Imax to boost number of screens in Japan

Imax Corp, the operator of giant- screen movie houses, plans to more than double the number of screens in Japan in two years as viewers flock to 3-D features, Chief Executive Officer Richard Gelfond said.

The company, which shares costs and profits of its theaters in Japan with Tokyo Recreation Corp., will increase the number of screens in the country to nine by June 2012 from four now, Gelfond said in an interview in Tokyo yesterday. Three new theaters will be in the Tokyo metropolitan area and two will be in western Japan, he said.

Imax, which debuted its giant-screen technology at the 1970 World Expo in Osaka, aims to tap demand for Hollywood blockbusters in 3-D that helped it record its first annual profit in four years. James Cameron’s “Avatar” grossed $8m for the company in Japan, selling out on many nights, Gelfond said.

“When you have the ability to tell a story with the best story tellers you have something special,” Gelfond said. “Japan is one of our most promising growth markets.”

Net income was $5m in the 12 months ended December, compared with a $33.6m loss a year earlier, the Mississauga, Ontario-based company said last month. Sales rose 67 per cent to $171.2m.

The release of Walt Disney Co’s “Alice in Wonderland” on April 17 in Japan earned $335,882 in the first two days, a box- office record for the company, Imax said in a statement today. It plans to release “Iron Man 2” in the country in June, according to its Web site. Imax, with 430 screens worldwide, uses customised wall-to- wall screens and floor layouts that maximize audiences’ fields- of-view, according to the company’s Web site.