Despite all the industry concern about what to do in a few weeks when the shelf space crunch hits with the release of three consecutive 3D movies in four weeks, IMAX will not have to grapple with those decisions.
Hard as it may be to see “Avatar” go, IMAX made a commitment to Disney months ago to play “Alice in Wonderland” in all of its theaters starting March 5.
While IMAX chairman and president Greg Foster is looking forward to introducing “Alice,” he doesn’t relish the idea of losing “Avatar” after only three more weekends since the movie about blue aliens is still raking in plenty of green for IMAX — $172 million globally as of Tuesday night. And despite “Avatar” finally dropping from the top spot overall (or perhaps because it did), IMAX theaters are now accounting for an even greater percentage of “Avatar’s” overall take — up to 26% on Tuesday despite representing a piddling 2% of all theaters showing the movie. As the daily box-office record climbs towards $2.5 billion, IMAX is setting its only daily records as it approaches $200 million.
Foster said IMAX might explore various alternatives for special showings of “Avatar” in selected IMAX theaters after March 5, but nothing has been decided.
While other theaters will wait to see how “Alice” performs before deciding what to do when “How to Train Your Dragon” opens on March 26, that will also not be a problem for IMAX as the company’s commitment to Disney was for a three-week run of “Alice.”
IMAX will then present DreamWorks’ 3D animated film on all its screens.
Such are the tough realities of theatrical exhibition life these days. These are the kinds of situations that some would call high-class problems, when the challenges stem from being unexpectedly successful.
One problem IMAX will not share with conventional digital 3D cinemas is how quickly to dispense “How to Train Your Dragon.” Although Warner recently decided to force most theater operators to make a choice when it releases “Clash of the Titans” in 3D on April 5, just a week after “Dragon,” IMAX will not be showing “Clash” at any of its theaters.
— By Scott Hettrick