(image courtesy of well.com)

Doesn’t that make you dizzy? It’s the word in Hollywood these days: 3-D. Just yesterday we talked about how ‘Dawn of the Dead’ was getting a 3-D remake and now Regal Cinemas is announcing to upgrade 1,500 screens to display 3-D. The movie chain is certainly busy with new technology. Two weeks ago they announced their renewed support for IMAX.

RealD will provide the technology, bringing the total to more than 3,500 RealD screens. With about 25% of Regal Cinemas’ screens being able to display the 3-D pictures. Hopefully this brings Jeffrey Katzenberg a little closer to his goal for the ‘Monsters vs. Aliens‘ movie.

The IMAX experience has always been an unique one. Not only by its sound and screen, but also because of its availability. Well, that’s about to change, since IMAX is making its ultimate ‘comeback.’ They’re about to expand their theater experience with an 80% increase in screens in the US.

IMAX needed a break when investors were backing out. The company isn’t making money and needed more to keep going. The theater owners didn’t have any high hopes for the expensive equipment either. And that’s when they got the plan to go fully digital, with a new ‘flux capacitor’ projector. The machine replaces the enormous 70mm film projector the company used to deploy. And it worked. Regal Cinemas, the number 1 theater owned, agreed to place 31 systems in 20 markets.

AMC is in on the IMAX experience too. They noted how they’d “like to have it be that you could come in to one of our (multiplexes) and have a variety of experiences at all sorts of different price points.” And I think they’re right. When we have the choice, it nice to have a little extra topping once in a while.

For the latest numbers: Iron Man box office facts and rumors.

It’s been just a couple of hours or let’s say a small day, but our friend Steve Mason already has the first numbers on ‘Iron Man.’ And the superhero is getting ready to rise into the sky. The first movie theaters started playing ‘Iron Man’ at 8pm yesterday, with a total of about 2,500 locations. Two of the biggest cinemas (Regal Cinemas and AMC) generated a total of $2.5 million in ticket sales in the first hours.

This might not exceed ‘Spider-man’ or ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ from last year, but both were sequels, which always tend to do better numbers in their opening weekend. ‘Iron Man’ is not expected to do much less, with predictions ranging from $5 to $8 million for Thursday alone. And that’s without big marketing efforts. Needless to say, with the total for Thursday coming in Sunday, ‘Iron Man’ is off to the expected good start. Tracking for a $100 million weekend, having a head start on the other blockbusters this summer is certainly paying off.

We’ll keep you updated when new ‘Iron Man’ numbers come in.