IMAX Dominates 3D Box Office With Avatar

LOS ANGELES, Jan 19, 2010 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- IMAX Corporation (Nasdaq:IMAX) (TSX:IMX) and Twentieth Century Fox today announced that James Cameron's Avatar, which just received Golden Globe(R) awards for Best Picture and Best Director,continued to deliver strong box office results in IMAX(R) theatres during the four-day weekend from Friday, January 15 through Monday, January 18. The IMAX release grossed $9.6 million from 179 IMAX theatres domestically, representing 17.7% of the film's total domestic four-day weekend gross of $55 million on less than 2% of the screens. Internationally, the IMAX release grossed $5.6 million from 83 IMAX theatres, bringing the four-day weekend's global IMAX total to approximately $15.3 million and the film's overall IMAX global total to more than $116.4 million.

Avatar is directed and written by Academy Award Winner James Cameron and stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez and Sigourney Weaver. Avatar has been digitally re-mastered into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience(R).
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James Cameron confirms Avatar Sequel

According to a report (via AICN) from a very recent Q&A with James Cameron, the man himself did indeed admit: "Yes, there'll be another."

Unfortunately that's pretty much all Cameron said. The report from the Q&A is a bit vague, but they say that Cameron said "to expect the studio to want another one" and that, obviously, "a second film will be easier, as the technology now exists, thanks to the [first] movie." As in, half the reason Avatar took so long is they had to invent the technology used in it. Cameron also stated that "the plan had always been to make a trilogy of films. So there you have it, there will be another Avatar. But will James Cameron direct it?

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Avatar: the 2nd All Time Box Office in 20 Days!

Avatar has officially become number two grossing film of all time at the worldwide box office, passing $1.14 billion on Wednesday.

Cameron's next challenge is to beat the records set by his previous film, 1997 disaster romance 'Titanic', which continues to rule the No 1 spot with $1.8 billion.

Avatar's domestic earning was $374.4 million through Wednesday and the foreign haul collected $760.9 million to beat the $1.1 billion scored by 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King', the Variety reported online.

The film, which released worldwide on December 18, is expected to continue to make money as it enters into the fourth week.

Source:Boncherry



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Discovery, Sony, and Imax will Launches 3D Tv Channel

Discovery, Sony, and Imax gave a major boost on Tuesday to the new drive to popularize the forthcoming generation of 3D television sets. They signed a letter of intent to forge a joint venture and create the USA's first full-time cable channel that will exclusively offer 3D programming. It could launch by the end of the year.

The channel initially will feature lots of shows about science and nature, much of it from Discovery's and Imax's libraries. But the partners plan to license TV rights to general entertainment 3D movies, music videos, and game-related content.

"We'll be shooting some of our new (shows) in 3D and upconverting some of our existing content" from conventional 2D to 3D, Discovery CEO David Zaslav says. "And Sony's movie group, TV group, and music group are all beginning to develop content in 3D."




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James Cameron "Avatar" Breaks Imax Box Office Records

"The worldwide IMAX network was operating at near full capacity throughout the entire weekend," said IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond. "This success is a testament to the groundbreaking work of James Cameron and his team, who have raised the bar for storytelling and truly transported us into another world."





LOS ANGELES — IMAX Corp. said Monday the film "Avatar" made $9.5 million in box office ticket sales during its opening weekend in 178 of its theaters in the U.S.

"Avatar," a science fiction thriller directed by James Cameron and released by News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox, took in roughly 13 percent of the total sales in IMAX theaters, the company said. Total domestic sales came to $73 million.

The movie made another $4.1 million internationally on 58 screens, IMAX said. IMAX plans to release the film in 25 more locations in the next few weeks, including theaters in China and Japan.

"From the very beginning, James Cameron considered how the film would look and feel in IMAX, and as a result, Jim, Jon Landau and the Lightstorm team have produced a spectacular film that moviegoers are clearly reacting to with enthusiasm and strong word of mouth," added Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Filmed Entertainment. "Cameron's incredible vision and passion for pushing the technological boundaries of filmmaking, combined with a superb marketing and distribution campaign from Twentieth Century Fox has created an epic release that we are very proud to be a part of. We look forward to transporting more moviegoers to Pandora via The IMAX 3D Experience in the weeks ahead."

Avatar is the story of an ex-Marine who finds himself thrust into hostilities on an alien planet filled with exotic life forms. As an Avatar, a human mind in an alien body, he finds himself torn between two worlds, in a desperate fight for his own survival and that of the indigenous people. More than ten years in the making, Avatar marks Cameron's return to feature directing since helming 1997's Titanic, the highest grossing film of all time and winner of eleven Oscars(R) including Best Picture. WETA Digital, renowned for its work in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and King Kong, will incorporate new intuitive CGI technologies to transform the environments and characters into photorealistic 3D imagery that will transport the audience into the alien world rich with imaginative vistas, creatures and characters.



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