IMAX plans to extend the initiative that has seen it branch out into filming live events. The company will present NBC’s live coverage of this summer’s Olympics opening ceremony in Paris to more than 150 IMAX locations across the US. A performance of Swan Lake by the Paris Opera Ballet company – the first ballet shot with IMAX cameras – will be filmed this summer and open in movie theatres across the globe at the end of the year.
The first concert to be released through the Filmed for IMAX camera programme was French new-wave band Indochine's Central Tour in 2022. Last October, concert film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour generated $13m at the IMAX box office. Earlier this year, Queen Rock Montreal – a 1981 concert by British rock band Queen that was scheduled to run at 400 IMAX theatres for a single weekend – had its run extended after becoming the biggest IMAX-exclusive event opening ever , with ticket sales of $4.
1m. At the Cannes Film Festival, IMAX’s chief executive, Richard Gelfond, told Steve Weintraub, editor-in-chief of entertainment news website Collider: “We’re looking at putting more events in general through IMAX, whether they’re filmed or alive. "The Queen concert or Taylor Swift are examples of film events that work very well.
We’re doing a Beach Boys with Disney+ documentary that will have a live component to it." Geflond added that sports events need to be live, with IMAX set to film some NHL matches and "maybe some basketball games" . He sa.