Featuring a virtually seamless, 76-foot, tilted Nanoseam™ dome screen, the Eugene Heikoff and Marilyn Jacobs Heikoff Giant Dome Theater is the world’s first IMAX® Dome Theater. With its hemispheric screen, it's also an incredible planetarium. And it’s the perfect space to enhance educational experiences.
Choose
Read the film descriptions and grade-level recommendations. Review documentary film standards to learn how these films meet Next Generation Science Standards. Film selection is available on a first-come, first-served basis. If a group has not booked your visit date and already selected a 9:45 a.m. film, your group is welcome to make the selection. Some films may be available in Spanish. Restrictions apply.
Schedule
- Monday–Friday, 9:45 a.m. film showing for schools only
- Films run approximately 45 minutes
- Self-guided exploration of galleries to follow, no time limit. You may stay all day.
Pricing
- $10 per student for galleries plus film
- $2000 for theater buyout (248 people maximum)
- Prices are subject to change without notice
Accessibility
- Theater is wheelchair-accessible
- Noise-reducing headsets available
- Visual-enhancement devices available
- Audio-captioning devices available
- Documentary Film Guides
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If your class watches a documentary film in the Heikoff Giant Dome Theater, you can extend the impact of the experience with classroom activities and discussions outlined in the guides below.
Available documentary films
Film titles and dates are subject to availability.
Available Programs
A Beautiful Planet
Made in cooperation with NASA, A Beautiful Planet features stunning footage of our blue planet—and the effects humanity has had on it over time—captured by astronauts aboard the International Space Station. From space, Earth blazes at night with the electric intensity of human expansion. But it is within our power to protect the planet. As we continue to explore and gain knowledge of our galaxy, we also develop a deeper connection to the place we all call home. Narrated by Jennifer Lawrence and directed by Toni Myers, director of Hubble.
Available in Spanish.
Ancient Caves
Follow a team of paleoclimatologists as they unlock the secrets of the Earth's climate in a seemingly unlikely place: caves. Ancient Caves immerses you in these vast underground worlds where you'll see stalagmite samples that are geologic "fingerprints" that reveal clues about our planet's climate history. You'll follow the team to some of the world's most remote caves, above and below water, in France, Iceland, the Bahamas, the United States and Mexico. Narrated by Bryan Cranston.
Antarctica
It is a land of mystery, yet what happens here affects every one of us. With never-before-seen footage, Antarctica brings us to the farthest reaches of this wild and majestic continent. It is the coldest, driest and windiest place on Earth, with the roughest oceans and yet, wonderful creatures thrive here in astounding abundance.
Blue Whales
Blue Whales: Return of the Giants takes you on a journey of a lifetime to explore the world of the magnificent blue whale, a species rebounding from the brink of extinction. Blue whales are the largest animals ever to have lived—bigger than any dinosaur—yet we know surprisingly little about them.
The film provides an unforgettable window into the lives these animals live—and the extremes scientists must endure to study them. Joined by a cast of supporting characters—from dolphins and sperm whales to sea lions and orcas—the blue whale finally gets its turn to be a star.
Cities of the Future
Cities of the Future invites you to step into the future and discover the exciting innovations engineers are working on right now to help meet the challenges of a changing world. Renewable energy will be our primary power source, solar energy beamed down from space will power entire cities, smart buildings and greener infrastructure will keep us cool, and we will travel on aerial highways in individualized pods that run on little or no energy. We will also ride in electric flying vehicles! Traffic jams will be a thing of the past. This isn’t science fiction. This is the world engineers are designing right now. Travel to some of the world’s greatest cities—from Amsterdam to Los Angeles to Singapore and more—where profound change is already happening and meet the engineers and visionaries whose human ingenuity is forging a brighter, more sustainable future for us all.
Deep Sky
Deep Sky brings the awe-inspiring images captured by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JSWT) to IMAX®—a journey to the beginning of time and space, to never-before-seen cosmic landscapes, recently discovered exoplanets and planets around other stars.
Follow the global mission to build and launch JWST into orbit in an attempt to answer questions that have haunted us since the beginning of time: Where did we come from? How did the universe begin? Are we alone?
Dream Big: Engineering Our World
From the Great Wall of China and the world’s tallest buildings to underwater robots and solar cars, Dream Big: Engineering Our World celebrates the human ingenuity behind engineering marvels big and small, and shows how engineers push the limits of innovation in unexpected and amazing ways. Narrated by Jeff Bridges, Dream Big will transform how you think about engineering.
Available in Spanish.
Everest
Make an inspirational and harrowing ascent of the world's tallest mountain with a team of four international climbers who find hope, beauty and triumph in the wake of tragedy. Discover how Mount Everest was formed, how high altitude challenges a climber's physical and mental capabilities, and how Sherpa culture and tradition permeate the Mount Everest experience. Narrated by Liam Neeson.
