Omnimax

I went to Space Camp in Huntsville in '89 or so. One of the perks was a daily showing at their Omnimax theater. Felt absolutely incredible at the time. The most memorable moment was a scene where they filmed the Space Shuttle tower escape system--basically a basket on a zipline that goes into a sand pit. Everyone in the theater instinctively leapt forward when the basket hit the sand. The difference, I suppose, is that the screen filled your peripheral vision as well. I didn't experience the same level of immersiveness until VR, much later on.

I spent a great deal of time at Reuben H. Fleet as a kid growing up in San Diego, playing in the science museum and watching whatever Omnimax movie was on. Didn't matter what it was, they were almost always great eye candy. Even saw, later, a Pink Floyd-themed laser light show projected on the dome. Never failed to impress.

The Omnimax theatre at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal is worth the trip if you're in the area. They still show the "wormhole" and show off the speaker stacks outside the dome during the pre-show.

Growing up in Cincinnati, the Omnimax at the museum center was a huge influence. The light tunnel intro (one of many adapted from the Graphic Films Corporation logo [1]) absolutely blew my mind and gave me a lifelong obsession with computer graphics.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-09F87C6Ps

I was surprised to see a mention of the Carnegie Science Center's Omnimax and the year 1978 -- my recollection was that this theater didn't open until I was both alive and cognizant enough of the world around me to remember it.

That seems consistent with this announcement from 2017 that the theater was going to close (citing a quarter century): https://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/rangos-omnimax-theater-to...

I couldn't find any press covering it from 1978, although this directory of IMAX/Omnimax theaters from 1992 matches my recollection of it opening in ~1991.

I miss the Omnimax they had at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. They closed it during the pandemic and it never reopened.

So fun fact: For many years I thought IMAX was Omnimax. I had a very bad experience in an Omnimax theater when I was younger (I found it extremely disorienting) and avoided pretty much all IMAX showings for years. I forget how I found out IMAX screens were flat...

First large format system I experience was Omnimax in Fort Worth in the 80's. Much more immersive than IMAX. Actually, the Apple Vision Pro movies reminds me of that experience now.

I grew up outside of Boston and as a kid we went to the Museum of Science's Omnimax dome quite a few times.

As I grew up, I started seeing/hearing about IMAX movies, and didn't realize they were different until I went to one in another part of the country. I was very excited to go, as it had been a long time since I had been to an Omnimax.

I was pretty confused and disappointed, which is a weird reaction to have the first time in an IMAX theater. "It's just a big screen... Where's the dome?"