LOS ANGELES, Jan. 31, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IMAX Corporation (Nasdaq:IMAX) (TSX:IMX) and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures announced today that the Oscar®-nominated hit Tangled will be released in IMAX® 3D in key Asian territories day-and-date with the individual countries' wide release dates. Starting in February, the film will open in select digital IMAX® theatres in Korea, the Philippines, Japan and Thailand, with other Asian countries to follow soon thereafter. Based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale 'Rapunzel,' Tangled is an animated fantasy directed by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard and featuring the vocal talents of Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi.
"One of the best ways to celebrate the arrival of a movie in any given market, in any part of the world, is to include an IMAX release," said Chuck Viane, President of Global Distribution for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. "Tangled is ideally suited to the enhanced image and sound quality of IMAX, and we're looking forward to offering audiences the opportunity to experience it in this very special way starting next month."
"Having witnessed the great success of Tangled so far, we believe it will be a welcome addition to our robust 2011 international film slate," said IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond. "Due to the worldwide growth of the IMAX theatre network, coupled with the program flexibility of our digital projection system, we are able to provide more moviegoers with more sought-after content than ever before – especially in this important region."
"Our partnership with Disney has been outstanding and we are excited for the opportunity to offer another iconic and beloved Disney adventure to IMAX moviegoers in these key territories," said Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Filmed Entertainment.
About Tangled
Walt Disney Pictures presents Tangled, an action-packed, swashbuckling, animated musical comedy about the girl with 70 feet of magical, golden hair. A princess stolen from her parents' castle as a baby, Rapunzel (voice of Mandy Moore) is locked in a hidden tower longing for adventure. Now an imaginative and determined teenager, she takes off on a hilarious, hair-raising escapade with the help of a dashing bandit (voice of Zachary Levi). With the secret of her royal heritage hanging in the balance and her captor in pursuit, Rapunzel and her cohort find adventure, heart, humor, and hair... lots of hair. With original music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Glenn Slater, this comedic re-imagining of the classic Brothers Grimm fairytale comes to theaters in (Disney Digital 3D™.)
About The Walt Disney Studios
For more than 85 years, The Walt Disney Studios has been the foundation on which The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) was built. Today, the Studio brings quality movies, music and stage plays to consumers throughout the world. Feature films are released under four banners: Walt Disney Pictures, which includes Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios; Disneynature; Marvel; and Touchstone Pictures, which includes the distribution of live action films from DreamWorks Studios. Through the Home Entertainment division, innovative distribution methods provide access to creative content across multiple platforms. Original music and motion picture soundtracks are produced under Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records, while Disney Theatrical Group produces and licenses live events, including Broadway theatrical productions, Disney on Ice and Disney LIVE!. For more information, please visit www.waltdisneystudios.com
About IMAX Corporation
IMAX Corporation is one of the world's leading entertainment and technology companies, specializing in the creation and delivery of premium, awe-inspiring entertainment experiences. With a growing suite of cutting-edge motion picture and sound technologies, and a globally recognized entertainment brand, IMAX is singularly situated at the convergence of the entertainment industry, innovation and the digital media world. The industry's top filmmakers and studios are utilizing IMAX theatres to connect with audiences in extraordinary ways, and as such, the IMAX network is among the most important and successful theatrical distribution platforms for major event films around the globe. The Company's new digital projection and sound systems - combined with a growing blockbuster film slate - are fueling the rapid expansion of the IMAX network in established markets such as North America, Western Europe, and Japan, as well as emerging markets such as China and Russia. IMAX theaters deliver the world's best cinematic presentations using proprietary IMAX, IMAX 3D, and IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-Mastering) technologies. IMAX DMR enables virtually any motion picture to be transformed into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience®.
IMAX is headquartered in New York, Toronto and Los Angeles, with offices in London, Tokyo and Shanghai. As of September 30, 2010, there were 470 IMAX theatres (348 commercial, 122 institutional) operating in 45 countries.
IMAX®, IMAX® 3D, IMAX DMR®, Experience It In IMAX®, An IMAX 3D Experience® and The IMAX Experience® are trademarks of IMAX Corporation. More information about the Company can be found at www.imax.com. You may also connect with IMAX on Facebook ( www.facebook.com/imax ), Twitter ( www.twitter.com/imax ) and YouTube ( www.youtube.com/imaxmovies ).
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This press release contains forward looking statements that are based on management's assumptions and existing information and involve certain risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Important factors that could affect these statements include, but are not limited to, general economic, market or business conditions, including the length and severity of the current economic downturn, the opportunities that may be presented to and pursued by the Company, the performance of IMAX DMR films, conditions in the in-home and out-of home entertainment industries, the signing of theatre system agreements, changes and developments in the commercial exhibition industry, the failure to convert theatre system backlog into revenue, new business initiatives, investments and operations in foreign jurisdictions, foreign currency fluctuations and the Company's prior restatements and the related litigation and investigation by the SEC and the ongoing inquiry by the OSC. These factors and other risks and uncertainties are discussed in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and most recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.
CONTACT: Entertainment Media: IMAX Corporation - Santa Monica Rebecca Klein 310-255-5656 rklein@imax.com Principal Communications Group Melissa Zukerman/Paul Pflug 323-658-1555 melissa@pcommgroup.com paul@pcommgroup.com Investors: IMAX Corporation - New York Heather Anthony 212-821-0121 hanthony@imax.com Business Media: IMAX Corporation - New York Ann Sommerlath 212-821-0155 asommerlath@imax.com Sloane & Company - New York Whit Clay 212-446-1864 wclay@sloanepr.com