IMAX Corporation and Warner Bros. Pictures today announced that Batman Begins will be simultaneously released to IMAX® and conventional 35mm theatres on June 17th, 2005. The film, which explores the origins of the Batman legend and the Dark Knight’s emergence as a force for good in Gotham, will be digitally re-mastered into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology for the IMAX release. Warner Bros. Pictures will be the exclusive distributor of Batman Begins to IMAX theatres worldwide.

“Moviegoers love to experience our event movies in IMAX theatres and filmmakers rave about how their work appears on the IMAX canvas,” said Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures. “We’re excited to make our eighth film commitment to IMAX with Batman Begins: The IMAX Experience.”

“This film will be the latest in a series of fantastic Warner Bros. Pictures releases which have helped change the way moviegoers experience Hollywood movies,” said IMAX Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs Richard L. Gelfond and Bradley J. Wechsler. “Warner Bros. Pictures has been an instrumental partner in establishing this trend and advancing the IMAX theatre network as the newest distribution platform for Hollywood content.”

Added Greg Foster, IMAX Chairman and President of Filmed Entertainment, “We are extremely pleased with how our 2005 commercial film slate has taken shape and believe Batman Begins will be a perfect way to kick off the blockbuster summer film season.”

Batman Begins is directed by Christopher Nolan, director of the critically acclaimed films Memento and Insomnia, produced by Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Larry Franco, and stars Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman. The story finds the disillusioned industrial heir Bruce Wayne, in the wake of his parents' murder, traveling the world to seek the means to fight injustice and turn fear against those who prey on the fearful. He returns to Gotham and unveils his alter-ego: Batman, a masked crusader who uses his strength, intellect and an array of high tech deceptions to fight the sinister forces that threaten the city.

Other members of the film’s all star cast include Michael Caine as Bruce Wayne/Batman’s trusted butler, Alfred; Liam Neeson as Wayne's mentor; Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, a childhood friend of Wayne's; Gary Oldman as Lieutenant James Gordon; Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane; Tom Wilkinson as Carmine Falcone; Rutger Hauer as the CEO of Wayne Enterprises; Ken Watanabe as the villainous Ra's Al Ghul and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox. The executive producers of Batman Begins are Benjamin Melniker and Michael Uslan. Screenplay is by Christopher Nolan and David Goyer, and the film is based on characters created by Bob Kane, published by DC Comics.