Graeme Ferguson
Co-founder 1967Background
Graeme Ferguson was a visionary filmmaker and engineer who recognized the immense technical limitations of existing cinematic formats when attempting to create truly immersive, large-scale visual experiences for Expo 67. His founding philosophy was centered on the radical idea that the future of cinema did not lie in multiplying the number of projectors, but in maximizing the size and resolution of a single, unified image. Ferguson's specific decision to abandon the Multiscreen concept and pursue a new, horizontal 70mm film format defined the company's technological trajectory and its ultimate dominance in the premium exhibition space.
Role at IMAX Corporation
IMAX possesses a technical, visionary founding story, rooted in the experimental artistic environment of the late 1960s and a foundational obsession with shattering the restrictive limitations of traditional 35mm film projection. The foundational origins of the visual format trace back to Montreal, Canada, surrounding the Expo 67. Three brilliant Canadian filmmakers and entrepreneurs—Graeme Ferguson, Roman Kroitor, and Robert Kerr—were frustrated by the technical difficulties they experienced while attempting to project multi-screen installations at the Expo. They realized that syncing dozens of small projectors was unreliable and complicated. They possessed a foundational vision: instead of using multiple small projectors, they needed a single, projector that could handle large, high-resolution film. They founded the Multiscreen Corporation (which later became IMAX, standing for 'Image Maximum') and heavily recruited William Shaw, a brilliant engineer, to design the complex camera and projection system. Shaw's foundational masterstroke was the 'Rolling Loop' projector. To project 70mm film (which was heavy and prone to tearing) at high speeds, he invented a complex mechanism that moved the film horizontally in a wave-like motion, stabilizing the image. They debuted the very first IMAX film (*Tiger Child*) at the Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan. For decades IMAX was strictly relegated to niche, institutional settings (science museums and specialized nature documentaries). The lucrative corporate pivot occurred in the early 2000s, when IMAX developed proprietary technology to digitally remaster Hollywood blockbusters (starting with *Apollo 13*), transforming a niche museum novelty into a lucrative pillar of the global commercial blockbuster industry.