LOS ANGELES, April 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ – IMAX Corporation and Warner Bros. Pictures today announced that they have crossed the $400 million mark at the IMAX box office with films released through the partnership between the two companies. Since June 2003, Warner Bros. Pictures has released 16 movie titles in IMAX’s format, five of which were in IMAX(R) 3D, including two live action pictures that were partially converted into 3D with IMAX’s proprietary 2D to 3D conversion technology. All titles were digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience(R) using IMAX’s proprietary IMAX DMR(R) (Digital Re-Mastering) technology. Also included in the tally are the studio’s two original IMAX 3D co-productions.

     “Our successful partnership with IMAX has helped to shape an entirely new distribution window and a completely new form of premium cinematic entertainment,” said Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures. “The IMAX(R) theatre network has enabled us to generate incremental box office returns, and we are very enthusiastic about our upcoming film slate, which will include both original IMAX 3D programming and our tent-pole releases.”

     “The IMAX release adds a layer of excitement to major titles, and with more audiences looking for something special at the movies, we anticipate continued strong box office returns from these theatres internationally,” said Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, President of International Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.

     “Warner Bros. Pictures’ dedication to the IMAX film business, their talent for making great films and their enthusiastic endorsement of IMAX DMR and original programming has enabled our partnership to reach this impressive milestone,” said IMAX Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs Richard L. Gelfond and Bradley J. Wechsler. “With our digital projection system on the verge of rapidly expanding the IMAX network worldwide, we are confident that we’ll reach many more milestones with Warner Bros. Pictures.”

     The studio’s Hollywood IMAX releases that contributed to the $400 million milestone and helped shape the IMAX network as a new distribution platform include The Matrix Revolutions, The Matrix Reloaded, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Polar Express (in IMAX 3D), Batman Begins, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, V for Vendetta, Poseidon, Superman Returns (in IMAX 3D), The Ant Bully (in IMAX 3D), Happy Feet, 300, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (in IMAX 3D), Beowulf (international) and I Am Legend.

     The original IMAX 3D films co-produced and released with Warner Bros. Pictures include NASCAR 3D: The IMAX Experience (2003), which has grossed nearly $24 million at the IMAX box office, and Deep Sea 3D (2006), which has grossed an impressive $64 million at the IMAX box office on a limited number of screens, and it is still playing well throughout the IMAX network.

     “Warner Bros. Pictures has been instrumental in bringing The IMAX Experience into mainstream,” added Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Filmed Entertainment. “They were the first studio to release a feature film in IMAX 3D, the first studio to release a live action film that had been converted into 3D, and they introduced the world to a whole new brand of original IMAX 3D programming that is both educational and entertaining. We look forward to continued success with them and their incredible filmmakers as we collaborate in the release of a broad range of pictures over the next few years.”

     The 2008, 2009 and 2010 lineup for Warner Bros. Pictures and IMAX currently include Speed Racer (May 9), The Dark Night (July 18), Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (November 21), Under the Sea 3D (February 2009) and Hubble 3D (February 2010).

     About IMAX Corporation

     IMAX Corporation is one of the world’s leading digital entertainment and technology companies. The worldwide IMAX network is among the most important and successful theatrical distribution platforms for major event Hollywood films around the globe, with IMAX theatres delivering the world’s best cinematic presentations using proprietary IMAX, IMAX 3D, and IMAX DMR technology. IMAX DMR is the Company’s groundbreaking digital remastering technology that allows it to digitally transform virtually any conventional motion picture into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience. IMAX’s renowned projectors and new digital systems display crystal-clear images on the world’s biggest screens. The IMAX brand is recognized throughout the world for extraordinary and immersive entertainment experiences for consumers. As of December 31, 2007, there were 299 IMAX theatres operating in 39 countries.

     IMAX(R), IMAX(R) 3D, IMAX DMR(R), IMAX MPX(R), and The IMAX Experience(R) are trademarks of IMAX Corporation. More information on the Company can be found at http://www.imax.com .

