When just over 100 Southmont Christian Academics elementary students, teachers and parents enter the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History on Dec. 5, they will be the first tour group to experience the newly renovated theater .
The Jane & John Justin Foundation’s Omni Theater, featuring 8K resolution and an approximately 75-foot screen, will celebrate its arrival with special buttons and a screening of “Great Bear Rainforest,” a documentary narrated by Ryan Reynolds.
The new theater, featuring improved accessibility, a larger concourse and 278 new seats, will open to the general public on December 14 after 18 months of renovation.
If you leave
What: Omni Theater of the Jane and John Justin Foundation
When: The theater opens its doors to the public on December 14.
Or: Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, 1600 Gendy St.
Admission: General admission is $12.50 for children and $15 for adults. Member tickets are $10 for children and $12 for adults. Theater tickets do not include museum entry.
Technology and entertainment company Cosm worked with the museum to bring the 12,000 high-resolution LED nodules to life.
Cosm COO Kirk Johnson was on hand for a first tour of the space.
“We all know it’s really a challenge to do a project like this. It’s a lot of work,” he said. “I would like to congratulate (the museum). It’s the first and largest science museum dome in the world, and it’s right here in Fort Worth.
The experience uses the same technology as the 87-foot Cosm dome that opened earlier this year at The Colony’s Grandscape. While the Grandscape Dome broadcasts live sporting events and a selection of films, the museum theater will focus on educational documentaries.
Cosm and the museum are working to adjust the resolution of some of the old films that were audience favorites when the original dome opened in 1983, including the much-loved Fort Worth flyover experience.
Tammy McKinney, the museum’s vice president of development and marketing, said the new digital technology will allow staff to change films more easily, compared to the old projection system that required a 30-minute process to change films. movie.
“We are in the process of putting together a comprehensive library catalog that is distributed to educators so they can make selections that match what they are studying at that time,” she said.
The new catalog will eventually include new aerial images of Fort Worth as it looks today.
“The flexibility of the system is incredible,” Johnson said. “It’s only limited by your imagination.”
Marcheta Fornoff covers arts and culture for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at marcheta.fornoff@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and funders. Learn more about our editorial independence policy here.
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