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January 7, 2019—BIG & Digital announced today Dr. Maarten Roos, filmmaker and planetary scientist, will represent films for museums and planetariums across Europe as BIG & Digital expands with new space science content for giant screen and fulldome theaters. Dr. Roos, sharing his time in Netherlands and Portugal, has been working as a freelance factual filmmaker since 2007. Roos has managed over 70 productions with more than 300 films and videos around science & technology, medical, music, human interest, art. These include documentary, educational, promotional and [...]

December 21, 2018—Mike Day, Executive Vice President at the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) and giant screen industry innovator, will retire on March 3, 2019. Mike has been at SMM for 40 years, where he opened the world's second Omnitheater and produced more than a dozen films, including Ring of Fire and Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees. Day was one of the founders of the Space Theater Consortium, the industry association precursor of GSCA. We thank Mike for being a stalwart champion of dome theaters and for [...]

December 18, 2018—The Blank IMAX Dome Theater at the Science Center of Iowa is still months from reopening more than five months after sustaining flood damage. Curt Simmons, the center’s CEO, said the center is working with IMAX to determine whether it needs to repair or replace the damaged equipment, which includes the movie screen, its projector and the theater’s audio system. Click here to read the full article from the Des Moines Register.    

December 18, 2018—IMAX is making its exit from virtual reality (VR) official: The company notified shareholders with a SEC filing last Thursday that it will close down its remaining three VR centers and write off “certain VR content investments.” Click here to read the full article in Variety.

December 13, 2018—The Giant Screen Cinema Association (GSCA) is pleased to announce its 2019 Board of Directors has elected officers and committee chairs for the coming year. Chair: Alan Nursall (TELUS World of Science-Edmonton) Vice Chair: Paul Wild (IMAX Victoria in the Royal BC Museum) Secretary: Christian Fry (CVF Productions) Treasurer: Andy Zakrajsek (COSI) In accordance with GSCA’s bylaws, the Executive Committee includes the aforementioned officers. The board also elected Taran Davies (Cosmic Picture) and Patricia Keighley (IMAX Corporation) to serve on the Executive Committee to [...]

December 11, 2018—Byron Horner, Executive Producer and President of Spirit Bear Entertainment, and distributor MacGillivray Freeman Films announced today that Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds has signed on to narrate Great Bear Rainforest, set in one of the planet’s most exquisite and secluded wildernesses.   Hidden from the outside world, Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest is home to an immense array of wildlife, including the fabled all-white spirit bear—the rarest bear on earth—and the indigenous First Nations, who have provided stewardship of the forest for millennia. Great Bear Rainforest is the first [...]

December 8, 2018—The first of eight new, live-action underwater shows in 4K for fulldome theaters and planetariums worldwide was announced today by production company Prospero Productions of Fremantle, Western Australia and BIG & Digital. “We are excited to be distributing this series with Prospero. The immersive setting and 4K underwater footage will be a new and exciting experience for audiences,” said Tina Ratterman, Founder of BIG & Digital. “Ningaloo: Australia’s Other Great Reef” will reveal the intimate secrets of the world’s largest and relatively unexplored fringing [...]

November 20, 2018—Les Cinémas Pathé Gaumont and the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie have announced that La Géode in Paris will be closed for renovations beginning Friday, November 30, 2018, and will reopen to the public in 2020.  There has been no announcement on which projection system the theater will have when it reopens.  Opened 32 years ago, the Géode is located in the Parc de La Villette complex (Paris 19th arrondissement), on the south esplanade of the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie. The theater [...]

November 20, 2018—SimEx-Iwerks Entertainment is partnering with MacGillivray Freeman Films to deliver three exclusive new flying films in 2019 for the Vertical 4D Experience™, SimEx-Iwerks’ latest theater attraction that simulates the sensation of flying. Flying Across America will be available this spring, followed by the summer release of Flying Around The World and a fall release of Flying Wild. Each film will be exclusively distributed by SimEx-Iwerks Entertainment. SimEx-Iwerks and MacGillivray Freeman will also collaborate in producing custom Vertical 4D Experiences. MacGillivray Freeman has an impressive record of delivering successful film content [...]

November 16, 2018—Cincinnati Museum Center's Union Terminal $224 million restoration will be unveiled to the public this weekend, but the upgrades to the 85-year-old building won’t be coming to an end just yet. The Robert D. Lindner Family Omnimax Theater will reopen in late December after a $3 million improvement including the installation of Imax with Laser. Read the full article from the Cincinnati Business Courier here.