MacGillivray Freeman Films, the Laguna Beach-based maker of large-format documentaries that lean toward capturing beautiful nature scenes, has reached an agreement with IMAX to jointly finance, market and distribute four films. Up first under the deal is a film set in the exotic cluster of Indonesia's
13,000 islands, where ancient reefs and South Pacific ocean life will be explored.
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Both parties say the collaboration ensures a steady stream of programming, which should allow theater owners with large IMAX screens to breathe sighs of relief. Once the fourth film is in the can, the producer and presenter also have the option of extending the deal for another four films.
Meanwhile, the Indonesia project will be the second film from MacGillivray Freeman's ambituous One World One Ocean campaign, which draws attention to loving and preserving the world's oceans through a variety of media platforms. The first One World One Ocean film was last year's award-winning To the Arctic, which was narrated by Meryl Streep and has grossed $13 million to date for IMAX.
Co-founded by To the Arctic director (and opener page model) Greg MacGillivray, MacGillivray Freeman Films has long been one of IMAX's most-dependable producers, dating back to Blue Planet in 1986.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.