The IMAX Corporation today, in association with Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks, and aerospace technology leader Lockheed Martin Corporation, announced a new IMAX 3-D space film, which will take moviegoers to the moon and allow them to walk side-by-side with the brave astronauts of the Apollo program.

IMAX will produce "Magnificent Desolation" along with Hanks' and Gary Goetzman's production company Playtone. Lockheed Martin will sponsor it.

"NASA is proud to collaborate with Playtone, as well as continue our successful relationships with IMAX and Lockheed Martin," said Glenn Mahone, Assistant Administrator for Public Affairs at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Tom Hanks' enthusiasm for exploration is clearly evident in his previous productions that chronicle NASA's remarkable history, and we believe 'Magnificent Desolation' is a wonderful opportunity to capture the interest and curiosity of the next generation of explorers."

The film will take the audience to the surface of the moon, to the Ocean of Storms, the Fra Mauro Highlands and the Taurus Littrow Valley, as well as the Sea of Tranquility, as only IMAX 3-D cameras can. "Magnificent Desolation" continues IMAX's space film legacy and its unique production partnership with Lockheed Martin and NASA.

"We believe 'Magnificent Desolation' holds the potential to be extremely successful given the exciting subject matter and Tom Hanks' passion and creative vision. The film will be designed by Playtone and IMAX to play at both commercial and institutional IMAX theaters for many years," said IMAX Co-CEOs and Co-Chairmen Richard L. Gelfond and Bradley J. Wechsler. "We are thrilled to partner once again with Lockheed Martin, which together with NASA and IMAX have created one of the highest- grossing large-format film franchises, featuring space films that have cumulatively grossed more than $350 million."

"For nearly 20 years, Lockheed Martin has teamed with IMAX and NASA to produce films with the goal of educating and inspiring young and old about the wonders of math, science and technology through the prism of space," said Dennis Boxx, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications, Lockheed Martin Corporation. "And through our newly formed partnership with IMAX, NASA and now the creative team headed by Tom Hanks, a new generation will be enticed by the excitement and drama the astronauts of the Apollo program brought into our homes as they dared to dream of space and set foot on the lunar surface."

IMAX space films have been seen by over 85 million people and played in over 15 languages worldwide. The most recent collaboration between Lockheed Martin, NASA and IMAX was the extremely successful release of "SPACE STATION," an IMAX 3-D film released in April 2002, which has grossed nearly $70 million at the box office and continues to play in theaters worldwide.