LOS ANGELES, May 30 /PRNewswire/ -- In a move that confirms its commitment to bringing high-quality films to the worldwide IMAX(R) theatre network, IMAX Corporation (Nasdaq: IMAX; TSE: IMX) today announced that Steve Oedekerk's original animated film, "Santa vs. The Snowman," will be reformatted into IMAX 3D and anchor a special IMAX holiday film program to be launched in November 2002. Produced by Oedekerk's O Entertainment, animated by DNA productions with additional footage being animated by Omation, a division of O Entertainment, the film features the voices of Oedekerk, celebrated Emmy(C) Award-winning comic Jonathan Winters, Ben Stein and Victoria Jackson.

"I'm excited that 'Santa' will lead the launch of IMAX's holiday family programming. When I saw the animation come alive in 3D, I couldn't believe it and I'm sure that audiences will have the same reaction. This is the perfect format for this classic holiday story and I'm very excited to be working with IMAX on this and potential future projects," said Steve Oedekerk, president of O Entertainment.

"'Santa' is a fantastic movie and I'm proud that Steve not only shares our desire to bring innovative IMAX 3D entertainment to audiences worldwide, but that he is taking the lead in partnering with us to repurpose his terrific animated film for the giant IMAX screen," said IMAX's President, Filmed Entertainment Greg Foster. "Early renderings of 'Santa' have shown that it's the perfect vehicle to demonstrate IMAX's proprietary repurposing technology and the phenomenal 3D images it can produce from other material."

"Santa vs. The Snowman" tells the story of a lonely Snowman who at first is swept away by the magical wonders of Santa's Village, only to ultimately wage war on Santa because he's jealous of all the attention Santa gets during Christmas time. An epic-scale polar war develops. The hilarious battle features such holiday defense mechanisms as hot chocolate squirt guns, giant Igloo Robot Walkers and even a 50-foot tall toy soldier manned by Santa himself. An updated version of IMAX's award-winning SANDDE(TM) short "Paint Misbehavin'" will also be featured in this holiday program.

Steve Oedekerk's multi-faceted career includes writing, directing, acting, stand-up comedy and animation technology. Oedekerk has written and directed films that have grossed over $1 billion in worldwide box office including: "Patch Adams," "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," "Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls" and "The Nutty Professor" and is the guiding force behind Nickelodeon's "Jimmy Neutron" franchise. He is also directing and starring in the wild martial arts spoof, "Enter The Fist" for 20th Century Fox, due late 2001. He has appeared in the top comedy clubs in America, starred in his own specials, appeared in numerous films and created TV specials for NBC, ABC and UPN. In the world of animation, he has created original programming and supports them with ground-breaking technology.

IMAX Corporation and its subsidiaries comprise one of the world's leading entertainment technology companies, with particular emphasis on film and digital imaging technologies, including giant-screen images, 3D presentations, digital post-production and digital projection. There were more than 225 IMAX(R) theatres operating in 30 countries around the world as of March 31, 2001. IMAX Corporation is a publicly-traded company listed on both the Toronto and Nasdaq stock exchanges. More information on the Company can be found at http://www.imax.com.

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SOURCE IMAX Corporation

CONTACT: IMAX Corporation, Victoria Dinnick, 905-403-6366, vdinnick@imax.com; Entertainment Media - Al Newman of Newman & Company, 310-777-5252, asn@newman-co.com; or Analysts - Stephen Abraham of IMAX Corporation, 212-821-0140, sabraham@imax.com/