3-D is helping brighten the picture for once-troubled Imax

LOS ANGELES — When director James Cameron wanted to give fans a glimpse of his 3-D epic "Avatar" last summer, he opted to show the first 15 minutes of the sci-fi film in big-screen Imax theaters in the U.S. and Canada.

"We thought it was the perfect way to introduce the movie to the public," said "Avatar" producer Jon Landau, chief operating officer of Cameron's production company, Lightstorm Entertainment. "We wanted 'Avatar' to be an immersive experience, and really, there's nothing more immersive than the Imax screen."

The thumbs-up from Hollywood's self-proclaimed "king of the world" would prove to be a boon to the Canadian company Imax Corp., which so far has reaped more than $150 million in ticket sales from "Avatar," the highest-grossing movie in history. It also underscores how the company's fortunes have brightened since three years ago, when Imax struggled under massive debt, a tumbling stock price and doubts that it could survive the digital revolution.

Thanks to a financial restructuring, a shift in business strategy and an aggressive push to latch onto the 3-D bandwagon, Imax is expected to post its first annual profit in four years after recording a $33 million loss in 2008.

Once known as a showcase for earnest nature documentaries like "Everest" and "The Living Sea" that are shown in museums, Imax has become an increasingly prominent player among mainstream theater operators, doubling in size over the last two years to 430 locations in 44 countries. Now the company, which has about 80 employees in Santa Monica, Calif., plans to invest up to $25 million in opening 65 additional theaters this year

"Imax was a place where I'd take my kids on Sunday if I wanted to see a movie about whales or the Antarctic," said Brad Grey, chairman of Paramount Pictures, which generated 5 percent of its ticket sales for last summer's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" from Imax, even though it accounted for less than 2 percent of all screens. "It has become an almost essential part of releasing a blockbuster."

Whether the rapid growth is sustainable remains to be seen. Although most analysts think 3-D is here to stay, some question whether consumers will continue to pay more to watch a 3-D movie in an Imax theater as other, less costly 3-D alternatives become widespread.

Imax faces competition not only from the leading 3-D supplier RealD but also from one of the nation's largest theater circuits, Cinemark, which has introduced its own large-screen digital projection system, sparking an ongoing court battle between the exhibitors. And some film fans have complained about Imax's push toward smaller screens.