Hoover's Rave Motion Pictures multiplex at Patton Creek soon will get Alabama's first IMAX theater for general distribution movies, Rave and IMAX said Tuesday.

Ontario, Canada-based IMAX Corp. and Rave Motion Pictures will remodel one theater in the Hoover Rave, installing two digital projectors, an oversized, curved screen and a 12,000-watt sound system, said Jackson Myers, director of corporate communications for IMAX.

The renovated theater is expected to open in time to show "Harry Potter 7: The Deathly Hallows Part 1" on Nov. 19.

It will be the fourth IMAX theater in Alabama, but the first built specifically to show general distribution films. The other IMAX theaters in the state have larger, domed screens and are located at the McWane Science Center in Birmingham, the Gulf Coast Explorium Science Center in Mobile and the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. While those theaters show some general distribution movies, they also show nature- and science-based documentaries.

IMAX screens for general distribution movies vary in size depending on the theater in which they are installed, Myers said. But they stretch from floor to ceiling and wall to wall. They're wide enough to reach the edges of movie-goers' peripheral vision, and are set closer to viewers. Several rows of seats will be removed at the front of the Patton Creek theater to accommodate the new screen.

The dual digital projectors will produce an image "far above ordinary projection standards," Rave said in a prepared statement. Some movies to be shown in the theater will be shot using IMAX technology, and others will be remastered to make them compatible with the system.

The screen also will be coated with a special paint to accommodate 3-D films, which also will be shown, Myers said.

A spokeswoman for Rave Motion Pictures said pricing has not yet been determined. But IMAX movies at other Rave multiplexes posted on the movietickets.com website typically are priced a few dollars above non-IMAX showings. IMAX showings in 3-D typically are priced a little higher still.

The new theater is one of 13 being installed nationwide as part of a joint-venture between Dallas-based Rave and IMAX. Other theaters are being built in California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

Jefferson County building permit records indicate Blalock Building Co. will perform the work at the Patton Creek theater at a cost of about $118,000, according to Southern Exposure, a Huntsville firm that collects building permit data.

Blalock issued a press release late Tuesday saying it is converting a total of seven Rave theaters to an IMAX configuration. Others are in Chattanooga; Milford, Conn.; Beavercreek, Ohio; Destin, Fla.; Louisville and Davenport, Iowa.

According to IMAX filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, IMAX and the theaters that use its technology usually enter revenue-sharing agreements.

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