LOS ANGELES, May 10, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IMAX Corporation (NYSE:IMAX) (TSX:IMX) Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment, LLC announced today that Thor, the superhero adventure directed by Kenneth Branagh, posted strong domestic opening results in IMAX® theatres. Thor opened on 213 digital IMAX screens, which contributed approximately $6.2 million of the film's overall $65.7 million opening gross for opening weekend. The IMAX average box office per screen amounted to approximately $29,000, setting a record for a digital-only IMAX release. Internationally, Thor continues to perform well, posting IMAX box office of $1 million, which brings the cumulative IMAX international box office to date to $4.5 and $10.7 million worldwide.
"Marvel, Paramount and director Kenneth Branagh have delivered an epic adventure movie ideally suited for The IMAX Experience®, and our results thus far reflect as much, as Thor has set a new record for a digital-only IMAX opening weekend," said IMAX Chief Executive Officer Richard L. Gelfond. "Thor's strong opening weekend continues the early momentum leading into what looks to be a strong summer blockbuster season."
"As we've seen in our last two releases, whether 2D or 3D, consumers continue to seek out The IMAX Experience for their blockbuster films," added Greg Foster, Chairman and President, IMAX Filmed Entertainment.
Thor: An IMAX 3D Experience has been digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology for presentation in IMAX 3D. The crystal-clear images, coupled with IMAX's customized theatre geometry and powerful digital audio, create a unique immersive environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie.
About Thor
Marvel Studios expands its film universe with a new type of super hero: Thor. This epic adventure spans the Marvel Universe; from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth. Directed by Kenneth Branagh and produced by Kevin Feige, with Alan Fine, Stan Lee, David Maisel, Patricia Whitcher and Louis D'Esposito serving as executive producers from a screenplay by Ashley Edward Miller & Zack Stentz and Don Payne and a story by J. Michael Straczynski and Mark Protosevich, this fantasy epic stars Australian actor Chris Hemsworth as the god of thunder, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, a young woman who befriends Thor on Earth, Tom Hiddleston as Thor's evil brother Loki, with Rene Russo as Frigga, the wife of Odin, mother to Thor and Loki, and Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Thor's father and king of Asgard.
Expect to see agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., previously seen in the Iron Man movies, foreshadowing the coming of Marvel's The Avengers!
Thor has been rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence.
About IMAX Corporation
IMAX Corporation is one of the world's leading entertainment and technology companies, specializing in the creation and delivery of premium, awe-inspiring entertainment experiences. With a growing suite of cutting-edge motion picture and sound technologies, and a globally recognized entertainment brand, IMAX is singularly situated at the convergence of the entertainment industry, innovation and the digital media world. The industry's top filmmakers and studios are utilizing IMAX theatres to connect with audiences in extraordinary ways, and as such, the IMAX network is among the most important and successful theatrical distribution platforms for major event films around the globe. The Company's new digital projection and sound systems - combined with a growing blockbuster film slate - are fueling the rapid expansion of the IMAX network in established markets such as North America, Western Europe, and Japan, as well as emerging markets such as China and Russia. IMAX theaters deliver the world's best cinematic presentations using proprietary IMAX®, IMAX 3D®, and IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-Mastering) technologies. IMAX DMR enables virtually any motion picture to be transformed into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience®.
IMAX is headquartered in New York, Toronto and Los Angeles, with offices in London, Tokyo and Shanghai. As of March 31, 2011, there were 528 IMAX theatres (408 commercial, 120 institutional) operating in 46 countries.
IMAX®, IMAX® 3D, IMAX DMR®, Experience It In IMAX®, An IMAX 3D Experience® and The IMAX Experience® are trademarks of IMAX Corporation. More information about the Company can be found at www.imax.com. You may also connect with IMAX on Facebook (www.facebook.com/imax), Twitter (www.twitter.com/imax) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/imaxmovies).
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This press release contains forward looking statements that are based on management's assumptions and existing information and involve certain risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Important factors that could affect these statements include, but are not limited to, general economic, market or business conditions, including the length and severity of the current economic downturn, the opportunities that may be presented to and pursued by the Company, competitive actions by other companies, the performance of IMAX DMR films, conditions in the in-home and out-of home entertainment industries, the signing of theatre system agreements, changes in law or regulations, conditions, changes and developments in the commercial exhibition industry, the failure to convert theatre system backlog into revenue, new business initiatives, investments and operations in foreign jurisdictions and any future international expansion, foreign currency fluctuations and the Company's prior restatements and the related litigation and investigation by the SEC and the ongoing inquiry by the OSC. These factors and other risks and uncertainties are discussed in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and most recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.