Celebrate America’s awe-inspiring outdoors – protected for 100 years and now explored in spectacular grandeur in the new IMAX® movie “National Parks Adventure,” opening Fri., May 27 at The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk.
Timed for this, the National Park Service’s centennial year, “National Parks Adventure” serves as a giant-screen reminder for audiences to get out and engage with our 400-plus federal parks, monuments and historic sites.
Through June 30, “National Parks Adventure” will play on The Maritime Aquarium’s six-story screen at 11 a.m. and 1 & 3 p.m. daily. Times will change July 1.
The 43-minute film is narrated by Academy Award®-winner Robert Redford.
For 100 years, such spectacularly wild and beautiful places as Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Everglades, the Redwoods and Arches have been a living monument to the nation’s vast and untamed wilderness. Now, captured with IMAX cameras and shown in full glory in Connecticut’s largest IMAX Theater, “National Parks Adventure” celebrates the majesty of these treasured landscapes.
Filmed in more than 30 national parks across the country, the film lets audiences join world-class mountaineer Conrad Anker, adventure photographer Max Lowe and artist Rachel Pohl as they bike, hike and climb their way across America’s most pristine and unique lands, revealing a tapestry of natural wonders that will inspire the adventurer in us all.
In calling the film “truly a sight to see,” The Seattle Times said: “‘National Parks Adventure’ does very well the thing that top-of-the-line IMAX documentaries do best, which is blow you away with eye-boggling images of scenery.”
Another writer described the movie as both “an action-packed celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the National Park Service and a soulful reflection on what wilderness means to us all.”
“National Parks Adventure” was created by the team responsible for some of the most popular IMAX movies ever shown at The Maritime Aquarium. It was directed by Greg MacGillivray (“The Living Sea,” “Dolphins,” “Everest”) and produced by Shaun MacGillivray (“To The Arctic,” “Humpback Whales”). It was written by Stephen Judson and Tim Cahill (both of “Everest”) with a score by Steve Wood (“Journey to the South Pacific,” “Humpback Whales”).
Of the production, Variety said: “If its main triumph is delivering a tantalizing, sightseeing-style overview … ‘National Parks Adventure’ also functions as a testament to celluloid, a media form that itself is in dire need of preservation in this digital day and age. One of the final works (if not the final work) to be produced with traditional IMAX film cameras, MacGillivray’s documentary has a richness and clarity of image that suggests that, just as nothing quite compares to visiting America’s natural wonders in person, there’s no substitute for the peerless majesty of old-school movie techniques and technology.”
Indeed, The Maritime Aquarium will show “National Parks Adventure” in 70mm film projection.
“National Parks Adventure” is a MacGillivray Freeman film produced in association with Brand USA and presented globally by Expedia, Inc., and Subaru of America, Inc., with major support from the Giant Dome Theater Consortium.
It’s sponsored locally at The Maritime Aquarium by Bankwell, the community bank that serves the banking and lending needs of residents and businesses throughout Connecticut.
“We are thrilled to partner with The Maritime Aquarium on this exciting initiative, as they continue to provide extraordinary value to the extended community,” said Diane Knetzger, Bankwell’s marketing director. “As with many previous IMAX films, ‘National Parks Adventure’ demonstrates yet again how endowed our country is with incredible natural assets. This is an artistic presentation that everyone can appreciate and enjoy.”
Also playing daily May 27-June 30 in The Maritime Aquarium’s IMAX Theater are “A Beautiful Planet” and “Flight of the Butterflies.” Your choice of one of these three classic IMAX movies is included with paid Maritime Aquarium admission: $22.95 for adults; $20.95 for youths (13-17) and seniors (65+); and $15.95 for children (3-12). Kids under 3 are admitted for free.
Get more details about The Maritime Aquarium’s IMAX movies (including links to watch the films’ trailers), exhibits, programs and public study cruises onto Long Island Sound this summer at maritimeaquarium.org.
