Harry Potter and the IMAX

Originally Published: May 3, 2005

IMAX Corporation and Warner Bros. Pictures announced yesterday that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire will be simultaneously released to both IMAX and conventional theatres on November 18, 2005. The film is based on the best-selling J.K. Rowling book and is the fourth installment of the tremendously successful Harry Potter film series, which has grossed a total of more than $2.6 billion around the world. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire will be digitally re-mastered into IMAX’s format through the company’s revolutionary IMAX DMR (Digital Re-mastering) technology and released to the worldwide IMAX theatre network. The film represents Warner Bros. Pictures’ ninth IMAX film commitment, and follows on the June 2004 day-and-date release of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: The IMAX Experience, one of IMAX’s highest grossing digitally re-mastered releases. Warner Bros. Pictures will be the exclusive distributor of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to IMAX theatres worldwide.

See photos from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire RIGHT HERE

“IMAX is carving out a new distribution platform that can generate incremental revenues for event films,” said Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures. “We previously committed to releasing two of Warner Bros. Pictures’ biggest tentpole films of 2005 in IMAX’s format – Batman Begins and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is a great addition to that list. We believe releasing the next Harry Potter adventure in IMAX theatres will add to the excitement around this excellent film and enable audiences to experience it in a whole different way.”

“Securing highly anticipated titles like Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is an important component of our commercial growth strategy, and we are excited to be working with Warner Bros. Pictures on another one of their great event films,” said IMAX Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs Richard L. Gelfond and Bradley J. Wechsler. “With five digitally re-mastered Hollywood event films in place for 2005, as well as an attractive original IMAX 3D production, we believe we’ve assembled the best film slate in IMAX’s history – and that this will continue to fuel expansion of the IMAX theatre network.”

Added Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Filmed Entertainment, “The impressive performance of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: The IMAX Experience showed that Harry Potter is a perfect match for IMAX’s immersive format, and we are confident the fourth installment of this globally beloved series will also be a box office draw for commercial and institutional IMAX theatres worldwide. The IMAX theatre network has expanded since the last Harry Potter release, and the increase in IMAX screens should yield even greater incremental box office returns for Warner Bros. Pictures.”

Check out photos and trailers from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire RIGHT HERE »