Empire Theatres To Add Two New IMAX® Locations

Published on Tuesday, 12 June 2012 07:42 Written by TradersHuddle Staff

Canada's Second-Largest Exhibitor Poised to Operate Seven IMAX® Theatres

TORONTO, June 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- IMAX Corporation (TSX: IMX) (NYSE: IMAX) and Empire Theatres Limited today announced an agreement for two new IMAX^® theatres as follow-up to the parties' agreement announced Apr. 4, 2012. The theatres are scheduled to open in new complexes in Kingston, Ontario, and Edmonton, Alberta, in December 2012 and May 2013, respectively. This agreement brings Empire Theatres' total IMAX commitment to seven theatres from five. Today's agreement also brings the number of IMAX commercial theatres open or contracted to open in Canada to 34, up from 13 IMAX commercial theatres at the end of 2009.

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"We are committed to offering our guests the best entertainment experience possible and IMAX helps us deliver on this promise," says Dean Leland, Vice President, Media & Studio Relations, Empire Theatres.  "With today's announcement, we're building on our success with IMAX and look forward to offering audiences in Kingston and Edmonton a movie-going experience unlike anything they've experienced before."

"We're pleased with our continued growth in Canada, thanks to the support of leading exhibitors such as Empire Theatres," said IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond. "As demonstrated in today's announcement, growth from existing relationships underscores our partners' commitment to our brand and their recognition of IMAX's ability to bring in incremental audiences and revenues."

About Empire Theatres Limited

Empire Theatres Limited is a Canada-wide movie exhibition company providing an exciting out-of-home entertainment experience including traditional movie exhibition as well as other content using its digital and satellite capabilities.

Empire Theatres Limited is a 100% owned subsidiary of Empire Company Limited that owns and operates 51 theatres across Canada with 390 screens, including five IMAX auditoriums and five Empire Extra auditoriums.

Empire Theatres Limited' corporate headquarters are located in Stellarton, NS, with regional offices in Halifax, NS; Toronto, ON; and Calgary, AB. With approximately 2,500 employees, Empire Theatres provides excellent employment opportunities for the youth of Canada in an exciting and energetic industry.

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 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, Shanghai and Beijing.  As of March 31, 2012, there were 643 IMAX theatres (510 commercial multiplex, 20 commercial destination and 113 institutional) in 52 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).

This press release contains forward looking statements that are based on IMAX 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 performance of IMAX DMR films, the opportunities that may be presented to and pursued by IMAX, competitive actions by other companies, conditions in the in-home and out-of home entertainment industries, the signing of theatre system agreements, changes in law or regulations, conditions, changes and developments in the commercial exhibition industry, the failure to respond to changes and advancements in digital technology, the failure to convert theatre system backlog into revenue, new business initiatives, investments and operations in foreign jurisdictions and any future international expansion, the inability to protect IMAX's intellectual property foreign currency fluctuations and IMAX's prior restatements and the related litigation.  These factors and other risks and uncertainties are discussed in IMAX's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and most recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

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SOURCE IMAX Corporation