When IMAX approached movie studios about making commercial films using the technology, it was limited by the fact that it had an institutional network rather than commercial theaters, says CEO Richard Gelfond. At the time, it cost $5 million to outfit an IMAX theater and $8 million to make a film; in the past decade or so, the company dramatically lowered costs by figuring out how to retrofit theaters and convert existing films into IMAX movies, he said.