Beautiful, delicate yet unbelievably resilient, the butterfly is one of nature’s most enigmatic creatures. A story of adaptation and survival, we follow the vast migrations of the Blue Tigers of Australia and the Monarchs of North America and Mexico.
With the help of cutting edge slow-motion, drone and macro filming techniques, we see the butterflies’ tiny world in immaculate detail as they overcome the challenges of metamorphosis and migration, fly thousands of kilometers and as high as 3300 meters. Butterfly Journey reveals our interconnected and awe-inspiring world on the giant screen, through the eyes of the butterflies. Yet what fate awaits them when the fine-tuned climates they intimately know suddenly shift?
Coral Reef Adventure follows the real-life expedition of ocean explorers and underwater filmmakers Howard and Michele Hall. The Halls guide us to the islands and sun-drenched waters of the South Pacific, including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Fiji, Tahiti and the mysterious depths of Rangiroa Atoll, to document the health and beauty of coral reefs. On the giant screen, you’ll feel like you’re diving and exploring right alongside them! Narrated by Liam Neeson.
Cuba tells the powerful story of a land preserved in time, yet poised on the cusp of dramatic change. The nation’s vibrant culture, meticulously maintained colonial architecture, and pristine ecosystems provide a vivid window into the island’s history and spirit. Cuba will transport audiences across breathtaking landscapes, under the ocean surface to iridescent reefs, and into streets throbbing with music and dance in the heart of Havana.
Through the eyes of Cuban artists, historians, and scientists, the film provides an intimate look this vivacious island nation. Filmed exclusively for the giant screen format, Cuba reveals why Cuba continues to stir the imagination of the world. Cuba is produced by Golden Gate 3D, in association with BBC Earth, Giant Screen Films and the Giant Dome Theater Consortium.
June 6, 1944: The largest Allied operation of World War II began in Normandy, France. Yet, few know in detail exactly why and how, from the end of 1943 through August 1944, this region became the most important location in the world. Blending multiple cinematographic techniques, including animation, CGI and stunning live-action images, D-Day: Normandy 1944 brings this monumental event to the world’s largest screens for the first time ever. Audiences of all ages, including new generations, will discover from a new perspective how this landing changed the world. Exploring history, military strategy, science, technology and human values, the film will educate and appeal to all. Narrated by Tom Brokaw, D-Day: Normandy 1944 pays tribute to those who gave their lives for our freedom … A duty of memory, a duty of gratitude.
Dinosaurs Alive is a global adventure of science and discovery – featuring the earliest dinosaurs of the Triassic Period to the monsters of the Cretaceous “reincarnated” life-sized for the giant IMAX ® screen. Audiences will journey with some of the world’s preeminent paleontologists as they uncover evidence that the descendants of dinosaurs still walk (or fly) among us. From the exotic, trackless expanses and sand dunes of Mongolia’s Gobi Desert to the dramatic sandstone buttes of New Mexico, the film will follow American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) paleontologists as they explore some of the greatest dinosaur finds in history. Through the magic of scientifically accurate computer-generated animation, these newly discovered creatures, and some familiar favorites, will come alive … in a big way!
Beginning in the 1920s, AMNH scientist and adventurer Roy Chapman Andrews, who is believed to be the inspiration for the Indiana Jones character, led five expeditions to the Gobi Desert. Andrews and his team found hundreds of dinosaur remains, many new to science, including the first Velociraptor, the first dinosaur nests with eggs, and fossils of early mammals that lived alongside dinosaurs in the Late Cretaceous Period. Andrews also happened to take along a Hollywood cameraman with him to film the expedition’s discovery. This rare and beautifully preserved footage, juxtaposed against the large-format footage of today’s expeditions, provides audiences with a unique perspective into field paleontology over time.
Following in the footsteps of Andrews, AMNH paleontologists, Mike Novacek and Mark Norell, have been making annual expeditions to the Gobi every summer since 1990. Some of the greatest dinosaur fossils ever found have come from the Gobi. Collapsing sand dunes quickly and completely covered whole communities of animals, preserving them until the skeletons are exposed today by erosion. One of the most dramatic sequences in the film features a Velociraptor and a Protoceratops locked in mortal combat as a sand dune sweeps over them and kills them. The famous fossil of these fighting dinosaurs shows that they died in a deadly embrace, claws and jaws still grasping at each other. Great dinosaur moments like these, actual fossilized stories, are brought back to life through state-of-the-art CGI.
Dinosaurs Alive will also introduce audiences to the breakthrough discoveries taking place under the towering red sandstone buttes and rock chimneys in northern New Mexico. Since the 1940s, AMNH scientists have uncovered excellent specimens at the mysterious Ghost Ranch, where erosion has cut down through the many levels of sediment to expose fossils of the earliest dinosaurs from the Triassic Period, some 230 million years ago. At that time reptiles still ruled the earth and dinosaurs were actually modest in size—no larger than a cat, dog, or human. Dinosaurs exploded in diversity and size during the later Jurassic Period. Scientists have recently discovered a “monster” buried near Ghost Ranch. It was a long-necked sauropod called Seismosaurus—meaning ‘thunder lizard’—that was a massive 121 feet long. In the film, audiences will witness this behemoth thundering about on screen, in stark contrast to the more diminutive Triassic dinosaurs.
Finally, in an exciting development captured by our cameras, Novacek and Norell, travel to the site and inspect an extraordinary discovery made by AMNH graduate students — one of the oldest dinosaurs ever found in North America. The film will show how the fossil was discovered, protected in a plaster jacket, carefully removed from the rock, and studied at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Dinosaurs Alive shows how new scientific insights are sometimes built from previous discoveries, and each new generation of paleontologists continues the legacy of people like Roy Chapman Andrews.
