IMAX Digital Joint Venture Theatres Show Strong Opening Weekend

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - IMAX Corporation announced today that Eagle Eye: The IMAX Experience grossed approximately $1.6 million of the film's $29.1 million total - nearly six percent of the overall domestic box office - on just 84 IMAX screens, marking IMAX's largest September or October opening for a Hollywood release.

The 84 IMAX(R) theatres included 14 new joint venture IMAX digital theatres. The 14 theatres performed well, delivering per screen averages that were above the overall IMAX network average. Opening weekend exit surveys conducted at the new joint venture IMAX digital locations indicated that moviegoers were impressed with Eagle Eye: The IMAX Experience and wished to return to IMAX theatres in the future, which is consistent with historical exit survey data from IMAX's film-based theatres. The surveys also indicated that 20 percent of audience members at the new IMAX digital locations had never been to an IMAX theatre previously.

'The strong performance of our new JV IMAX digital locations is very encouraging, as we continue to expand the IMAX network through the rest of the year and into 2009,' said IMAX Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs Richard L. Gelfond and Bradley J. Wechsler. 'We're particularly pleased with the exit survey results, which indicate that our network growth is already resulting in new IMAX audiences.'

'This is our highest grossing opening weekend for a Hollywood film released in either September or October, marking a great lead in to our Fall and Holiday slate,' added Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Filmed Entertainment. 'DreamWorks Pictures has delivered an exciting movie that is resonating with IMAX audiences, and we look forward to the weeks ahead as the movie continues to open in both domestic and international markets.'

Eagle Eye is a race-against-time thriller starring Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson, Anthony Mackie and Billy Bob Thornton. Jerry Shaw (LaBeouf) and Rachel Holloman (Monaghan) are two strangers thrown together by a mysterious phone call from a woman they have never met. Threatening their lives and family, she pushes Jerry and Rachel into a series of increasingly dangerous situations - using the technology of everyday life to track and control their every move.