The large-format 3D feature Bugs! has grossed $40 million globally and made Shaftesbury Films a significant producer of IMAX movies worldwide, but it was a bunch of kids in California that made Jonathan Barker cry tears of joy.

‘We premiered Bugs! in L.A. at the California Science Center to school kids in the area,’ recalls Barker, president and co-CEO of Shaftesbury and head of its large-format SK Films subsidiary.

‘Somebody had made a mistake – they had miscalculated the teacher-student ratio for the screening,’ Barker explains about the 2004 event. ‘There were practically no adults at the screening. I sat in a huge theater watching our 3D film, and the kids just had a completely direct interactive response to the film.’

The Shaftesbury exec grows enthusiastic as he recalls the kids’ reaction to the Judi Dench-narrated doc about two antagonists in the world of bugs – a praying mantis and a butterfly – leading up to an inevitably violent dénouement.

‘They were standing up; they were yelling at the screen and they were grabbing things,’ he continues. ‘And funnily enough, Terminix, the sponsor of the film, had sent people down for the launch and they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. I had tears streaming down my face. Tears of joy. It was just incredible to be able to sit there and think you were able to give that experience to people.’

Barker has been Christina Jennings’ partner in Shaftesbury since 1996 when he left IMAX, which had been sold to U.S. investors. It was an easy decision for Jennings and Barker – old friends eager to team up – to add a large-format section to Shaftesbury, as their strategy was to diversify the company’s product mix.

Barker’s vast expertise in IMAX productions gives the company a unique position in the worldwide market, making it attractive to foreign producers.

The challenge is that large-format films are hard to finance. Typically, theaters take 80% of the box office, leaving producers with a meager amount to repay investors. Producers must find foundations or corporations with deep pockets and long-term agendas in order to properly finance a project. Still, Barker continues to make it happen for SK (the ‘K’ stands for Robert Kerr, the now retired former CEO of IMAX).

Currently on tap is a follow-up to Bugs! called Flight of the Butterflies, sponsored in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

A more ambitious production entitled The Greatest Journey: Pilgrimage to Mecca in the footsteps of Ibn Battuta is currently shooting in Saudi Arabia under Barker’s supervision.

SK and Barker have been brought into the US$13-million Cosmic Pictures production as IMAX ‘grey hairs’ – veteran experts in the format who can guide the film through its technical challenges.

The Mecca film will contrast a historical and contemporary haj, the sacred pilgrimage to Mecca of Muslims around the world. ‘It’s an ambitious film,’ notes Barker, ‘in the sense that we want the film to be able to be a celebration for Muslims, and a bridge for non-Muslims.’

Still, the largest audience for this new production will be the global Muslim community, over two million of whom participate in the haj each year.

Says Barker: ‘There are IMAX theaters in Djakarta, Cairo, Kuala Lumpur, Casablanca and a bunch in India – locations where we believe this film has an opportunity to play for years. And if we get it right, it will play for years.’