They Think Even Bigger May Be Better

Big stars, big budgets and big egos are the basic elements of a Hollywood blockbuster. In the next few years, another oversized ingredient may be added to the mix: big screens.

The jumbo film format has hit Hollywood, with at least three studios developing projects for Imax theaters now dominated by independently produced adventure documentaries, panoramic travelogues and woozy thrill rides. Executives at Imax Corp. envision a day when full-length Hollywood event pictures--think “Titanic” not “Tea With Mussolini”--open on the gigantic screen before moving to the merely big screen.

This scenario is being tested by a certain magical mouse. Disney’s animated spectacle “Fantasia/2000” is the first feature-length studio film (it’s 76 minutes) ever produced for Imax; no other has exceeded an hour in length.

Its release on New Year’s Day was seen as a crucial test of the format. And despite mixed reviews, “Fantasia/2000” has thus far been an unqualified hit, making about $17 million and averaging $43,927 per weekend (or $60,794 per week) in 54 theaters in the U.S., more than five times the per-screen take of any competing theatrical release.

Disney plans to keep “Fantasia” exclusively at Imax theaters through April 30, then re-release the film, probably in the early summer, on regular screens.

“The third week was better than the second week, and we’ve seen none of the big drops day-to-day we see with other films,” says Dick Cook, chairman of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. It’s a real phenomenon.”

This follows the breakout success of the 2-D Imax film “Everest,” which last week became the first large-format film to break $100 million in worldwide box office. Though only a 40-minute film, “Everest” showed that the box office potential of Imax could equal that of a mainstream Hollywood hit; “Fantasia” showed that the technology and audience are there for a feature-length Imax film.

Other studios are keeping close tabs on Disney’s experiment. “Everyone is watching ‘Fantasia’ very closely,” says Tom Sherak, chairman of 20th Century Fox domestic film group. “Disney has done an unbelievable job breaking away from normal policies to make this happen. It’s giving us an idea how things might go in the future.”

The initial success has led rival studios to wonder whether they should order up a few of their next features super-sized. DreamWorks, Fox and Sony appear first out of the gate, announcing recently their participation in an Imax 3-D feature that will include revamped segments from the DreamWorks film “Ants,” Fox’s TV cartoon “The Simpsons” and an animated short from Sony called “Monkey Brain Sushi.”

DreamWorks is also considering using Imax as part of the release plan for its upcoming animated feature “Shrek,” says Brad Globe, who oversees consumer products at DreamWorks. The film is scheduled for release in 2001.

“Now that Imax is opening up so many new sites at multiplexes, the economics are becoming very interesting,” Globe says. “The success of ‘Fantasia’ is just adding to our enthusiasm. Up until this point, it’s been a hypothetical question. Now we know it works.”

One of the numbers executives are most enthused about is the ticket price. Admission to “Fantasia/2000” averages about $12.50, a gulp-inducing hike for those more accustomed to paying about $8 for an Imax film or theatrical release. So far, moviegoers have paid up, proving that they will not only tolerate an eight-story-high image for more than an hour, they’ll also pay more for the experience, says Brad Wechsler, CEO of Imax Corp. “We broke the mold with ‘Fantasia,’ ” he says. “We’re learning that the audience will pay a higher price for a feature-length movie.”

One possible result is the involvement of big-ticket directors and name-brand franchises. Wechsler would love to see the next “Star Trek,” “Star Wars” or “Terminator” installment on Imax, and he says such notions aren’t so farfetched. A “Star Trek” feature for Imax has been discussed at Paramount, and directors James Cameron and George Lucas have both professed enthusiasm for the format.

But we may be spared the specter of an eight-story-tall Jar-Jar Binks; a Lucasfilm spokesperson says there are no plans to release “Star Wars” films in Imax. Meanwhile, representatives for Cameron declined to comment on reports that he is developing his own 3-D Imax project.

Though Disney is crowing about its initial success, some independent producers say it won’t transform the industry into a red-carpet venue for blockbusters. That’s because Imax is still just a tiny slice of the overall movie business, says Greg McGillvary, whose Laguna Beach production company has produced more than 20 Imax films, including “Everest.”

“It probably doesn’t make a lot of sense for studios to get real excited right now,” says McGillvary. “The average Imax film recovers about $5 million. The fact is that most Imax films lose money.”

Not Your Usual

Box-Office Fare

With relatively small budgets and small profits, Imax simply isn’t ready to duke it out in the marketplace with theatrical releases, McGillvary believes. “If all of a sudden we’re expected to compete with the 200 films Hollywood puts out a year, we’re going to suffer,” he notes. “We don’t have an average of $35 million to spend on each production. It would be a fool’s game to think we could compete with Hollywood releases.”

Studios have traditionally stayed away from Imax because of the relative scarcity of theaters and the fact that most are operated by museums and science centers. And as Disney discovered in Los Angeles, some Imax operators aren’t particularly eager to invite Hollywood into their hallowed halls of learning.

The only Imax theater in central Los Angeles is at the California Science Center in Exposition Park. Months of negotiations broke down in December when the museum refused to allow “Fantasia/2000” to run during its daytime schedule, which is geared toward groups of visiting schoolchildren.

Determined to showcase the film in its own backyard, Disney built a temporary theater at a cost approaching $4 million. The theater, a steel and fiberglass tent on a vacant lot off the San Diego Freeway near the Howard Hughes Parkway, will be dismantled after the four-month run.

Rival studios probably won’t have to go to such extremes in the future. The number of commercial Imax theaters in the U.S. will probably double in five years, including screens at Universal CityWalk and on the site of Disney’s temporary theater in Westchester. Some commercial theaters have already taken tentative steps into the future, hosting unauthorized late-night showings of “Episode I The Phantom Menace” on their Imax screens.

But the leap to Imax isn’t as simple as projecting a theatrical print on a screen 10 times the normal size. Live-action Imax films are made with 70-millimeter cameras designed to capture the sharpness and clarity of an enlarged image.

“I would love to blow up ‘Men in Black’ and show it in Imax tomorrow, but it would look terrible,” says Wechsler. “Animation is different; we can enlarge a theatrical print and make it look exquisite. A movie like ‘Toy Story 2’ or ‘A Bug’s Life’ is screaming to be shown on Imax. We can give those movies a whole new life.”

Even with the most careful digital make-over, however, a full-length Imax film may prove just too much for some moviegoers. Some critics have complained that the 3-D “Fantasia/2000”--viewers wear giant plastic glasses while viewing the film--left them feeling visually and aurally bombarded and exhausted--a reaction producers would do well to remember as they develop even longer live-action films, says Chris McGurk, vice chairman of MGM.

“You have to figure out a balance so people’s heads don’t blow off,” says McGurk.

Globe puts it this way: “If you go to a theme park, you don’t necessarily want to ride the big roller coaster the entire time. You’d get pretty dizzy.”

Still, studios shouldn’t stay out of Imax because of simple skittishness, says McGurk. “ ‘Everest’ and a couple of other movies have had just phenomenal box office,” he says. “We’d be stupid not to try to go after some of that.”

But studio observers agree that the final word on Disney’s Imax experiment can’t be spoken until the film is given wide release later this year. If the four-month initial run exhausts interest in the movie, architects of the Imax plan will have to go back to the drawing board.