After years of foisting dashed-off 3-D — and its inflated ticket prices — on movie audiences, studios may have found their most reliable ally yet in shoring up box office: IMAX. And not just the punch and potential of the brand’s own 3-D, either, but good old conventional 2-D as well.

Call it the IMAX Old Wave. Led by last weekend’s $155 million Hunger Games windfall — $10.6 million of which came from the giant-screen format — more and more evidence suggests that audiences are both showing a preference for IMAX and happily forgoing often-reviled 3-D visuals. Just as important, and perhaps far more telling, blockbuster directors like Christopher Nolan and Brad Bird are making influential use of IMAX technology to augment their creativity. Those results have been roundly embraced by critics and crowds, all while 3-D continues generating negative feedback and diminishing returns. Are the studios finally ready to follow filmmakers around the corner?

Maybe, if cinematographer Robert Elswit’s recent experience is any indication.

“3-D was never a choice for us, so the matter never really came up,” said Elswit, the Academy Award winner who served as Bird’s director of photography on last year’s IMAX-intensive Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. “As for the IMAX decision, Brad certainly decided to go that route, but he was basically unproven as an action director. Having somebody as influential as Tom Cruise supporting the idea meant it was more likely to happen. Once he was completely in agreement that IMAX would benefit the film as a result the studio never fought it – Tom really influenced them to agree on spending the money, and ultimately it was not such a major expense, budget-wise.”

The move underscores both the creative and commercial advantages in turning away…