NORWALK, CT – Join a team of daring storm-chasers trying to gain insights into nature’s fury in “Tornado Alley,” a heart-pounding new IMAX® movie opening June 21 in the IMAX Theater at The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk.
“Tornado Alley” will roar across the Aquarium’s six-story IMAX screen, the largest in Connecticut, at 2 p.m. daily June 21-30 and then at 2 & 5 p.m. daily July 1-Aug. 31.
IMAX is the world’s largest film format. Outstanding image clarity and the enormous screen size, combined with The Maritime Aquarium’s 12,000-watt surround-sound audio system, result in an immersive thrill that’s so unique it’s been trademarked: “IMAX is Believing®.”
“Tornado Alley" shows us how storm-chasers are serious scientists trying to help us to better understand these storms,” said Chris Loynd, the Aquarium’s marketing director. “Even with the best radar in the world, ultimately you need teams making live observations on the ground. And the better they can get at predicting these storms, the more life-saving warning time they can offer to people who might be in the tornadoes’ paths.”
“Tornado Alley” takes audiences along with Sean Casey, star of the Discovery Channel’s “Storm Chasers” reality series, and a second team of “storm chasers” as they work to understand the origins and evolution of tornadoes. Armed with an arsenal of the most advanced weather instruments ever created and a fleet of customized vehicles designed to withstand gale-force winds, Casey’s crew takes audiences on a thrilling quest to experience a tornado’s incredible power at point-blank range.
Meanwhile, scientists participating in a program called Vortex2 experience the relentless strength of nature’s forces as they surround tornadoes and the super-cell storms that form them, gathering the most comprehensive severe weather data ever collected.
Major funding for “Tornado Alley” was provided by the National Science Foundation.
Noting that the film will remain in the Aquarium’s daily IMAX schedule when the 2013-14 school year begins, Loynd added that teachers can preview “Tornado Alley” for free during any regular presentation this summer to learn how to take advantage of its lessons in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Maritime Aquarium educators will offer STEM curriculum based on the film for schools beginning in September.
“Tornado Alley” is 43 minutes long. It’s narrated by actor Bill Paxton (“Twister,” “Titanic”).
Also showing in The Maritime Aquarium’s IMAX Theater from July 1-Aug. 31 are “Sharks” at 11 a.m. & 3 p.m., “Born to Be Wild” at noon & 4 p.m., and “The Last Reef” at 1 p.m.
Tickets for an IMAX movie are $9.50 for adults, $8.50 for youths (13-17) & seniors (65+), and $7 for children age 3-12. Maritime Aquarium members receive $2 discounts. To include a visit into The Maritime Aquarium with an IMAX film, tickets are $24.95 for adults, $22.95 for youths & seniors, and $17.95 for children 3-12.
Learn more – and reserve your tickets – at www.maritimeaquarium.org. Or call (203) 852-0700.