Apollo 13 won two Academy Awards

Until now Imax cinemas around the world have shown mainly science or nature films because of the expense of creating Hollywood movies for its giant screens.

Converting a conventional film to be shown in an Imax cinema using the digital process would cost up to $3m (�2.1m).

Its movies are ordinarily shot using special cameras on film that is much larger than 35 mm, yielding sharper images without loss of quality.

The Toronto-based Imax company predicts the re-release of movies in a different format could bring in box office receipts of $30m (�21m), shared between itself and the studios.

'Staggering'

Apollo 13, which starred Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon and Ed Harris, picked up nine Oscar nominations, eventually winning two for best sound and best film editing.

Director Ron Howard, whose latest film A Beautiful Mind is up for an Oscar on Sunday, is delighted his film will be the first to be converted for an Imax audience.

"Seeing Apollo 13 presented like this with its clarity of image and staggering dimension, it occurred to me that this is how I had always hoped the film could be seen," he said.

Imax recently broke into mainstream movie markets with re-releases of Walt Disney classics Beauty and the Beast and Fantasia 2000.

Such was their success that Disney plans to release its next animated movie Treasure Planet in Imax format on the same day as on conventional screens.

For now Apollo 13 is Imax's only signed deal with a Hollywood studio but predicts as many six films could be released a year.