Christian Bale and Heath Ledger star in "The Dark Knight."

The Dark Knight

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Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and some menace

Length: 150 minutes

Released: July 18, 2008 Nationwide

Score: 4.0

Cast: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart

Director: Christopher Nolan
Producer: Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven, Emma Thomas
Writer: Bob Kane, Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer, Jonathan Nolan
Genre: Action/Adventure
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

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When director Christopher Nolan began shooting "The Dark Knight," the man behind the latest big-screen installment of the Batman story unwittingly handed Imax Corp. a new business model — and probably the biggest box office take the company has ever seen.

Known in Hollywood for his willingness to experiment, Nolan rented an Imax camera for "the money shots," his words to Imax executives for the big sweeping scenes involving the Gotham skyline, which was played by downtown Chicago.

But after picking up the camera for one or two of those shots, Nolan — who spent his childhood going to nature documentaries in Imax theatres — forgot to put it down. By the time shooting wrapped, more than 30 minutes of the 152-minute film were shot using the giant-screen Imax format.

Though Imax has been exhibiting Hollywood fare on its screens for years, last week's release of The Dark Knight is the first time one has been shot with the firm's special cameras, rather than taking a regular print and converting it.

"What Chris discovered along the way was that not only the things that seemed obvious looked good, but a lot of the close-ups and a lot of the more intimate scenes also worked" Richard Gelfond, one of two co-CEOs running Imax, said in an interview this week.

Imax should now be considering refunding Nolan's rental fee for the camera. The movie's popularity, fuelled by public interest surrounding the death of co-star Heath Ledger, has smashed box office records in its first weekend, taking in $158 million across North America.

Imax has pulled in $8 million for itself, a modest number by comparison but a record opening weekend for the company. It has shown the giant-screen version on 94 of its theatres, pulling in an average of $85,000 per venue so far, and the company expects the film will break its previous box office record of $38 million for "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." That film, however, was simply enlarged somewhat for the Imax screen, which changes the picture quality.

Imax, which is coming off a bumpy few years marked by struggling ticket sales and multiple earnings restatements — the company acknowledged last summer it overstated revenue between 2002 and 2005 — now finds itself filling theatres well in advance.

In Chicago, for example, The Dark Knight is sold out for the next week, the company said.

Gelfond said that Imax is now in talks with several other directors who want to duplicate Nolan's model, where scenes are shot for the oversized Imax screens, and then shrunk for regular theatres.

"A number of directors have really responded favorably to what Chris has done," Gelfond said. "We're only having preliminary discussions, but I wouldn't be surprised if in 2009, someone else tries what Chris has done."

He would not discuss which studios have approached Imax in the wake of The Dark Knight, but mentioned it is likely Imax will have another, similar film delivered in 2009, given the discussions going on.

Because there are two formats, when the movie reaches the scenes shot with the Imax camera, the picture enlarges to Imax size, then returns to the standard dimensions of a movie theater screen afterward. Gelfond said it is plausible an entire Hollywood movie will now be shot using the technology, particularly as the company shifts to digital cameras later this year, eliminating the cost of film. Warner Bros. hasn't said how much the Imax shots increased the cost of the movie, but its budget of $180 million was slightly above the norm for such big-budget action movies. Much of the higher expense from shooting on Imax cameras involves lighting the shots differently, which pushes up production costs.

The film's debut last week also marks the first time a Hollywood movie has premiered on an Imax screen, rather than holding the traditional red carpet at a standard theatre. "I think the impact for us has probably exceeded our box office," Gelfond said.