Europe and Australia open first digital IMAX screens

posted by danpetitpas on December 17, 2008 at 10:45 am

Both Europe and Australia are opening their first digital IMAX theaters.

In the UK, Odeon shelled out £1.5 million to build auditoriums in Greenwich and Wimbledon. The Greenwich digital Imax will actually undercut the non-digital BFI Imax in Waterloo by charging £11.50 compared to £13.

The theaters opened this week with showings of “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.”

Odeon said it was considering converting 10 more screens to digital IMAX if the demand is there. It also plans to install non-IMAX digital projection systems in 111 of its 200 cinemas.

In Australia, Hoyts is opening digital IMAX screens in the suburbs of Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. The first film screened will be “The Day the Earth Stood Still on Boxing Day” (Dec. 26).

Hoyts will add a fourth digital IMAX screen at another Melbourne theater next year.

Read more at Canary Wharf news, enews, and Variety.