PICKING UP STEAM `POLAR EXPRESS' REACHES GREATER HEIGHTS WITH IMAX.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

``The Polar Express'' may have sputtered into the station over the weekend with disappointing box office returns, but in the nearly 60 IMAX theaters where a giant 3-D version of the film played, ``Polar'' was a runaway hit.

Warner Bros.' ``Polar'' has earned just over $30 million in its first five days and was trounced at the megaplex during its opening weekend by Pixar Animation Studios' ``The Incredibles,'' which grossed $50.2 million in its second weekend for a 10-day haul of $143.2 million.

While those seeking animated fare this weekend chose ``The Incredibles'' over ``Polar'' by more than a 2-1 margin, the eight-stories-high, 120-feet-wide IMAX version featuring 3-D elements not in the regular film was a sellout in many locations.

``The reaction we are getting is really spectacular,'' said Greg Foster, chairman and president of IMAX Filmed Entertainment. ``As the holiday season becomes more of a reality and you can smell the pine trees, this is a movie we think will just extend itself and continue to play over that two-month period.''

For Warner Bros., any revenue stream for ``Polar'' is crucial since the film had an approximately $170 million production budget plus more than $100 million more to market and distribute. The $30 million it has grossed so far only puts a dent in that massive investment.

The film - featuring the voice of Tom Hanks and directed by Robert Zemeckis - received mixed reviews and opened only five days after the debut of ``The Incredibles,'' an instant box office phenomenon that extends Pixar's winning streak to six consecutive movies.

The performance of ``The Incredibles'' is so strong that it sent Pixar's stock soaring to an all-time high of $93.42 per share Monday on the Nasdaq Stock Market before closing at a 52-week high of $91.34, an increase of $4.80.

In all, the IMAX ``Polar'' grossed $2.1 million over the weekend for a total of $3 million in its first five days and has enjoyed strong advance ticket sales in several parts of the country. It surpassed the $1.9 million earned opening weekend by the IMAX version of ``Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'' this summer.

In Dearborn, Mich., all of the 10 a.m. and noon shows are sold out for the rest of the year while the morning showings at the IMAX theater in New York City's Lincoln Square are sold out through the Christmas holiday. Most impressively, at a new IMAX theater in Redding, Mass., all five showings each day have sold out since the film bowed Wednesday, making for 25 consecutive sellouts.

``What is wonderful about it from our world is our advanced ticket sales are quite significant,'' Foster said. ``The 3-D is bringing in a teenage and college crowd that normally would not have sampled the film.''

Canada-based IMAX has gone increasingly Hollywood mainstream in recent years with selected blockbusters such as ``Azkaban,'' ``Spider-Man 2'' and ``The Matrix Reloaded'' being remastered for the giant screen using IMAX's DMR process, which allows for a movie to be enlarged for an IMAX screen without compromising picture quality.

Warner Bros. has become a frequent collaborator with IMAX in recent years and Dan Fellman, the studio's president of domestic distribution, said it has only benefited each title rather than dilute them in any way.

``What we found about IMAX is it really enhances the 35 mm performance of the movie,'' Fellman said. ``There's only 59 theaters so what it does is eventizes the film and it brings people into the multiplex. It becomes a destination center, and if they don't get in to see the IMAX version they go see it in 35 mm.''

Greg Hernandez, [phone]

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Tom Hanks, left, and director Robert Zemeckis promote ``The Polar Express'' on a trip to Tokyo on Friday.

Itsuo Inouye/Associated Press

(2 -- color) no caption (``The Polar Express'')