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The IMAX Theater
The Maritime Aquarium features an IMAX® Theater with a six story high screen. Huge, crisp images make you feel like you’re inside the action; and the 10,000-watt digital propietary surround-sound audio system completes a total immersion movie experience.
Which IMAX movie adventure would you like to see today?
Showing Now - June 12, 2008
"Tropical Rainforest"
Showing daily
Note: Appropiate for all ages.
“Tropical Rainforest” is a global film that examines the long evolution of the rainforests, the rapid and recent destruction of this habitat by humans, and the scientific efforts to understand the tropical rainforests even as they disappear.
The film captures the incredible diversity of species that have evolved throughout the long history of tropical biology – insects, gaudy frogs, exotic plants and flowers. Species have formed interdependent relationships, all of which are dependent on the trees. With the loss of the forests, thousands of these species will become extinct before they can be discovered.
"Sea Monsters"
Showing daily
This new film by National Geographic highlights the complexity and fragility of life in Earth's oceans by weaving together a series of paleontological digs from around the globe in a compelling story about scientists working to understand the ancient and mysterious ocean world.
Stunning photo-realistic animation will transport students back to the Late Cretaceous Period (100-65 million years ago), when a great inland ocean divided North America in two. The film follows a curious and adventurous plesiosaur (a Dolichorynchops familiarly known as a “Dolly”) as she travels through life's stages, experiencing the world from her spot near the bottom of the food chain.
Age Appropriate? The educational content in Sea Monsters has been developed by National Geographic for grades 3 and up. However, younger children do enjoy the film. There are a few startling scenes when giant sea monsters appear on the screen.
"Chicago Tribune" reviewer Michael Esposito wrote, "There are quite a few food fish and squid chomped (nothing very bloody), and the scavenging of a mortally wounded giant predator by a school of great white-sized sharks is kept off camera. There are a few moments when predators appear that might make little ones jump, but if they're into dinosaurs, these aquatic cousins aren't likely to scare them too much. A child old enough to watch "Shark Week" on cable television won't bat an eye here."