If it weren’t for a series of cataclysmic events; a comet impact being first on the list, our planet could still be the domain of dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs fascinate us so much, that many people wish they were among us. Fortunately, Dinosaurs 3D will be the closest thing to actually being in the presence of these extraordinary creatures. Deeply rooted in science, the film carries the audience back in time to witness these amazing beasts come to life.
Meet the largest living animals to have ever walked the Earth: the titanesque plant-eating Argentinosaur, and its nemesis, the Giganotosaur, a bipedal carnivore, that could easily challenge the famous T-Rex!
From the dazzling coral reefs of the Bahamas to the wind-swept seas of Patagonia, Dolphins takes audiences under the water’s surface for a romp with inquisitive Atlantic spotted dolphins, acrobatic dusky dolphins, and the familiar bottlenose dolphin of Flipper fame. From rarely seen fish-herding behavior to a close-up look at complex communication activities, Dolphins will give audiences a fascinating new perspective on the lives of dolphins and their remarkable intelligence.
Extreme combines incredible extreme sport action with narration by the athletes and an eclectic, contemporary soundtrack. Extreme features 6 nature based sports; Big Wave Surfing, Ice Climbing, Skiing, Snowboarding, Windsurfing, and Rock Climbing. The best extreme sport athletes in the world facing the most intimidating elements of nature provide a unique glimpse into the relationship between nature and humanity.
John Stratton is a young American fighter pilot who flies the F-15 Eagle, arguably the most potent and successful fighter plane ever built. His grandfather was a decorated World War II flying ace, and he intended to follow in his footsteps.
At Red Flag, the international training exercise for air forces of allied countries, many of the world’s best pilots meet for the most challenging flying of their careers. Red Flag is the final training for pilots and their aircrews before being sent into actual combat. We follow our young pilot as he makes his way through this extraordinary event held in the desert of Nevada. He is amazed at how complex, challenging and dangerous the exercises are.
He begins to notice team members who were not a part of his childhood vision of heroism, the support team crucial to a successful mission, and to a safe return home. In the aerial combat exercises, there are other pilots who aren’t out just to prove themselves, they are helping him — watching his back. And he is doing the same for them. He begins to realize that being a hero is not quite as simple as he once might have thought.
What weighs half a gram and travels thousands of kilometers every year?
Every winter, the remote and mountainous volcanic forests of Mexico are home to one of nature’s greatest gatherings – hundreds of millions of migrating monarch butterflies weathering the winter. For centuries this miracle was hidden from all but a few. When it was revealed to the world it was hailed as one of the greatest discoveries in nature. It also unveiled the longest insect migration on Earth.
We follow the captivating story of Dana (Danaus Plexippus) and her descendants as they make the perilous return journey from Mexico to Canada. How do these tiny and iconic creatures travel so far and know where to go each year to a place they have never been? This epic natural history saga is interwoven with the fascinating detective story and a determined scientist’s almost 40 year search to find their amazing overwintering sites.
The film reveals the Far North as you have never experienced it: the stories and music of the people, the Inuit and the Saami, who live on the roof of the world in Canada and Sweden. At the heart of their lives are the caribou and the reindeer whose remarkable journey reveals the majestic Arctic landscape.
Misrepresented, maligned, and on the verge of extinction, the Great White Shark is an iconic predator: the creature we love to fear. Great White Shark will explore the Great White’s place in our imaginations, in our fears, and in the reality of its role at the top of the oceanic food chain.
Greece: Secrets of the Past features the beauty and grandeur of an ancient civilization. The birthplace of democracy comes alive through an exciting archaeological adventure. Explore the majesty of Greece’s islands and witness The Parthenon brought back to its original glory through amazing leading-edge computer-generated images.
High above the majestic central California coast rises an enchanted castle, a special place created from the dreams of one man, William Randolph Hearst. His vision was inspired by his many trips to Europe’s finest castles. From this unique blend of European influence rose an architectural masterpiece which Hearst furnished with priceless art treasures from around the world. Hearst Castle: Building the Dream will captivate audiences with Europe’s spectacular architectural wonders, the foundation for the dream that became Hearst Castle.
Hidden Pacific is a pioneering film that profiles some of the Pacific Ocean’s most beautiful islands and marine national monuments — breathtaking places that will leave audiences with a deep-felt appreciation for the beauty of nature untouched by civilization. The storied histories of Palmyra, Midway and other atolls – from the WWII Pacific Theater to their present environmental recovery and ecological research initiatives – provide the platform from which the film explores a diversity of science and human stories. Hidden Pacific is produced by Tandem Stills + Motion, in cooperation with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and affiliated organizations.
(AKA Ride Around the World)
The film explores a thriving global culture that has helped shape Western civilization for a thousand years. The film transports viewers to Morocco, Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Patagonia, Texas, and Canada, to ride with exotic horse-and-cattle peoples in an active, educational giant screen experience they’ll never forget.
Narrated by two-time Golden Globe® nominee Ewan McGregor, Humpback Whales is an extraordinary journey into the mysterious world of one of nature’s most awe-inspiring marine mammals. Set in the spectacular waters of Alaska, Hawaii, and the remote islands of Tonga, this ocean adventure offers audiences an up-close look at how these whales communicate, sing, feed, play, and take care of their young. Captured for the first time with IMAX® 3D cameras, and found in every ocean on earth, humpbacks were nearly driven to extinction 50 years ago, but today are making a slow but remarkable recovery. Join a team of researchers as they unlock the secrets of the humpback and find out why humpbacks are the most acrobatic of all whales, why they sing their haunting songs, and why these intelligent 55-foot, 50-ton animals migrate up to 10,000 miles round-trip every year.