Los Angeles, Sept 05: The Imax-format release of Warner Bros.` `The Dark Knight` has blown past `The Polar Express` as the giant-screen exhibitor`s top first-run release.
Imax also touted the Batman sequel`s having passed an average tally of USD400,000 per screen on the company`s 139 worldwide screens.
"The Dark Knight has shown the power of the Imax experience when partnered with a filmmaker and a studio that get it," Imax Filmed Entertainment chief Greg Foster said.
Directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale, `Dark Knight` has rung up more than USD925 million worldwide including USD55 million in Imax grosses. That compares to the USD45 million fetched by the Imax 3-D version of Warners/Imax`s seasonal favorite `The Polar Express`, which was distributed in both conventional and Imax 3-D formats in 2004.
That first worldwide theatrical run for `Polar` capped off at about $285 million, but the Tom Hanks-starring movie has been re-released in Imax 3-D every holiday season. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, `Polar` will unspool in about two dozen Imax 3-D venues over Thanksgiving, with its four-year cumulative box office grosses in Imax 3-D approaching USD70 million.
`Dark Knight` was released in July simultaneously in conventional theaters and Imax 2-D venues worldwide and continues to play on 101 Imax screens in the US and Canada, as well as in 38 international venues. Foster said he would welcome any Imax re-release of the Batman blockbuster in future years, should Warners see merit in such a plan.
"That sounds like a really great idea," the Imax exec said. "Ultimately, it`s a decision that Warner Bros. has to make. We`d certainly support that."
Warners distribution president Dan Fellman said there was "a real possibility" of such a re-release. Imax`s imminent conversion of many of its venues to digital distribution would make cost considerations of such a move more negligible, though Fellman stressed that no decisions have been made regarding an eventual `Dark Knight` re-release.
Bureau Report