"Dark Knight" fuels bright day for Imax

So why might success with "Dark Knight" finally push Imax into the exhibition mainstream? Two big reasons, potentially:

-- The $158.4 million (79.1 million pounds) opening for the latest Batman sequel featured $6.2 million from just 94 Imax screens, or a mind-numbing $67,000 per venue.

-- The unprecedented giant-screen grosses arrive just as the company is making a big push into digital exhibition.

The latter point is particularly important. The digital push is lowering exhibitors’ costs on Imax equipment for prospective partnerships -- from $1 million-plus per installation to about $150,000. Building upon favourable publicity from its "Dark Knight" success, Imax hopes to have a much larger installed base of giant screens soon.

It also will help Imax participate more aggressively in the spreading 3-D mania.

The Warners-distributed adventure film "Journey to the Center of the Earth" enjoyed a much better market "hold" this weekend than other holdover titles, primarily because its hundreds of 3-D screens bolstered its overall weekend gross. All of the film’s 3-D screens were installed by RealD, a vendor of digital 3-D systems.

EXPANDING THE NETWORK

Forty-year-old Toronto-based Imax operates 160 screens in North America. But many of its screens are in institutional venues considered inadequate to needs of commercial releases, so Warners was limited to 94 venues for "Dark Knight."

In keeping with the exclusive, high-end premise it offers moviegoers, Imax probably will never see its domestic screen count hit 1,000. But executives hope to supplement its current inventory with at least 200 new screens within two years and expect to have about 40 new domestic screens and 10 overseas installations up and running by year’s end.

"Within a two-year period, we’re going to go from 160 worldwide to at least 360," Foster said. "And my guess is it’s going to be more. My phones are ringing today like you can’t imagine."

Even if Imax’s new installations roll out at the lower end of expectations, Warners should be able to show its sixth "Harry Potter" movie on about 130 or more Imax screens in November.

"I’m thrilled for the success in Imax," Warners domestic distribution president Dan Fellman said. "We’ve come a long way together, and it doesn’t get any better than this. They’ve been able to create a very prestigious branding of their product, which has helped to event-ize our films, not only with our consumers but with our filmmakers as well."

Imax auditoriums appear likely to do land-office business for weeks with "Dark Knight," whose director, Christopher Nolan, shot 30 minutes of the 2 1/2-hour film using an Imax camera to add to its giant-screen impact. The Christian Bale starrer is largely sold out on its Imax screens through its second weekend, though exhibitors have been getting creative in shoehorning in additional showtimes in some venues, Foster said.

INVESTORS RESPOND

Imax’s ever-struggling stock price has been bolstered considerably by the "Dark Knight" success.

Shares are up 23.5 percent since a near-term bottom of $6.29 on July 3. They were up fractionally Monday to $7.77.

Wall Street seems eager to buy into the notion that "Dark Knight" will prove a big event for the little company with the giant movie screens. All of the analysts covering the stock now rate it a "buy" or "strong buy."

"This weekend’s record-breaking results could be a welcome start to what we expect to be a game-changing era for Imax," said Merriman Curhan Ford’s Eric Wold, who reiterated a "buy" recommendation Monday.

Imax also might benefit from the U.S. economic downturn by offering "a differentiated viewing experience for consumers -- one that becomes even more enticing as consumers keep more of their entertainment spending local during a tough economy," the analyst said.

The huge Imax screen average for "Dark Knight" almost doubled the $37,000 average of the past 13 commercial films playing on Imax screens. From an industry perspective, the giant screens "generated about 4 percent of the total weekend boxoffice on less than 1 percent of the screens," Wold noted.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter