‘Blue Angels’ Tests Imax’s New ‘Documentary Blockbuster’ Plan
“The Blue Angels” — a new 94-minute feature documentary in Imax theaters this week from Amazon MGM Studios and Imax about the U.S. Navy’s famous flight demonstration squadron — marks the first production in what Imax senior VP and head of documentaries John Turner noted as the large-format exhibition company’s new strategy built around the notion of “documentary blockbusters.”
These movies would join an Imax release slate that includes Hollywood tentpoles as well as alternative content from concerts to its traditional 40-minute docs, often about space or nature, that typically play at science museums and other specialty venues.
Turner sees documentary blockbusters as feature-length narrative docs that would “play alongside” the Hollywood features that are released in Imax. “After 10+ years of this kind of premium documentary period that we’ve been in, led by Netflix and Amazon and Apple and so many other players in the market, it’s really elevated the storytelling, the narrative and widened the audience for documentary,” he said. “And then with Imax’s technology, screens and immersive experience, it just feels like a perfect storm to kind of create these really immersive, incredible and fun experiences within documentary.”
“The Blue Angels” exemplifies this aim to elevate its doc production and grow its audience, featuring a producing team that includes J.J. Abrams (Bad Robot) and “Top Gun: Maverick” co-star Glen Powell, with Hans Zimmer serving as executive music producer. And it follows the phenomenal success of “Maverick” with jaw-dropping aerial cinematography that involved some of the same camera crew and cameras.
Turner, who was also an exec producer, believes advances in production technology can help to enable this new strategy by potentially making production easier and more affordable.
“The Blue Angels” was filmed for Imax with Sony Venice cameras, used in the production of “Top Gun: Maverick,” and the follow-up Venice 2 models (shooting in 6K and 8K, respectively), which were even mounted on the wings of the F/A-18 Super Hornets. The production also used compact Insta360 One RS cameras, which were attached inside the cockpits.
The release of “Blue Angels” will be the first test of the box office potential of these documentary blockbusters. Last month, in its first-quarter earnings report, Imax reported that it delivered $261 million at the global box office, led by “Dune 2,” which generated an estimated $143 million globally from Imax screens.
In addition to revenue from Hollywood movies, alternative content included, notably, “Queen Rock Montreal,” an Imax-exclusive limited engagement that generated $4.8 million worldwide.
Meanwhile, Imax’s short docs such as “Deep Sky” that remain in release continued to play in specialty venues and science museums.
Looking ahead, another example of the company’s new game plan will be the Adam McKay-produced “Stormbound,” a feature doc chronicling the life of storm chaser Jeff Gammons that is in production and slated for an Imax release in 2025. It will follow the July release of storm chasers tentpole “Twisters.” Turner said he hopes the Adam McKay doc “will have that similar zeitgeist moment that we believe ‘Blue Angels’ is also having coming off the heels of ‘Top Gun: Maverick.’ ”
“The Blue Angels” will play in Imax theaters May 17-23 and debut May 23 on Prime Video.
