disney's "Fantasia 2000" at an IMAX theater. Jim: Kitsch? Mike: Sure. "Fantasia" and "Fantasia 2000"? They're the definition of kitsch, what with those baby centaurs and unicorns prancing around, those flying whales and whatnot.

Big stars, big budgets and big egos are the basic elements of a Hollywood blockbuster. In the next few years, another oversized ingredient may be added to the mix: big screens. The jumbo film format has hit Hollywood, with at least three studios developing projects for Imax theaters now dominated by independently produced adventure documentaries, panoramic travelogues and woozy thrill rides. Executives at Imax Corp.

Is it still possible to be cutting edge in an age when nearly everything has been seen before? Apparently: Two very different directors have just delivered two very different nature films that raise the bar for large-format filmmaking. The subject of Jon Long's "Extreme," showing at Edwards Imax theaters in Irvine and Ontario, is man living on the edge and pushing technology for his own enjoyment. Sounds hedonistic, but the way the story is told, it's almost spiritual.

Imax Corp., a Canadian company that makes giant-screen theater projection and sound systems (and produces films for them), will expand and consolidate its local operations by taking over a long-vacant Santa Monica warehouse that had been slated for demolition. Imax's move--along with other companies' ongoing searches for appropriate digs--seems to indicate that demand from media and entertainment businesses for Westside space remains strong amid a rather tight supply.

Early reports suggest that the high-tech, giant-screen, 3D motion picture screen at the Irvine Entertainment Center has been a success. Operated by Newport Beach-based Edwards Theatres Circuits Inc., the Imax theater that opened March 15 recorded the highest-ever opening weekend for an Imax theater. The three-day opening drew 12,632 patrons, generating $95,437 in gross ticket revenue. On average, 95% of available seats were filled in the 460-seat theater.

Fewer than 100 American cities have giant-screen theaters showing documentaries and family films. Last year, the city of Ontario--population 131,000--became home to two. One of the screens has been funded to the tune of $6.4 million-plus by San Bernardino County, in an effort to make the Ontario Mills mall a family entertainment center.

One week after 20th Century Fox made its much-watched entry into theatrical animation with "Anastasia," a new company is entering the field long dominated by Walt Disney Co. It's not Warner Bros. or DreamWorks SKG, though they have big animated pictures in the works. It's Imax Corp., the Ontario, Canada-based company that owns and programs 150 giant screens worldwide.