HAYWIRE Director's IMAX Release Plans Stifled by UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING

Like his last film Contagion, Soderbergh wanted to release his upcoming action-thriller starring former women's MMA champ Gina Carano in IMAX but couldn't lock in the screens due to the fourth installment of Sony's vampire-hunting film.

Mallory Kane is a highly trained operative who works for a government security contractor in the dirtiest, most dangerous corners of the world. After successfully freeing a Chinese journalist held hostage, she is double crossed and left for dead by someone close to her in her own agency. Suddenly the target of skilled assassins who know her every move, Mallory must find the truth in order to stay alive.

Using her black-ops military training, she devises an ingenious--and dangerous--trap. But when things go haywire, Mallory realizes she'll be killed in the blink of an eye unless she finds a way to turn the tables on her ruthless adversary.

Director Steven Soderbergh became a big fan of IMAX when Warner Bros decided to release his last film, the biological thriller Contagion, in the format, "It was great. It just intensified everything. You could see Gwyneth [Paltrow]’s sweat, and it just amped everything up. Their quality control is extraordinary, and the image is fantastic, and the sound quality. It’s a great way to see a movie, period."

With his new film, the action-packed spy thriller Haywire, Soderbergh attempted to garner an IMAX release but quickly informed that Sony Pictures' upcoming fourth installment to their Underworld franchise had already taken up all the availability:

"We wanted to, we wanted to, but 'Underworld' had them, had all the IMAX shit. Right after the 'Contagion' test, I called Relativity and said, 'Can we get in on this?' and they were like, 'Somebody else has it.' Because they only have so many screens... they just have like, 75 screens in the U.S., and you’ve got to let them know a year ahead of time that your movie’s coming out on this date and you want those screens."

Mixed martial arts superstar Gina Carano (American Gladiators) makes her feature film debut, starring and performing her own high-adrenaline stunts. The film’s talented cast also includes Channing Tatum (GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra), Ewan McGregor (The Ghost Writer), Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class), Antonio Banderas (Desperado), Bill Paxton (Titanic), Michael Douglas (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) and Michael Angarano (Almost Famous). The film is produced by Gregory Jacobs (Ocean’s Trilogy) and written by Lem Dobbs (The Limey). Haywire hits theaters on January 20, 2012.