     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 ongoing discussions with the SEC and OSC relating to their ongoing inquiries, the timing of theatre system deliveries, the mix of theatre systems shipped, the timing of the recognition of revenues and expenses on film production and distribution agreements, the performance of films, the viability of new businesses and products, risks arising from potential material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting and fluctuations in foreign currency and in the large format and general commercial exhibition market. These factors and other risks and uncertainties are discussed in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 and in the subsequent reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Movie star Wesley Snipes was sentenced to three years imprisonment last night for his “brazen defiance” of the US taxman.

The 45-year-old Hollywood actor, who has starred in films including Blade, White Men Can’t Jump and Demolition Man, was given the maximum sentence possible after prosecutors described him to a court in Ocala, Florida, as a “truly notorious offender.” He did not have to go to prison immediately but must surrender to custody at a later date.

Snipes sat expressionless as the sentence was handed down. Asked if he had any reaction, he spread his arms and shrugged. One of his lawyers, Carmen Hernandez, complained: “Mr Snipes was sentenced because he’s Mr Snipes.”

The decision by US District Court judge William Terrell Hodges came two months after a jury convicted Snipes on three counts of willfully failing to file federal tax returns from 1999 to 2001.

The court heard yesterday that Snipes dodged $15 million (£7.5 million) in tax through a campaign in which he concealed millions offshore, falsely applied for tax refunds and bombarded the Internal Revenue Service with frivolous correspondence that threatened government employees, railed about extortion and used twisted legal interpretations to back his claim that taxation was unlawful.

“For nearly a decade, Snipes has engaged in a campaign of criminal tax conduct combining brazen defiance with insidious concealment,” the prosecuting attorney, Robert O’Neill, told the court in a sentencing memorandum. “In the defendant Wesley Snipes, the court is presented with a wealthy, famous and inveterate tax scofflaw. If ever a tax offender was deserving of being held accountable to the maximum extent for his criminal wrongdoing, Snipes is that defendant.”

Okay this is only about the coolest thing ever.  I don’t even remember how I stumbled upon the Mixwit site, but miraculously I did… Quick gist of it is this… Go to the site, use their search tool to find any assorted music tracks you can possibly think of.  Then select the cassette design (stay with me here people – it’s a cassette.. you DO remember those ancient relics right?)  Anyway, select your tracks, design your tape and viola, here you go.

I’m still stuck in my ONCE phase, so of course those were my tracks of choice… I’m actually really surprised that I enjoy the music as much as I do.  It was one of those that the instant I heard the first few notes of ‘Falling Slowly’ I was utterly and completely hooked.  Even on the more raw/gritty songs that normally would grate on my last nerve… love ‘em. 

Actually, I’ve never been a big fan of movie soundtracks for the sheer reason that they are too hit or miss… however, i wouldn’t mind also poking around to see if I can find some tracks from my other guilty pleasure, Dan In Real Life… yep, hooked on the movie and was hooked on the music from that flick as well.  Go figure.  Either soundtracks are getting better, or i’m just getting old and less picky… well, old anyway…

Louis Leterrier, director of the upcoming The Incredible Hulk, downplayed to SCI FI Wire reports of a creative rift in the post-production phase between actor/screenwriter Edward Norton (who plays Bruce Banner) and Marvel Studios.

“It’s so unsettling, because it’s not true,” Leterrier said in an interview on April 19 at New York Comic Con. “Listen, when you have problems [on a film], you learn what to do. Everyone comes to an agreement where everyone agrees to say it was one thing or it was another thing. But [this controversy] is not a real thing, so I am saying one thing and [producer] Kevin [Feige] will say another thing, because it’s a non-issue.”

Entertainment blogger Nikki Finke first reported that Norton and Marvel clashed over the film’s tone and direction. Not so, Leterrier said. “Edward is working on the movie, and we are working here,” he said. “It’s a non-issue. You know what’s real is that it gives that woman, Nikki Finke, too much power, and everybody is falling into what she is saying. It’s sad and weird.” (Finke did not respond to a request for comment from SCI FI Wire.)

Asked if he found it difficult to work with Norton, Leterrier said “No.” “For example, I never, ever heard about the [rumored] Edward Norton problems [with director Tony Kaye] on American History X,” he said. “That movie was amazing, and in France we just judged the movie. I speak to Edward every day. I can show you my iPhone, which has Edward Norton written all over it. We speak daily. He is very proud of the movie and is very involved. I wish he was here.”

Exceprt From: SciFi.com