September 23, 2008—The Giant Screen Cinema Association (GSCA) presented its 2009 Achievement Awards this week at its awards gala held during the GSCA International Conference and Trade Show in Indianapolis, Indiana. Film awards were announced and presented at the gala. The marketing award winners, which were announced in July, received their awards at the gala as well. In addition to the GSCA awards, IMAX Corporation presented the Maximum Image awards for Best Booth and Hall of Fame film. The following are this year’s award winners:
September 17, 2009--Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and IMAX Corporation today announced that Tron: Legacy, the intense, high-tech 3D adventure starring Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde, will be released to IMAX theaters in IMAX 3D simultaneously with the film's wide release on December 17, 2010. Directed by Joseph Kosinski, Tron: Legacy will be digitally re-mastered with IMAX DMR (Digital Re-Mastering) technology. Tron: Legacy is the third film of the previously announced five-picture agreement between IMAX and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
September. 16, 2009--National Geographic Entertainment (NGE) has announced the acquisition of worldwide rights to the film Blue Man Group: Mind Blast for distribution to giant screen, digital, and IMAX3D and 2D theaters. The 3D live-action comedy, slated for release in Spring 2011, will feature an original screenplay and score and will star the group’s original cast members. Blue Man Group: Mind Blast is the fourth major film acquisition for NGE this year, following the Sundance hit Amreeka, opening in select cities throughout September; City of Life and Death, which screened this week at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival; and The Wildest Dream, which will be released in 2010 on IMAX and giant screens worldwide and on 35 mm screens in the United States.
September 15, 2009--IMAX Corporation and Columbia Pictures today announced that the highly anticipated action-adventure Spider-Man 4 will be released to IMAX theaters simultaneously with the film's worldwide release on May 5, 2011. The fourth installment of the successful Spider-Man franchise, based on the Marvel Comicbook character, will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience. The film will be distributed by Columbia Pictures domestically and by Sony Pictures Releasing International overseas.
September 14, 2009--3D Entertainment is pleased to announce today that it has acquired the distribution rights for Air Racers 3D: Forces of Flight, produced by Los Angeles-based Pretend Entertainment and Stereoscope. Through the eyes of first-time competitor and rookie pilot Steve Hinton Jr., son of champion air racer and acrobatic pilot Steve Hinton, the film will chronicle the preparation for and competition in the world’s fastest motor sport: the legendary Reno National Championship Air Races. The film will fly into IMAX 3D and 2D theaters in the US beginning in fall 2010.
September 10, 2009--MacGillivray Freeman Films today announced it has acquired distribution rights to five award-winning giant screen films produced and distributed by the Science Museum of Minnesota. The titles—Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees, The Greatest Places, Ring of Fire, Search for the Great Sharks, and Tropical Rainforest—are proven performers at the giant screen box office and together have been seen by more than 60 million viewers worldwide.
September 10, 2009--3D Entertainment Distribution proudly announced today that its unique trilogy of underwater-themed films for IMAX 3D and Digital 3D cinemas--Ocean Wonderland 3D (2003), Sharks 3D: A Close Encounter with the Lions and Tigers of the Ocean (2005), and Dolphins and Whales 3D: Tribes of the Ocean (2008)--has reached a new milestone with over USD $70 million cumulated to date at the worldwide box office, and still counting. The films have been released at IMAX 2D and 3D theaters and select Digital 3D cinemas in 28 countries thus far.
September 10, 2009-- IMAX Corporation and Guangzhou Jinyi Film & Television Group, Co., Ltd., a leading entertainment developer and exhibitor in China, today announced an agreement to open four IMAX theaters in China. The first three installations are scheduled to be completed during the second half of 2011 in the cities of Chongqing, Tianjin, and Shenyang. A fourth installation is scheduled for 2012 in a yet-to-be determined location. Each IMAX theater will be part of a newly constructed multiplex, and each will utilize IMAX's digital projection technology.
September 10, 2009--Nine-time world champion surfer, Kelly Slater, and his big wave companion, Raimana Van Bastolaer, have completed principal photography for Ultimate Wave Tahiti, the first 3D IMAX and giant screen theater film to use extreme surfing to focus on the science of waves, according to its executive producer, K2 Communications, Inc. The film, scheduled for worldwide release next February, was primarily shot in the big wave environment known to watermen around the world as Teahupoo. The two surfers combine to blend various aspects of wave development and the island cultures they affect.
September 8, 2009--IMAX Corporation and Warner Bros. Pictures today announced that Hubble 3D will be released exclusively in IMAX and IMAX 3D theaters worldwide beginning March 19, 2010, with expansion to additional IMAX locations on April 23, timed to the Hubble Space Telescope's 20th Anniversary.