Discovery Place to reopen IMAX dome theater with major upgrades and a Beatles film
Discovery Place Science’s massive IMAX theater in uptown Charlotte will reopen soon with more than $1.2 million in renovations, including having changed from film to digital technology and getting a new name.
When the domed IMAX theater reopens Feb. 11 showing “The Beatles: Get Back — The Rooftop Concert,” it will be one of only eight theaters in the U.S. using laser lens technology designed for 180-degree domed theaters.
The theater also will have a new name: The Accenture IMAX Domed Theatre. Accenture, a global management consulting firm with offices in Charlotte, made an undisclosed three-year investment in the theater.
The theater has been closed for nearly two years ago since the start of the pandemic.
Discovery Place used that time to reimagine the type of content and programs it could bring to its seven-story domed theater beyond the 70mm films, typically documentaries and Hollywood movies, it shows, Discovery Place President and CEO Catherine Wilson Horne said.
When the museum reopened in September 2020, Horne said Discovery Place had committed to an extensive renovation of the theater including seats and carpets, and converting from film to digital technology.
“We will be able to literally do any kind of digital experience,” Horne said of the flexibility it provides to add live broadcasts and performances and even video gaming.
“Previously to change film content was a three-person operation that took several hours,” Horne said. “And now, it is literally the push of a button.”
About 20% of the more than $1.2 million in renovations was funded by the city of Charlotte, which owns the building, and the rest came from public donations, Horne said.
Accenture Charlotte office managing director Eric Mauntel called the new theater experience “transformative” for Charlotte and the Carolinas. “Discovery Place Science is a landmark cultural and educational institution in uptown Charlotte,” Mauntel said in a statement.
What’s new at the IMAX theater?
The nearly 300-seat theater replaced its film projection system with a 4K laser projection system capable of filling the full-dome screen.
The technology provides sharper, brighter and vivid images combined with a new immersive audio system, according to Discovery Place. The six laser-aligned loudspeakers distribute equal volume throughout the 79-foot-high theater.
Whether it’s a pin drop or feeling the heart-palpating force of a volcano, audiences will experience complete audio immersion, Discovery Place said.
It’s the experience of the screen that will really be “mind-boggling,” Horne said. After watching a clip of a NASA space launch Thursday, Horne said, “You feel like you are standing down there on the launch pad. It’s a whole other level now.”
With the new digital technology, the museum also can offer two-way international video conferencing, video gaming competitions and a planetarium on the screen.
Renovations also include new seats, carpet and air filtration.
Ticket pricing will vary by content, Horne said. Typical showings run from $10-$20, she said. Tickets for the Beatles concert film Feb. 11-13 will be available on Discovery Place’s website.
More about the IMAX Dome Theatre
In 1991, The Charlotte Observer IMAX Dome Theatre opened in the Discovery Place Science building at 301 N. Tryon St., partnering with The Charlotte Observer and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
It was the first giant-screen motion picture theater to open in the Carolinas, according to Discovery Place.
There are only 70 domed theaters in the world, Horne said, with the next closest being the one in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
In 2011, the Charlotte theater closed for about two months to make upgrades for a clearer and more immersive movie experience.
Through the years, The Charlotte Observer IMAX Dome Theatre showed documentaries such as ”Hubble” about the space telescope’s legacy and “D-Day: Normandy 1944” retelling of a crucial day in World War II. Blockbuster films like “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Night at the Museum” were also screened.
“We look for ways to offer change, and so the theater really gives us that opportunity in ways much more than exhibitions do,” Horne said. “We look back at what has happened in the pandemic and see the need to really educate people about the importance of science and technology, and how you use it.”
More movie theater experiences in Charlotte
Discovery Place isn’t the only IMAX theater in the Charlotte area, although it is by far the biggest.
There are at least three others: AMC Northlake 14 & IMAX in north Charlotte, AMC Concord Mills 24 and Regal Stonecrest at Piper Glen 4DX, IMAX and RPX in south Charlotte.
And, Charlotte movie-goers will soon have two more movie theater options.
Cinergy Dine-In Cinemas is expected to open in April in the former Studio Movie Grill location at 5336 Docia Crossing Road. The theater will have 10 screens, heated recliner chairs with swivel tables, food and a full bar.
And the Charlotte Film Society expects to open The Independent Picture House this spring at 4237 Raleigh St. in the NoDa neighborhood. The three-screen theater will show independent and foreign films.
This story was originally published January 31, 2022 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Discovery Place to reopen IMAX dome theater with major upgrades and a Beatles film."