Flight of the Butterflies
The iconic monarch butterfly is a marvel of nature. It weighs less than a penny, yet it makes one of the longest migrations on Earth across a continent, with pinpoint navigational accuracy, to a secluded place it has never been. In Flight of the Butterflies, you’ll join the monarchs' perilous and extraordinary journey while following an intrepid scientist’s 40-year search to find the monarchs’ secret hideaway. Join Dr. Fred Urquhart and his family on a decades-long quest to unravel a scientific mystery.
Great Bear Rainforest
Journey to a land of grizzlies, coastal wolves, sea otters and the all-white spirit bear—the rarest bear on earth. On Canada’s remote Pacific coast, the Great Bear Rainforest is the last intact temperate rainforest in the world—a place protected by the region’s indigenous people for millennia. Indigenous youth are coming together an taking responsibility for this place they call home. Narrated by Ryan Reynolds.
Hubble
Accompany space-walking astronauts as they attempt the most difficult and important tasks in NASA’s history. Hubble offers stunning imagery of distant galaxies and the birth of stars and planets. Narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, the 2010 film offers an inspiring and unique look into the Hubble Space Telescope’s legacy and highlights its profound impact on the way we view the universe and ourselves.
Available in Spanish.
Into America's Wild
A non-stop ride via kayak, bike, train, hot air balloon, zipline and more, Into America’s Wild explores some of the most beautiful but little-known landscapes of North America, from the wilds of Alaska and the lush coastline of Oregon to the ancient canyons of the Southwest and the rolling hills of the Appalachian Trail. Setting out on this journey are three trailblazers—pioneering Native American astronaut John Herrington, Alaskan pilot and youth advocate Ariel Tweto, and record-breaking long-distance hiker Jennifer Pharr Davis—who share a passion for connecting people to experiences in the wild.
Narrated by Morgan Freeman and directed by Greg MacGillivray, Into America’s Wild is a MacGillivray Freeman film produced in association with Brand USA. The film is presented by Expedia and United Airlines.
National Parks Adventure
National Parks Adventure takes you on the ultimate off-trail adventure into awe-inspiring great outdoors and untamed wilderness. Soar over red rock canyons, hurtle down steep mountain peaks and explore other-worldly realms found within America’s most legendary outdoor places. Follow world-class mountaineer Conrad Anker, adventure photographer Max Lowe and artist Rachel Pohl as they hike, climb and explore their way across America’s spectacularly wild and beautiful places—including Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, Yosemite and Arches. Narrated by Robert Redford.
Pandas
After years of success breeding captive pandas, scientists at Chengdu Panda Base in China are taking their efforts to the next stage and preparing captive-born cubs for release in the wild. This model is based on the efforts of Dr. Ben Kilham, who, for 20 years, has been raising orphaned black bear cubs in New Hampshire and later releasing them into the wild. Dr. Hou Rong, Director of Research at Chengdu Panda Base, uses Dr. Kilham‘s method to reintroduce captive-born cubs to their natural habitat in an effort to combat a shrinking wild panda population. Leading the charge at the Chengdu Panda Base in this endeavor is Dr. Jake Owens and research assistant Bi Wen Lei.
Serengeti
Nature has orchestrated a perfect symphony in which every species has a distinct role in a larger story—the balance of an entire ecosystem. In this film for all ages, you will follow the newest members of the animal cast as they imitate their parents and embark on their life’s journeys. Prepare to be awed by this immersive giant-screen film about how nature works in one of the world’s greatest ecosystems.
Turtle Odyssey
Based in Australia and narrated by Russell Crowe, Turtle Odyssey explores the unique lifecycle of an Australian green sea turtle named Bunji and her incredible journey across the open ocean. Follow Bunji from a hatchling into adulthood as she swims thousands of miles, meets incredible creatures and has some really wild encounters. She will eventually migrate, with mysterious precision, back to the very beach where she was born—to lay her own eggs that are the foundation of the next generation.
Volcanoes: The Fires of Creation
Volcanoes have helped create our world. The continents, the air we breathe, and even life itself have their origins in fire. These processes have created extraordinary ecosystems and wildlife habitats. The story of volcanoes is the story of the planet’s creation and the story of us. Volcanoes: The Fires of Creation, lets you witness the 2018 Kilauea eruption in Hawaii; see the archaeological remains of Pompeii, devastated almost 2,000 years ago by Mount Vesuvius; visit Mount Fuji in Japan, made up of three volcanoes—Fuji on top and two others hidden beneath; and marvel at the black molten lava of Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania.