IMAX Es Muy Grande

It's not only AMC making a big bet on IMAX (Nasdaq: IMAX). The big-screen cinematic experience enabler inked a deal with RACIMEC to install 35 IMAX theaters over the next six years in Central and South America as well as the Caribbean.

The deal may not have the visceral wallop of the 100 IMAX screens that AMC is installing domestically over the next three years, but that pact is a joint venture. RACIMEC will team up foreign exhibitors to bankroll the IMAX expansion on their own dime. In short, it's more fiscal gravy for IMAX.

RACIMEC has been an IMAX customer on a much smaller scale since 2005. That means that the deal from a satisfied client helps validate the concept as a way to attract moviegoers willing to pay a premium for enhanced film-viewing experiences.

This week's announcement is the biggest international deal in the company's history. Couple that with December's landmark agreement with AMC, and you have a company that just landed the two biggest deals in its 40-year history over the span of just four months.

It gets better. Because the costs of translating Hollywood epics into higher-grade IMAX film is fixed, a greater number of screens is sweet news for IMAX, exhibitors, and especially movie studios Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) and DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA), which are already banking on IMAX to milk even more from their theatrical releases.

IMAX's push for digital projection systems is even sweeter, given the lack of reel printing costs and inventory-free distribution.

The future keeps coming up bright and brighter for IMAX. Whether we're talking about chains such as AMC, Regal (NYSE: RGC), Cinemark (NYSE: CNK), Muvico, and Carmike (Nasdaq: CKEC) that are on board domestically, or the growing international appeal of the format, the world is seeing the big picture.

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