Imax to Co-Produce Four Projects With MacGillivray Freeman Films

TORONTO - Imax has partnered with long-time film supplier MacGillivray Freeman Films to jointly finance, market and distribute up to four movies.

Toronto-based Imax also said Tuesday that the Smithsonian Institution will install its laser digital projection technology in three of its Imax theaters.

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The agreement between the giant screen exhibitor and MacGillivray Freeman Films will see the jointly produced movies released exclusively to Imax theaters.

The deal includes an option for up to four additional films to be co-financed by both partners.

MacGillivray Freeman Films is looking to leverage Imax’s studio relationships, while the giant screen exhibitor gets a steady flow of large-format films from a veteran large format producer.

The first film from the collaboration will be set in a cluster of Indonesia's 13,000 islands, offering stories from local islanders.

Past MacGillivray Freeman Films titles to do well on Imax screen include Blue Planet, released in 1986, and To The Arctic, which was co-produced with Warner Bros. Pictures and released last year.

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Elsewhere, the separate agreement with the Smithsonian will see laser projection technology installed at the Imax theaters at the National Museum of Natural History and the National Air and Space Museum, both in Washington, D.C., and a third venue in Chantilly, Virginia.

The proprietary technology will go into the theaters in 2014.

"Laser digital projection offers our visitors a more immersive and visceral experience, as well as more programming opportunities," said Christopher A. Liedel, president of Smithsonian Enterprises, in a statement.