The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Smaller, more ‘spectacular’ theater planned
NORWALK — Maritime Aquarium visitors looking for a bigger and better theater experience after the IMAX is replaced should be at least half pleased.
“It will be a 4D theater experience,” said Maritime Aquarium President & CEO Brian Davis. “The screen and things won’t be as large as the IMAX Theater, but it will much more of an immersive experience, so there’s potential for some wind and water.”
The Maritime Aquarium is moving forward with plans to build a two-story, 11,939-square-foot addition east of the existing main entrance. The addition would house a 4-D, 178-seat theater, entrance lobby, ticket area and other space.
“It will be different,” said Maritime Aquarium board Chairman Michael Widland. “It’s a different technology, 4D combines 3D with other visual things so it will snow on you, it will rain on you, the seats will move. You’ll get smells. It’s a different technology. It’s much more up to date.”
Architects have prepared conceptual drawings, which will be finalized in July or August, he said.
The existing IMAX Theater, a 310-seat facility located on the south side of the aquarium and described by aquarium officials as outdated, will be razed to create staging area for the Connecticut Department of Transportation to replace the Walk Bridge over the Norwalk River.
The 122-year-old rail bridge bisects the aquarium. The state DOT plans to begin the roughly $1 billion bridge replacement in 2019.
Wind, sounds, smells
On Friday a group of school children, parents and teachers from New Jersey attended an early afternoon showing of “Backyard Wilderness” at the IMAX Theater. Jane Randazzo, who was with the group, liked the show — “I thought it was excellent, fascinating, I loved all the images” — and welcomed the prospect of a 4D theater.
“The 4D would be really cool. I know it’s like wind and sounds and smells and your seat moves,” said Randazzo, who doesn’t have any issues with the future theater being smaller. “I mean, we filled one row in the whole place. So I don’t know if they have capacity issues, but I think small is nice.”
While Maritime Aquarium officials say they don’t yet know exactly what the new 4D theater will look like, they have many examples from which to draw.
Davis cited the National Aquarium (Baltimore) as well as the Georgia Aquarium (Atlanta), where he once worked and will be returning, as inspirations.
Georgia Aquarium’s “4D Funbelievable Theater” allows visitors to see thousands of aquatic animals “from their point of view” by combining the highest-quality 3D high definition projection with special effects, according to its website.
“The 4D Theater has interactive seats, a state-of-the-art sound system and unique special effects that are built into the theater itself,” said Lindsey Ford, public relations coordinator at the Georgia Aquarium.
The theater opened in 2005 when Georgia Aquarium opened to the public and was renovated in 2016 to enhance the gallery and guest experience. The facility holds up to 240 guests, with multiple shows per day. As in Norwalk, admission is complimentary with general admission to the aquarium.
IMAX Theater dated
When it opened in 1988, the Maritime Aquarium’s IMAX Theater was the largest in Connecticut. Decades later, it retains its spaciousness but not its state-of-art nature. Sigworth has described the facility as “limited” given its reliance upon 70-millimeter film rather than digitally produced movies.
Davis won’t see the new 4D theater open. He’ll step down as Maritime Aquarium president May 25 to return to the Georgia Aquarium, where he will become executive vice president of operations. But he expressed optimism about the new theater.
“I think it’s going to be a great improvement,” Davis said. “We’re all here to try and improve the city of Norwalk and the aquarium, so it’s going to be spectacular.”
Maritime Aquarium officials learned in 2016 that the DOT planned to raze the IMAX Theater to rebuild the Walk Bridge and quickly developed a replacement plan. The plan also calls for a new two-story, 8,748-square-foot addition on the east side of the building to house the aquarium’s seals.
In a perfect world, the new spaces will be open by the time the state DOT tears down the IMAX Theater.
“It is our hope that whatever the lag time is it’s super minimal,” Davis said. “We’d love for it (the 4D theater) to be open before the IMAX comes down but if that’s not the case, we want there to be minimal time between them.”