Despite efforts to cut costs and streamline its business, embattled large format operator IMAX Corp has posted a 37% drop in revenues this half-year compared to the same period in 2000.

In the company's half-year results, revenues over the first six months are $73.7m compared with $117.6m over the same period in 2000. Job cuts and consolidation of manufacturing facilities accounted for a restructuring charge of $1.2m this year. The company also recorded a $2.2m bad debt expense.

Half-year revenues from IMAX's digital cinema subsidiary Digital Projection International were down to $12.2m, compared with $24.2m in 2000, which IMAX says is attributable to the shift from high-end to mid-market products and lower unit sales.

IMAX has been hit hard by the downturn in the US exhibition industry, and with much of its customer base undergoing bankruptcy or facing financial difficulties, the company is recording roughly a 40% drop in theatre systems sales revenues.

In a statement, IMAX co-ceos Richard L Gelfond and Bradley J Wechsler said: "The company's earnings for the quarter, while disappointing, are consistent with our expectations for the year as we reposition IMAX to return to profitability in 2002."

The company is optimistic about the potential of its forthcoming slate of films to boost business momentum next year and re-kindle the growth of its systems business.

IMAX will release Disney's Beauty And The Beast on Jan 1 2002. The company previously saw success with an updated version of Disney's Fantasia 2000: The Imax Experience, which took over $20m after its first month on release in IMAX theatres.

Scheduled for a mid-2002 release is James Cameron's high-profile Ghosts Of The Abyss a 3D exploration of the sinking of the Titanic and the Bismarck. Cameron set sail this week for the shoot, which is produced by the Anschutz Company's Walden Media and Cameron's EarthShip Productions.

Also on the slate is 3D holiday film Santa Vs The Snowman, and next spring sees the release of Space Station, a 3D film documenting the construction of the international space station.

"The film line-up for IMAX theatres in 2002 is among the strongest in our history," Gelfond and Wechsler said

IMAX, which has over 225 theatres in 30 countries, today saw its share price drop to a near year-low of $1.50.