COMPANY TOWN ANNEX

Imax Announces Expansion Plans: Imax Corp. said it plans to open 40 large-format movie theaters that it will own and operate during the next five years. Toronto-based Imax now only leases its theaters, but it sees potential cost efficiencies in ownership, Chairman Bradley Wechsler said at the company’s annual meeting. This strategy will complement the company’s film production business, Wechsler said, as the new theaters will have an existing film library. Wechsler said Imax will start producing more commercial films in addition to its educational movies. Imax also is in preliminary talks with News Corp.’s Twentieth Century Fox film studio to explore either shrinking Imax large-format films into the standard 35-millimeter format or doing the reverse, he said.