Big, Giant Keanu Will Make Earth Stand Still

Can anything in this year’s remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still top this poster?

The Hollywood Reporter says that the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, starring Keanu Reeves, will be released simultaneously on standard screens and Imax theaters on December 12th.

This is good news for Imax theater operators, as the departure of the previously booked Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from the holiday schedule had left a big empty gap. Now Day will get to fill the wizard shoes.

Meanwhile, it’s a good deal for studio Fox, as higher Imax ticket prices can boost a movies gross and make that opening weekend box office look real pretty.

Day seems like just the right kind of movie for Imax–scifi, big special effects, aliens, Keanu (or are they the same thing? Keanu’s always been a bit otherworldy). Imax Filmed Entertainment chairman Greg Foster says that “Day will play especially well with the elusive, tech-savvy, 15- to 30-year-old demographic.”

Wow, are they really that elusive? Basically anything that’s not a historical costume drama seems able to bring in that demo.

Meanwhile, as current Imax occupant The Dark Knight begins to pull out of theaters, the Shia LaBoeuf thriller Eagle Eye will move in for a while. That’s a weird one–I mean, that seems like such a garden variety action movie. Does it really cry out Imax? Not for me it doesn’t. Then again, Shia’s charms continue to elude me, so perhaps I’m not the one to ask.