BATMAN BEGINS: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE continued to post impressive box office results over the holiday weekend, according to IMAX and Warner Bros., grossing approximately $1.45 million on 55 North American IMAX screens from July 1-4, 2005. The film has shown strong legs since debuting in IMAX theaters, setting numerous records for a Hollywood simultaneous release, including best seven-day opening and fastest grossing 2D IMAX DMR (Digital Re-mastering) title. The IMAX release of BATMAN BEGINS has now grossed a total of $8 million in North America, for a cumulative per screen average of more than $145,000. The 18 international IMAX theaters playing BATMAN BEGINS: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE have contributed an additional $1.58 million, bringing the film's worldwide total to nearly $9.6 million.
"Movies are meant to be bigger than life and the marriage of BATMAN BEGINS and IMAX delivers that experience," said director/co-screenwriter Christopher Nolan. "It's been very gratifying to see how moviegoers have embraced this film and I'm thrilled audiences have the opportunity to explore the origins of the Batman legend in IMAX."
"The outstanding weekday grosses and holiday weekend performance reflect this film's continued strong word of mouth, which gives us confidence BATMAN BEGINS: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE will show strong legs for weeks to come," said IMAX co-chairmen and co-ceos Richard L. Gelfond and Bradley J. Wechsler. "The film is already one of our fastest grossing digitally re-mastered titles, and we believe it will ultimately be among our highest grossing IMAX DMR releases ever..."
"BATMAN BEGINS is an exceptional film, and seeing it in IMAX's format is a powerful and unique moviegoing experience which is enticing people to leave their homes and visit an IMAX theater," added Greg Foster, chairman/president of IMAX Filmed Ent.
THE POLAR EXPRESS: AN IMAX 3D EXPERIENCE, another Warner Bros. release, is the highest grossing and most successful IMAX DMR release to date, with $45M worldwide and $35M domestically.
The next Warner Bros. movie to get the IMAX DMR treatment is CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, which opens July 15.
Founded in 1967, IMAX Corp. (www.imax.com) is the newest distribution platform for Hollywood content and one of the world's leading entertainment technology companies. IMAX delivers the world's best cinematic presentations using proprietary IMAX, IMAX 3D and IMAX DMR technology.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
