Holy smokin' movie projectors, Batman! The Imax machine at the Mall of Georgia is busted!

The 12:20 p.m. Saturday showing of "The Dark Knight" was cut short 30 minutes into the film when the Imax projector in the Buford cineplex —- the only one in Georgia showing the new film in the super-widescreen format —- apparently overheated and shut down.

"I'm beyond bummed. I'm really [angry]!" said Josh Thompson, who drove with friends from Augusta to see the 3:40 p.m. show, which was canceled.

A Regal employee said an early Saturday morning showing also was cut short. Customers were told that the cooling unit for the projector malfunctioned, and the film player overheated.

Local management at Regal Mall of Georgia Stadium 20 & Imax declined to comment on the breakdown. Calls to Regal Entertainment Group's corporate headquarters in Knoxville on Saturday weren't returned.

The 7 p.m. Imax show also was canceled. It was not known Saturday evening if the 10:20 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. shows would take place. (For those seeking information about today's performances, the phone number for the theater is 678-482-5858, and the prompts include one to speak to the theater manager.)

This weekend's Imax screenings of the new Batman movie have been sold out since at least Tuesday. Some disappointed audience members said Saturday they had driven from across the state to see the movie.

Thompson and his friends took time off from work to see the Imax film Saturday, and to go to Six Flags Over Georgia today before returning to Augusta.

With gas topping $4 a gallon, the 36-mile drive out to Buford from where they're staying near Atlanta wasn't one they wanted to make twice.

"That's a long trek for $60 worth of gas," Thompson said.

Initially, the word was only rain checks would be given out.

"They're doing nothing to reimburse people who drove all the way here," Imax ticketholder Jared Osterhage of Newnan complained after he was turned away from the 3:40 p.m. show.

"Just to give us a rain check? If we don't come back, we've paid $45 plus gas for nothing."

Later, Regal officials offered refunds, re-admission tickets to future Imax showings and passes good for any other movie including "Dark Knight" on conventional screens at the theater complex.

People like Osterhage appeared satisfied. "They took care of us," he said.

Jeremy Uriz of Douglasville didn't mind attending the ordinary, 35mm version of "Dark Knight." "I'm going anyway because we got all hyped up," he said.

Brenda Lovvorn, who drove with her family from Kennesaw, wanted the full refund. Imax tickets are $15 apiece, and conventional showings, $10.

"We paid online," she said. "We just told them we wanted our money back."

The Imax theater seats several hundred viewers in a stadium-like venue for each showing. The movie was partially shot with the special cameras to accommodate the expansive screen —- a first for a major studio film, according to www.Imax.com.

Even without the special format, "The Dark Knight" seems to have lived up to its white-hot buzz.

The movie broke the record for a 12:01 a.m. Friday film opening, earning nearly $18.5 million nationwide at the box office for the midnight show, according to a Warner Bros. Pictures news release.

That beat the past record of $16.9 million set in May 2005 by "Star Wars: Episode III —- Revenge of the Sith."