More film options coming for Saskatchewan Science Centre's IMAX theatre
Saskatchewan’s Science Centre was host to a giant delivery this week, promising to reinvigorate the province’s largest film screen.
A giant crane hoisted the 50 by 70 foot screen weighing 1,800 pounds off of its transport and into the IMAX Kramer Theatre through a window.
“The screen has to come in in one long crate. So its 52 feet long. It can’t be wrinkled, bent, anything. It comes in and slides into the top of the theatre,” Sandy Baumgartner, CEO of the centre told CTV News.
Trevor Ewan has been the chief projectionist at the IMAX for the last 25 years.
“New screen coming in, it’s exciting. Its nerve wracking as it was the last time the screen came in,” he said. “And it’s always weird to see something that expensive hanging in the middle of the air.”
It’s part of a $4 million conversion to digital projection at the Kramer IMAX.
“Up until now, our IMAX film projector has used Imax 15/70 millimeter film and that’s the only way that we’ve been able to show content in Imax format,” Ryan Holota, Chief Operating Officer at the Science Centre explained.
The new projection system is powered by 4,000 lasers and each is available for sponsorship as part of a fundraising campaign.
“The new laser projectors that we're installing will give us access to basically all the content that Imax is producing in digital formats, as well as other content not necessarily IMAX but in digital formats that we haven't been able to show,” Holota said.
“If you see on TV, and it says ‘now playing in IMAX,’ that's something that we might be able to show in our theatre.”
Updated equipment and more movie selection is something visitors have been anxious to see for years.
“That's probably been one of the number one requests that we've had,” Holota said. “The laser system will allow us to have more content, to change that content out more often, which will let people come back and enjoy those films a lot more often in the future.”
The entire facility is being revamped including the lobby, all the seats and the five storey tall screen.
But that’s not all, according to Holota.
“We have some permanent exhibits in the Science Centre that are going to be coming online also early in July, including an updated Richardson Agri-Land exhibit, which we're really excited about.”
The renovations to the centre will allow it to expand its services and help the non-profit achieve its goal.
“Our mission is to ignite scientific curiosity in Saskatchewan. We’re a tourism destination for southern Saskatchewan and the City of Regina and we know that we bring people in from all over North America and certainly all over Canada,” Holota said.
“A science centre is both an entertainment facility but it's also an educational facility. So, we sort of hit all these different targets and it’s very important for communities to have vibrant science centres.”
The new Kramer IMAX Theatre is set to have its first screening in early summer.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Powerful tornado tears across Nebraska, weather service warns of 'catastrophic' damage
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States, injuring at least three people.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Trump's lawyers try to discredit testimony of prosecution's first witness in hush money trial
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.