August 5, 2008--Since last September, the domed IMAX screen of the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History’s 25-year-old Omni Theater has been dark as crews made major renovations to the theater and constructed a link between the theater and the main portion of the new facility. In August, the theater will return to action, offering new guest amenities while marking a major step in the construction of the Museum’s new facility.
July 31, 2008—Calling attention to the need for more fresh water around the world, MacGillivray Freeman Films and its Educational Foundation today donated $26,500 to Ryan’s Well Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building wells and sanitation facilities in developing countries. The donation was matched by Ryan’s Well Foundation through student fundraising efforts, doubling the donation’s impact.
July 28, 2008--IMAX Corporation and Warner Bros. Pictures today announced that The Dark Knight: The IMAX Experience continued its unprecedented box office performance with the highest-grossing second weekend in IMAX history. The IMAX release grossed $4.6 million on 94 domestic IMAX screens, from Friday July 25 through Sunday July 27, bringing the film's domestic total to $16.3 million. The film is expected to cross the $20 million milestone today.
July 28, 2008---Building upon the success of more than 150 million global views of the critically acclaimed IMAX production Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag, executive producer and distributor K2 Communications announced today the anticipated release date for the newest and most technically advanced aviation film ever produced for IMAX theaters. According to K2 Communications Chief Executive Officer Bob Kresser, the premiere of Legends of the Sky has been slated for March 2009 at the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum’s Lockheed Martin IMAX Theatre. Legends will be presented shortly thereafter at Seattle’s Pacific Science Center and in subsequent general distribution to IMAX theaters and other giant screen theaters worldwide.
July 28, 2008--According to Smithsonian V.P. of IMAX Theater Operations, Toby Mensforth, the dynamic giant screen film Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag has pushed the ticket sales envelope to new record heights. "Sometime in June we sold the 1 millionth Fighter Pilot ticket, proving the market for IMAX theater flight films and America's love affair withflying is boundless,” Mensforth said. Globally, the film--executive produced and distributed by leading independent giant screen studio K2 Communications, and underwritten by The Boeing Company--has been seen by over 150 million combined theater and DVD viewers in 40 countries and is still going strong in a number of locations.
July 28, 2008—Orbita Max has completed photography on The Magic Tale, the first stereoscopic 3D Spanish film. Filming completed on July 24 after a three-week shoot in Barcelona. The Barcelona shoot followed a three-month shoot in Namibia and South Africa that took place from March-May 2008. Filming in Barcelona took place on sets and at city exteriors like the Hospital de Sant Pau, Sant Sebastià beach, and on many streets in the Eixample, Poblenou, and Barceloneta neighborhoods. The film is scheduled to be released in December 2009.
July 28, 2008--MediaMerge has added the Humphrey IMAX Dome Theater at the Milwaukee Public Museum to its Service Partnership Program (SPP), the largest third-party IMAX servicing agent in the world.
July 21, 2008--IMAX Corporation and Warner Bros. Pictures today announced that the studio's summer box office hit, The Dark Knight, starring Christian Bale and Heath Ledger, and directed by Christopher Nolan, shattered opening box office records on 94 IMAX screens during its debut. The IMAX release contributed $6.3 million of the $158.4 million that the film grossed at the domestic box office, on a total of 94 North American screens this weekend. The picture posted a domestic IMAX per screen average of $67,036. Internationally, the picture generated approximately $725,000 from 15 IMAX theaters, and it is scheduled to open in 24 more IMAX locations in the coming weeks. The film's worldwide IMAX opening total was a record-breaking $7 million.
July 21, 2008--MacGillivray Freeman Films has completed principal photography for its ambitious and thought-provoking giant screen film for IMAX and IMAX 3D theaters about the history, culture, and religion of Arabia. At a time when images of the Middle East in the Western media are often synonymous with extremism, Arabia 3D offers a broader understanding of this distant land by journeying deep inside its culture to reveal and explain the origins of a way of life largely hidden from our view. The film is slated for release in June 2009.
July 17, 2008--IMAX Corporation and Tokyu Recreation, the owner of 109 Cinemas (10 is "To" and 9 is "kyu"), one of Japan's largest exhibition chains, today announced a joint venture agreement to install up to four IMAX theaters in Japan. The agreement marks IMAX's second international joint venture deal, as the company aligns itself with top exhibitors worldwide with its new IMAX digital theater system. To date, IMAX has signed contracts for more than 180 IMAX digital theater systems, with approximately 50 expected to be installed by the end of 2008.