diff --git a/django/contrib/gis/geometry/backend/__init__.py b/django/contrib/gis/geometry/backend/__init__.py
index d9f30bb256..52fa0dedd4 100644
--- a/django/contrib/gis/geometry/backend/__init__.py
+++ b/django/contrib/gis/geometry/backend/__init__.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ from django.utils.importlib import import_module
 geom_backend = getattr(settings, 'GEOMETRY_BACKEND', 'geos')
 
 try:
-    module = import_module('.%s' % geom_backend, 'django.contrib.gis.geometry.backend')
+    module = import_module('django.contrib.gis.geometry.backend.%s' % geom_backend)
 except ImportError:
     try:
         module = import_module(geom_backend)
diff --git a/django/db/models/loading.py b/django/db/models/loading.py
index 40aa983c25..bb87728a5c 100644
--- a/django/db/models/loading.py
+++ b/django/db/models/loading.py
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ class AppCache(object):
         self.nesting_level += 1
         app_module = import_module(app_name)
         try:
-            models = import_module('.models', app_name)
+            models = import_module('%s.models' % app_name)
         except ImportError:
             self.nesting_level -= 1
             # If the app doesn't have a models module, we can just ignore the
diff --git a/django/db/utils.py b/django/db/utils.py
index 4afc592e64..eb5708ccf6 100644
--- a/django/db/utils.py
+++ b/django/db/utils.py
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ class DatabaseErrorWrapper(object):
 def load_backend(backend_name):
     # Look for a fully qualified database backend name
     try:
-        return import_module('.base', backend_name)
+        return import_module('%s.base' % backend_name)
     except ImportError as e_user:
         # The database backend wasn't found. Display a helpful error message
         # listing all possible (built-in) database backends.
diff --git a/django/utils/formats.py b/django/utils/formats.py
index cc66149026..dbe1716639 100644
--- a/django/utils/formats.py
+++ b/django/utils/formats.py
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ def iter_format_modules(lang):
         for location in format_locations:
             for loc in locales:
                 try:
-                    yield import_module('.formats', location % loc)
+                    yield import_module('%s.formats' % (location % loc))
                 except ImportError:
                     pass