NIGHTWISH's 'Imaginarium' To Arrive Before End Of The Year

"Imaginarium", the long-awaited new album from Finnish/Swedish symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH, will be released before the end of the year via Nuclear Blast Records in Europe and Roadrunner Records in North America. A movie of the same name is currently in production and is expected to arrive in 2012.

More information about the "Imaginarium" album, including the CD's complete track listing and details of the first single, will be made available in the coming weeks.

"Imaginarium" is one of the projects which recently received grants from the Finnish government institution called the Finnish Film Foundation. The movie, directed by Stobe Harju, about an old man on his deathbed who glimpses a childhood dream in which he refuses to grow old, and fights aging with his imagination, will get $575,000 toward its $3.7 million budget.

The Finnish Film Foundation grants support for professional Finnish film production. The Foundation's goal is to promote high-quality, versatile and unique Finnish film. The support can be granted for feature-length, short and episodic fiction, documentary, animation and children's films.

The production support is granted for the writing of a film script, development of a film project, the actual production of a film and for the marketing and distribution of the film in Finland. The Foundation also grants post-release support on the basis of a film's total attendance.

NIGHTWISH will kick off the "Imaginarium" world tour in Los Angeles. The very first show of the trek will take place at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California on Saturday, January 21. This will be the biggest NIGHTWISH show production ever on North American soil and strictly a one-off — there will be no U.S. tour until later in 2012.