Megatron Crushes Potter's IMAX Opening
By LITA BECK
Updated 1:12 AM EST, Fri, Jun 12, 2009
If you had visions of seeing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in IMAX when the movie opens, make other plans.
The sixth movie in the franchise, based on the book by the same name, won't be shown in IMAX until July 29, two weeks after the film's July 15th opening.
Who do you need to Avada Kedavra?
The Autobots. (Will the Killing Curse even work on large, transforming robots?)
Paramount signed a deal with IMAX to show Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen exclusively for four weeks if the movie used IMAX cameras, according to Slashfilm.com.
Half-Blood Prince was originally slated for November of last year, but Warner Bros. moved it to July 2009 in wake of the writers' strike. But the schedule shuffling placed Harry Potter squarely in the sights of the summer's other big sequel -- and its IMAX run.
Potter fans in New York and Los Angeles still get a shot at an IMAX opening -- the sequel will open on one IMAX screen in each city, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
But the rest of us will have to wait a couple of weeks for the 12 minutes of 3-D footage that are in the IMAX version.
The loss of those oversized IMAX ticket prices could affect Half-Blood Prince's opening weekend take.
But it could also boost the movie's overall gross -- most hardcore fans, not wanting to wait until July 29, will pay twice. However, those fans are likely to see the movie multiple times anyway. More casual moviegoers who would have otherwise opted for an IMAX showing are not likely to do the same.
First Published: Jun 11, 2009 5:11 PM EST
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