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Polar Express Has Global 3D Legs for Imax

Warner Bros. THE POLAR EXPRESS continues to break box office records for IMAX this holiday season. In just five weeks, Robert Zemeckis all-CGI Christmas tale with Tom Hanks has become the highest grossing DMR (Digital Re-mastering) release ever for the large format giant.

Playing on 77 screens around the world, the film grossed an estimated $2.53M for the weekend period ended Dec. 12, 2004, with the North American gross essentially unchanged compared to the previous weekend. The 15 international screens playing the movie contributed approximately $500,000 of the total gross. The picture has now grossed an estimated total of $18M in IMAX theatres, considerably surpassing the IMAX DMR box office record set by THE MATRIX RELOADED: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE, which grossed slightly above $14M in 22 weeks.

THE POLAR EXPRESS began rolling out to a number of international markets during the past two weeks, with the IMAX 3D version opening day-and-date on 11 screens in the U.K., Spain, Poland, Malaysia, the Czech Republic and Taipei.

"The advanced ticket sales and box office returns this movie is generating are unprecedented for our theatre," said Jim Hamilton, head of exhibition, bfi London IMAX Theatre. "THE POLAR EXPRESS: AN IMAX 3D EXPERIENCE is our first day and date release, and it clearly illustrates the power of the IMAX DMR format. The film has far exceeded our expectations, and it's been so popular, we've already added extra shows to help meet the demand."

"We continue to be amazed by the performance of THE POLAR EXPRESS: AN IMAX 3D EXPERIENCE and we're thrilled to see it become the highest grossing IMAX DMR release ever," said Greg Foster, chairman/president of IMAX Filmed Ent. "The combination of a classic holiday story, next generation filmmaking and the magic of IMAX 3D is leading to unparalleled results for a digitally re-mastered Hollywood release -- in North America and now around the world.

IMAX recently announced that it would expand its presence in India from four to 14 theaters by 2008.

Founded in 1967, IMAX Corp. (www.imax.com) is one of the world's leading entertainment technology companies. IMAX's businesses include the creation and delivery of some of the world's best cinematic presentations using proprietary IMAX and IMAX 3D technology, and the development of the highest quality digital production and presentation.

Bill Desowitz's picture

Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.

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