IMAX NEGOTIATES TO SCREEN NEW MOVIES.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

Giant-screen pioneer IMAX Corp., set to release an enlarged version of ``Apollo 13'' next month, has retained one of the entertainment industry's most powerful talent agencies to help secure deals with major studios to remaster event 35mm films, the company said Wednesday.

Creative Artists Agency will represent the large-format entertainment company as it tries to strategically position itself as a new distribution avenue for certain new films that would debut in IMAX format on the same day they are released in regular theaters.

The films would undergo the same digital remastering process, called DMR technology, that was used this summer on ``Apollo 13,'' originally released in 1995. It became the first live-action movie to be transformed into the IMAX format, done under the watchful eye of the film's director, Ron Howard, and will hit IMAX theaters Sept. 20.

``Earlier this year when we first saw test sequences of 'Apollo 13' digitally remastered using IMAX's new technology, we recognized this as an important part of the future film experience,'' said Richard Lovett, president of CAA. ``We believe that this relationship opens up new avenues for a number of our clients who would like to differentiate their films in the marketplace.''

IMAX Filmed Entertainment President Greg Foster said CAA played an integral role in helping IMAX secure ``Apollo 13'' to be digitally remastered as well as securing Tom Cruise as narrator of the current IMAX release ``Space Station,'' which has grossed more than $21 million since its release four months ago.

``CAA is perfectly situated to represent IMAX's interests in bringing the best in event films to IMAX screens and to giving IMAX moviegoers the best cinematic experience on the planet,'' Foster said.

Tickets to an IMAX film are generally $2 to $3 more expensive than the usual movie ticket. IMAX had been faced with theater exhibitors frustrated with what had been a dearth of commercially appealing movies to offer to the public since the hallmark of the giant-screen genre; instead, the fare had been education-oriented films that did not generate much box office buzz.

In order to fill seats, IMAX and other large-format theaters have screened action pictures like ``The Matrix'' and ``Gladiator'' but they were not reformatted specifically for the giant screen.

This fall, The Walt Disney Co. will make the unprecedented move of releasing its holiday film ``Treasure Island'' simultaneously in regular theaters and in IMAX and other large-screen theaters.

Disney initially found IMAX success when it reformatted its classic animated films ``Beauty and the Beast'' and ``Fantasia.'' Last year, Disney and IMAX entered into a deal that has the studio ramping up its production of original giant-screen projects including the recent release ``Ultimate X.'' In January, Disney plans to release a large-format version of its 1994 animated classic ``The Lion King.''

It was in 1970 that the IMAX projection system revolutionized giant- screen cinema with projectors that used film 10 times larger than the conventional 35 mm frame - resulting in movies projected onto screens as high as eight stories. There are now more than 225 IMAX theaters operating in 30 countries.

Ottawa-based IMAX Corp. reported second-quarter sales Wednesday of $38.9 million compared with $32.8 million a year ago. Shares of IMAX gained 26 cents to close at $3.86 a share on the Nasdaq market.