Greg Foster, Chairman and President of Filmed Entertainment, joined IMAX Corporation in March, 2001. Based at IMAX's Santa Monica office, Foster’s primary responsibility is overseeing all aspects of the company's global filmed entertainment activities, including creative, production, film distribution, business affairs, marketing, sponsorship, studio relationships and the revolutionary IMAX DMR process.
During Foster's 5-year tenure at the company, he has successfully re-positioned IMAX’s film slate to include more commercial entertainment product by bringing numerous Hollywood blockbuster event films to IMAX Theatres around the world. Among the films released under Foster are some of the most popular entertainment franchises, and some of the most successful in IMAX’s history. These films include Apollo 13: The IMAX Experience; Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones: The IMAX Experience; The Matrix Reloaded: The IMAX Experience; The Matrix Revolutions: The IMAX Experience; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: The IMAX Experience; Spider-Man 2: The IMAX Experience; The Polar Express: An IMAX 3D Experience (the first ever digitally remastered IMAX® 3D animated film, which produced record-breaking results); Robots: The IMAX Experience; Batman Begins: The IMAX Experience; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The IMAX Experience; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: The IMAX Experience; and Superman Returns: An IMAX 3D Experience (the first live-action film with select scenes in IMAX 3D, which was an outstanding success at the box office ). A strong Hollywood film slate is already in place for the remainder of 2006 and beginning of 2007, and includes such films as Open Season: An IMAX 3D Experience, Happy Feet: An IMAX Experience, Spider-Man® 3: The IMAX Experience and Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix: The IMAX Experience. He has also re-focused IMAX's original 15/70 film product to include more commercial fare with films like Space Station 3D (narrated by Tom Cruise), NASCAR 3D: The IMAX Experience, the Tom Hanks/Playtone film, Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D, and Deep Sea 3D (narrated by Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet).
A seasoned Hollywood executive, Foster spent 15 years at MGM/UA where he served in various senior management posts, including Executive Vice President of Production and Senior Vice President of Motion Picture Marketing and Research. During the course of his career at MGM/UA, Greg played a key role in the production and/or marketing of over 150 films, including hits such as A Fish Called Wanda, Get Shorty, King Pin, Moonstruck, Rain Man, Species, Thelma and Louise, Untamed Heart and several from the James Bond – 007 series.
In 1999, Foster founded uMogul, a financial services company offering retail investors competitive market returns via mutual funds comprised of entertainment industry assets. He held the positions of Chairman, Co-founder and President of uMogul.
Foster is a 1984 graduate of Georgetown University. He and his wife have three sons and currently live in Los Angeles.
Bijan Tehrani: We have not yet seen a screening of OPEN SEASON, and plan to see the first IMAX 3D screening in Los Angeles. What will kids appreciate most watching OPEN SEASON in the 
IMAX 3D format?
Greg Foster: It is extremely immersive, it is a fun movie. It is about a relationship between these two characters Boog and Elliot. It is something that the way the film has been designed and we have been involved with it for quite awhile, it has been tailored to take the most advantage you possibly can of IMAX 3D. Because it is our friends at Sony and our friends at Sony Image works, who we worked on Polar Express with, we feel that this film is uniquely qualified to deliver the IMAX 3D experience to families in a way that we haven’t had in quite some time. We are extremely excited about it; it is fun and action packed. It is family friends and from a technological point of view it is tailored for our format.
Bijan: Columbia Pictures' next CGI film OPEN SEASON will be opening in IMAX 3D in IMAX theatres beginning Sept. 29th. Will this be the same 3D conversion technique used by the filmmakers for The Ant Bully?
Greg: No, it will be the same 3D conversion used for Polar Express. It is the same group of people and the same team at Sony Imageworks, and by the way we love the conversion of Ant Bully and in no way should that be considered a negative, it is just not the same. It is a different group of people in a different location, it is the same group of people in the same location that converted Polar Express from 2D to IMAX 3D.
