IMAX GOES ON A MOVIE MISSION `APOLLO 13' BEING ALTERED TO FIT MEGA-SCREEN FORMAT.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

UNIVERSAL CITY - ``Apollo 13'' is coming to the big, big screen this summer, one that is eight stories high and 120 feet wide.

IMAX Corp. and Universal Pictures announced Thursday that the 1995 film about the ill-fated 13th Apollo space mission will become the first 35mm live-action film to be transformed into an IMAX presentation.

The transformation, to be done with input of the film's director, Ron Howard, is expected to cost $2 million to $3 million and will take about four months to complete.

At a morning press conference at the IMAX theater at Universal CityWalk, Howard and ``Apollo 13'' star Tom Hanks were joined by the film's producer, Brian Grazer, as well as executives from IMAX and Universal. Several scenes from the film were shown on the giant IMAX screen.

``I'm thrilled with what I'm seeing,'' Howard said after viewing the clips. ``I feel like it's going to work.''

Howard, who is up for an Academy Award on Sunday for directing ``A Beautiful Mind,'' said he had been thinking about making an IMAX-format film for about a decade, not realizing that ``I had already made one.''

``As a filmmaker, I am really exhilarated at what this promises,'' Howard said. ``It bodes well for the format and storytelling in general.''

Hanks, who was Oscar-nominated for best actor for his role as Jim Lovell in the film, was also impressed with the format but jokingly commented that while the film's action scenes play well on the bigger screen, his concern was the close-ups where ``a pimple could be the size of a Volkswagen'' or an errant strand of co-star Bill Paxton's hair ``could look like a Lincoln Log.''

Bradley J. Wechsler, IMAX co-chief executive officer, said advances in re-mastering technologies have allowed IMAX to extend its re-purposing efforts beyond animation to live action.

``Obviously, this technique can be available to sort of open the vaults of Hollywood,'' Wechsler said. ``It changes the rules of the game rather dramatically. The Holy Grail is to show a film like 'Apollo 13' in our medium. I think it will be a tremendous benefit for the filmmaker and the consumer.''

Nikki Rocco, president of distribution for Universal Pictures, called the venture ``history making.''

``When we saw a test of what could be done with a few short scenes, not only were we reminded of what a fabulous film Brian and Ron made, we were absolutely blown away by the picture and sound quality of the IMAX version,'' Rocco said.

When the film was released in its original format, it went on to gross $172 million domestically and was nominated for nine Academy Awards including best picture.

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Photo:

Ron Howard's 1995 film, ``Apollo 13,'' starring Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon and Tom Hanks, from left, is being re-formatted for the eight-story high, 120-foot-wide IMAX screen.

Universal Pictures