There is no doubt that one of the biggest films of the year will be Tom Hooper's "Les Miserables." Already riding high on tremendous advance buzz, and with multiple Oscar nominations all but assured, it looks like audiences overseas are going to have an extra option when it comes to how they want to experience the film.
The epic scale musical is being converted to IMAX for release in the U.K. when it opens wide there on January 11th. It's unclear why they get the supersized version and we don't, and while post-conversion isn't as much fun as seeing something shot in the actual format, the opportunity to see this one on a ginormous screen is still something we'd like to check out. Maybe it's simply timing? There is no doubt that Hooper was running against a tight deadline to make the December North American release — and indeed, he finished it and it's already screening. But perhaps the extra month or so for conversion is making it feasible to happen on the other side of the pond.
But let's hope that if the movie is a success, Universal will break out an IMAX run for the picture stateside as well. For those of you in the U.K., tickets for the IMAX screening go on sale starting on December 1st. [THR]