Posted in: Movies | Tagged: film, ghost protocol, hunger games, IMAX, mission impossible, skyfall

IMAX Outlines New Strategies, Sets Sights on Fanboys' Wallets

Linda Ge writes for Bleeding Cool.

If you enjoy paying more money for a bigger screen and better sound at the movies, you're in luck!

Giant screen exhibitor IMAX has found its target audience, and it has many things in common with the internet population. Fanboys are where it's at, they've discovered, and plans are accordingly underway to bring more Movies Fanboys Will Love to IMAX. Skyfall, set for release this October, is set to become the first James Bond movie to be converted for the giant screen.

Judging by how well presale tickets for teen action franchise-starter The Hunger Games are selling, who could blame them? Chairman and President Greg Foster:

It has generated a level of interest we didn't anticipate being quite as high as it is. We thought it would be terrific, but we didn't think it would be as massive as it seems to be.

And forget about midnight screenings, IMAX pre-releases are the wave of the future for die-hard fanboys, at least according to CEO Richard Gelfond. Thanks to the surprising box office success of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol opening on IMAX in advance of its regular release date, Gelfond inevitably says more such rollouts are on the way:

It [MI4] got the attention of exhibitors and studios, and we believe we will participate in more early release windows in the future.

So that means if you want to see that franchise action flick just as soon as humanly possible, you will have no choice but to shell out the extra $6 for the privilege. Surely you don't want to wait those extra few days with the rest of the plebeians?

IMAX is also expanding in international markets like China and India… so just who is safe from the takeover? Families with small children: animated films formatted for the more expensive giant screen underperformed and drove down profits, so IMAX are going to put less of a focus on those from here on out.

But don't worry, you'll still get to see Brave, Dorothy of Oz and Hotel Transylvania in good old fashioned regular movie theaters, for the good old fashioned regular movie ticket price.

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