THR's 2012 Digital Power 50

Sometimes bigger is better. In an era of Netflix, iPads and home theaters, audiences still gravitate to Imax's ultra-premium outsize movie experience, and that allegiance has taken the company's stock from 59 cents a decade ago to its current $20 a share. Imax has come a long way since debuting in museum and science center theaters in 1970: Under the watch of CEO Gelfond, 57, who assumed the role in April 2009, the company raked in $600 million in 2011 from its 450 commercial screens, twice the 2010 take.

Gelfond expects to roll out 100 more screens every year for the foreseeable future. "We're quite happy with where we're going," he says. Christopher Nolan was the first director to shoot a major movie -- 30 minutes of The Dark Knight -- using Imax cameras. Although insiders say it added about $3 million to the film's production budget, Nolan did it again: For The Dark Knight Rises, opening in July, he shot half the movie with Imax equipment.

PHOTOS: THR's 2012 Digital Power 50