High-tech theater at Fernbank Museum adds 3-D

Renovations include new seating and high-wattage sound.

The Fernbank Museum of Natural History has a new giant screen theater featuring 3-D viewing.

The new theater replaces the original 15/70 mm film projection system with a state-of-the-art digital laser projection, offering stunning 2-D and 3-D capabilities.

In addition to the cuttingedge digital technology, renovations to the theater include new seating, updated flooring, a high-wattage sound system and a brand-new fivestory screen.

In technical terms, the laser projectors will illuminate the giant screen with an expanded color gamut and 3-D images well beyond the capabilities of the former film-based projection system, according to Fernbank. The ultra-high-def 4K resolution is designed to provide images at double the resolution of standard Hollywood theaters.

This marks a big change for the Imax theater, which was operating with the same 2-D film projection system from when it first opened nearly 25 years ago. In fact, the new theater is no longer affiliated with the Imax brand and is therefore no longer (technically) an Imax theater.

You can check out the new theater with Fernbank’s new film, “Dream Big: Engineering Our World,” now playing until June 16. Narrated by Jeff Bridges, “Dream Big” focuses on the STEAM movement, which is an educational approach that integrates science, technology, engineering and mathematics, with art. The new film takes viewers from the tallest buildings to underwater robots to reveal the creativity that drives engineers to create a more sustainable future. The film takes a look at how engineers push the limits of innovation in unexpected and inspiring ways.

Also playing now through May 19 at the Fernbank is “Extreme Weather 3D.” Storm chaser and awardwinning giant screen filmmaker Sean Casey will take you on a dramatic journey to places where few have gone before, including the edge of a 300-foot-tall calving glacier in Alaska, the front lines of massive wildfires in the western United States, and directly in the path of deadly tornadoes in the Plains.

CONTRIBUTED The new theater at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History offers 3-D viewing.

CONTRIBUTED BY SHELLY OBERMAN Big Bertha in Seattle, a large tunneling machine, is featured in the new film “Dream Big: Engineering Our World,” now playing at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History.