When was imax 3d invented

At one time thought to be impractical for major motion pictures, IMAX has now become commonplace. Skip to main content. View the discussion thread. Popular Culture. By Jesse Schedeen Updated: 18 Apr pm. People love their movies. The movie industry continues to rake in billions and billions of dollars each year despite economic downturns and the advent of home theater setups.

These days, a major draw for theater audiences is 3D films. A far cry from the simplistic efforts of yesteryear, today's 3D films are technologically impressive and, in many cases, incredibly lucrative for the studios that distribute them. Studios everywhere are intent on replicating the success of Avatar. Always interested in more innovative ways to engulf the audience in its sound and image experience, IMAX continues to develop new cinema systems.

More recently, IMAX has become increasingly involved in the production of "ride films," short theme-park, film-based attractions designed to create a sensation of movement. The first of these film rollercoasters was the ride "Back to the Future", which opened in at Universal Studios Florida. Smith and Ernest McNabb.

Thematically and aesthetically, one can see aspects of the humanism and holistic world view typical of English-Canadian documentary in the s, as well as careful attention to technical perfection reflected in IMAX productions. It was then restructured and merged with Trumbull Company Inc.

Though its headquarters remains in Toronto, many wonder about the future consequences of the US ownership of this excellent extension of the Canadian experimental and documentary film traditions.

Search The Canadian Encyclopedia. Remember me. I forgot my password. Richard Gelfond knew little about the movie business when he and a partner acquired IMAX, back in At the time, most IMAX movies were nature documentaries, shown in the theaters of science museums, but he recognized that the entertainment experience the company provided had great potential.

Figuring out how to move into mainstream markets turned out to be far more challenging than Gelfond had anticipated, however. At one point in , the stock was trading at 55 cents a share, and some bondholders tried to force IMAX into bankruptcy. In Gelfond and his team actively tried to sell it. A partner and I had acquired the company through a leveraged buyout, and we took it public a few months later.

That was due in part to the technology constraints of the predigital era; it took years to find ways to make it easy and cost-effective to show IMAX movies in a large number of multiplexes. We also faced cultural challenges. The Hollywood movie industry is an interconnected system of studios, directors, and theaters that has evolved over years, and it has a traditional way of doing things. As newcomers we spent years trying and failing to persuade the industry to adapt to our model.

Even after we began adapting our strategy to fit the Hollywood way of doing business, it took a while to find a model that benefited us and our partners. Since our network of theaters has grown from to Directors such as Christopher Nolan, J. Abrams, and James Cameron are huge fans of our technology—they have come to view IMAX as the perfect canvas on which to execute their artistic vision.

When I meet with entrepreneurs who want me to invest in a start-up, the first thing I look for is how attached they are to their business model: Would they consider a plan B or plan C?

Iteration is key. During its first 25 years, IMAX installed its system in museums, and most of its films were nature documentaries. By focusing on museums, it could get funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Film Board of Canada to build theaters.