Bijan: How does IMAX 3D achieve the amount of depth it displays on screen? The depth ratio is much greater than any competitive formats.
Greg: Well we appreciate that and we also happen to agree with you, and by the way what you were talking about in terms of Ant Bully. Ant Bully benefited from the experience that we garnered from Polar Express. Open Season will benefit from the experience that we had with Ant Bully. Each time we get a little bit better. It is like anything else, the more you practice, the more experience you have, the stronger the technology gets, and there are always improvements in technology, the better the conversion process will be. I am comfortably saying that Open Season will be the best 3D conversion we have ever done.
Bijan: How do studios decide which films they think will play best in IMAX 3D? Or, using OPEN SEASON as an example, is it IMAX that proposes which films IMAX feels will play best in IMAX 3D?
Greg: It is really a partnership, it is a combination. We have a collective list of what we think are appropriate movies and for any given time of the year there are three or four movies within a couple months that make sense, so we can only pick one of them. There are three or four different characteristics or variables that go in to the decision making process. One is that the movie technically will be available; two is that the movie is an appropriate film, meaning that it is family friendly or technologically focused like some of the Matrix movies that we did, something that will lend itself to the IMAX experience. Third is that it is with a company, a studio and a group of filmmakers who recognize what IMAX can bring to the partnership. Lastly, if there is an economic part of it, can we strike a deal that will make sense for our shareholders for our investors, for the companies bottom line. When you add those all up you will see how we make our decisions.
Bijan: Are there any special challenges to converting a film, such as OPEN SEASON, from 2D to 3D?
Greg: The biggest challenges in inclusion came from a time point of view, what we can’t do is get involved with this stuff in the last second. One of the nice things that have changed about IMAX in the 
course of the last couple years since we have had some success in the Hollywood conversion process is that we get involved with movies much sooner now. For instance we announced in June that we were doing Harry Potter 5, that movie does not come out till July of 07’ , we announced Spider Man 3 in July, and that movie does not come out till May of 07. We announced Open Season many months ago so we have been a part of this partnership, this process, this film for quite awhile and that allows us to address challenges. Every film has its own set of challenges and the more time we have with the film and the people making the film, the more opportunity we have to be able to address and deal with those challenges.
Bijan: Any particular scenes you want to name that really "show off" OPEN SEASON in IMAX 3D?
Greg: There are a handful of sequences. There is the waterfall sequence which is in the trailer and it is truly mind blowing when you look at it in IMAX 3D, there is the tree sequence when they have acorns thrown at them from a squirrel in the tree. There are running sequences that are fantastic where they are being chased. My favorite happens to be the waterfall sequence; it blends itself to what we do in an amazing way.
Bijan: What is the MPAA rating for OPEN SEASON and what age group is being targeted?
Greg: It is PG and it is family focused, not two year olds. There is some good adult humor there, but appropriate. I have children and I would be very comfortable with them seeing this film.
Bijan: How long did it take to convert OPEN SEASON to the IMAX 3D format?
Greg: We are still in the middle of it, we are not finished yet. We won’t be finished for another two weeks. The whole process will take about a month and a half.
Bijan: In SUPERMAN RETURNS IMAX 3D, which I understand is still playing in IMAX theatres and has done excellent business for IMAX, there were about 20 minutes of IMAX 3D live action footage which was incredible to watch. When do you expect IMAX to release a live-action film in its entirety in IMAX 3D?
Greg: Probably at least 18 months from now and that is because of a technological reason. First of all we are thrilled that you felt that way about Superman Returns, it had done excellent business and will be by far the highest grossing live action film we had ever had from the a Hollywood conversion film. We were only able to do 20 minutes because it took time to convert the footage, and my guess is that there will come a point in 07’, 08’ or 09’ when a studio says we really want to do this movie and we want all of it released in IMAX 3D. It is going to take someone wanting all of a movie in IMAX 3D, and to schedule the release and delivery of the film with that in mind.
Bijan: thank you for your time.
