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Cinerama Dome
The Cinerama Dome is a movie theater on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California that closed in 2020. Designed to exhibit widescreen Cinerama films, it opened November 7, 1963. The original developer was William R. Forman, founder of Pacific Theatres. The Cinerama Dome continued as a leading first-run theater, most recently as part of the ArcLight Hollywood complex, until it closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in California. The ArcLight chain closed permanently in April 2021, with the theater never having reopened. In June 2022, it was announced that there were plans to reopen under a new name, Cinerama Hollywood.
In February 1963, Cinerama Inc. unveiled a radically new design for theaters that would show its movies. They would be based on the geodesic dome developed by R. Buckminster Fuller, would cost half as much as conventional theaters of comparable size, and could be built in half the time. Cinerama's goal was to see at least 600 built worldwide within two years. The following April, Pacific Theatres Inc. announced plans to build the first theater based upon the design, and had begun razing existing buildings at the construction site. Located on Sunset near Vine Street, it would be the first new major motion-picture theater in Hollywood in 33 years and would be completed in time for the scheduled November 2 press premiere of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. The design was proposed by French architect Pierre Cabrol, lead designer in the noted architectural firm of Welton Becket and Associates. Pierre Cabrol worked with R. Buckminster Fuller during his studies at MIT.
Pacific Theatres founder, William R. Forman, announced the construction of the Cinerama Dome in July 1963 at a star-studded, ground-breaking ceremony where Spencer Tracy, Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Edie Adams, and Dorothy Provine donned hard hats, and, with picks and shovels, began construction. Forman had committed to United Artists that the theatre would be ready for the November 7, 1963, world premiere of the first movie filmed in the new 70mm, single-strip Cinerama process, Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World. Working around the clock, the entire construction spanned only 16 weeks. The Cinerama Dome is the only concrete geodesic dome in the world. The theatre is made up of 316 individual hexagonal and pentagonal shapes in 16 different sizes. Each of these pieces is approximately 12 feet (3.7 metres) across and weighs around 7,500 pounds (3,400 kilograms). The theatre also has design elements such as a loge section with stadium seating, architecturally significant floating stairways, and, at the time of its opening, the largest contoured motion-picture screen in the world, measuring 32 ft (9.8 m) high and 86 ft (26 m) wide, with a maximum aspect ratio of 2.69:1.
The premiere of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, filmed in Ultra Panavision 70, marked the dawn of "single lens" Cinerama. Previously, Cinerama was known for its groundbreaking three-projector process. From 1963 until 2002, the Cinerama Dome never showed movies with the three-projector process. (The nearby Warner Cinerama at 6433 Hollywood Boulevard used the three-projector process until December 1964.) A unique "rectified" print was made with increased anamorphic compression towards the sides, which compensated for distortions that would otherwise be induced by Cinerama's deeply curved screen.
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World played at the Dome for 66 weeks, the longest-running film there. It was shown again to mark the 25th anniversary of the Dome in 1988.
In 2002, after a two-year closure during which three-strip Cinerama was installed for the first time, the Dome reopened as part of Pacific Theatres' ArcLight Hollywood complex. It became one of three remaining three-strip Cinerama theaters in the world, the others being the Pictureville Cinema and the SIFF Cinema Downtown.
The Cinerama Dome made its digital projection debut in May 2005 with Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. In 2009, James Cameron's Avatar was the first 3D film to be shown in the Cinerama Dome, using technology from XpanD 3D.
In December 2015, the Cinerama Dome upgraded to a laser-projection system, using two Christie 6P projectors and Dolby 3D. The venue is still capable of both 35mm and 70mm-film projection.
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Cinerama Dome
The Cinerama Dome is a movie theater on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California that closed in 2020. Designed to exhibit widescreen Cinerama films, it opened November 7, 1963. The original developer was William R. Forman, founder of Pacific Theatres. The Cinerama Dome continued as a leading first-run theater, most recently as part of the ArcLight Hollywood complex, until it closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in California. The ArcLight chain closed permanently in April 2021, with the theater never having reopened. In June 2022, it was announced that there were plans to reopen under a new name, Cinerama Hollywood.
In February 1963, Cinerama Inc. unveiled a radically new design for theaters that would show its movies. They would be based on the geodesic dome developed by R. Buckminster Fuller, would cost half as much as conventional theaters of comparable size, and could be built in half the time. Cinerama's goal was to see at least 600 built worldwide within two years. The following April, Pacific Theatres Inc. announced plans to build the first theater based upon the design, and had begun razing existing buildings at the construction site. Located on Sunset near Vine Street, it would be the first new major motion-picture theater in Hollywood in 33 years and would be completed in time for the scheduled November 2 press premiere of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. The design was proposed by French architect Pierre Cabrol, lead designer in the noted architectural firm of Welton Becket and Associates. Pierre Cabrol worked with R. Buckminster Fuller during his studies at MIT.
Pacific Theatres founder, William R. Forman, announced the construction of the Cinerama Dome in July 1963 at a star-studded, ground-breaking ceremony where Spencer Tracy, Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Edie Adams, and Dorothy Provine donned hard hats, and, with picks and shovels, began construction. Forman had committed to United Artists that the theatre would be ready for the November 7, 1963, world premiere of the first movie filmed in the new 70mm, single-strip Cinerama process, Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World. Working around the clock, the entire construction spanned only 16 weeks. The Cinerama Dome is the only concrete geodesic dome in the world. The theatre is made up of 316 individual hexagonal and pentagonal shapes in 16 different sizes. Each of these pieces is approximately 12 feet (3.7 metres) across and weighs around 7,500 pounds (3,400 kilograms). The theatre also has design elements such as a loge section with stadium seating, architecturally significant floating stairways, and, at the time of its opening, the largest contoured motion-picture screen in the world, measuring 32 ft (9.8 m) high and 86 ft (26 m) wide, with a maximum aspect ratio of 2.69:1.
The premiere of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, filmed in Ultra Panavision 70, marked the dawn of "single lens" Cinerama. Previously, Cinerama was known for its groundbreaking three-projector process. From 1963 until 2002, the Cinerama Dome never showed movies with the three-projector process. (The nearby Warner Cinerama at 6433 Hollywood Boulevard used the three-projector process until December 1964.) A unique "rectified" print was made with increased anamorphic compression towards the sides, which compensated for distortions that would otherwise be induced by Cinerama's deeply curved screen.
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World played at the Dome for 66 weeks, the longest-running film there. It was shown again to mark the 25th anniversary of the Dome in 1988.
In 2002, after a two-year closure during which three-strip Cinerama was installed for the first time, the Dome reopened as part of Pacific Theatres' ArcLight Hollywood complex. It became one of three remaining three-strip Cinerama theaters in the world, the others being the Pictureville Cinema and the SIFF Cinema Downtown.
The Cinerama Dome made its digital projection debut in May 2005 with Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. In 2009, James Cameron's Avatar was the first 3D film to be shown in the Cinerama Dome, using technology from XpanD 3D.
In December 2015, the Cinerama Dome upgraded to a laser-projection system, using two Christie 6P projectors and Dolby 3D. The venue is still capable of both 35mm and 70mm-film projection.