Viewing a Hollywood film through the eyes of IMAX

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Aug 1, 2003 by Daily Record Staff Business Writer

As Hollywood blockbusters sweep up audiences and rake in dollars, institutional IMAX theater directors are forced to decide whether or not to join in the mainstream film fun.

"We have a certain educational focus," said James O'Leary, director of the Maryland Science Center's IMAX Theatre. "Parents like bringing their children here for the education, interaction and entertainment."

During weekdays, the Maryland theater depends on school field trips to fill up its 400 seats. Traditional IMAX films — films that cover subjects like astronomy, botany and zoology — fit in perfectly with the Maryland theater's youthful audience.

O'Leary said conventional theaters have caught on and are showing IMAX films, but he does not usually show conventional films like "Star Wars" and "The Matrix" in the institutional theater.

The 15-perforation, 70- millimeter IMAX film format and special operating equipment also make showing Hollywood films difficult.

The Maryland theater's machinery is designed for 40-minute films, not normal 100-minute movies. With 15,000-watt lamps that cost $6,000 each and last about 1,200 hours, it is important not to burn them out quickly, according to O'Leary.

Balancing the schedule is an issue, as well. A normal IMAX film might run from 2:20 p.m. to 3 p.m.; the next would start at 3:20 p.m. and the viewer would pay $7. A Hollywood film would run from 2:20 p.m. to 4:20 p.m., gobbling up more time and costing viewers $11 or $12.

"We don't want to do that to our members," said O'Leary. "We want to be judicious to our members."

O'Leary gave way with Disney films because they fit his audience. The Maryland IMAX does not try to cover films like "Fantasia 2000" with an educational blanket, but IMAX-reformatted Disney movies create a wonderful new experience, according to O'Leary.

"It looked dazzling with beautiful colors on a giant screen and an incredible sounds experience," he said, referring to "Fantasia 2000: The IMAX Experience." "This was a family- friendly film for our local audience and a profit-making venture for us at the same time."

O'Leary also decided to show a documentary on the Rolling Stones in concert, although he relegated its show time to the evening.

"Here's a great band doing a great concert and it's a wonderful experience," he said. "It just belongs in a certain niche."

Director's choice

Out of the 231 IMAX affiliated theaters in 34 countries, roughly 50 percent are located in institutional venues and the director of each museum or planetarium chooses what films to exhibit.

Unlike O'Leary, Joannah Haas, director of the IMAX Theatre at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., welcomes most Hollywood films.

The theater opened in 2000 with "Fantasia 2000: The IMAX Experience" and since then has shown all IMAX- formatted Hollywood movies except for "Treasure Planet." According to Haas, the Henry Ford IMAX is Disney's top performing large-format theater.

The theater also shows R-rated films like "The Matrix: Reloaded" and while most institutional theaters shy away from showing late films, its schedule runs after midnight.

"We have a film selection committee with representatives from a variety of different business units," said Haas. "At the end of the day we are a theater that takes a lot of risks in our programming selections and we have fared very well."

Haas and her film selection committee are cognizant of the purpose of the institution and the role it plays. They favor flexibility, mixing educational IMAX films with blockbusters.

"We are running a movie theater and it happened to be a part of an institution that has an educational mission," said Hass. "We have found ways to mitigate the risks — ways to get our arms around them and get comfortable with them."

The Henry Ford theater opened "The Matrix: Reloaded" on June 20, but showed it only after 5 p.m. and restricted children under the age of 18 from buying tickets. About 6,500 people attended that film in the month of June alone.

"Diversification makes theater businesses a lot stronger because you have more to pick from," explained Haas. "What can you lose from being flexible and open? It works and our theater proves it."

IMAX strategy

Larry O'Reilly, senior vice president of theater development and film distribution at IMAX Corp., agreed that more is usually better, but it depends on each theater's needs.

"What we are trying to do is bring the widest possible audience to the IMAX," he said. "We allow each theater to program its schedule to its maximum benefit. You have that programming-option privilege as operator of the museum."

Seventy-five million people bought an IMAX ticket last year. By showing Hollywood films as well as IMAX films, O'Reilly said that number will only increase.

"There are a lot of programming choices," he explained. "It may be a Matrix or a Harry Potter that gets [viewers] in the door, but they become loyal and they will come back to see documentaries as well."

And with names like George Lucas, Ron Howard, James Cameron, Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise gracing the credits of IMAX films, who can blame them?