Cinerama Dome and ArcLight Cinemas
6360 Sunset Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
6360 Sunset Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
102 people
favorited this theater
A geodesic dome built for the Cinerama format, this mini-Epcot like structure is a wonder of 1960’s showmanship. Featuring an enormous curved screen and ample seating underneath the large dome, the Cinerama Dome is famous for blending first run films with the occassional revival classic. The Cinerama Dome opened November 17, 1963 with 937 seats and the World Premiere in 70mm of “Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”. Additional 70mm films included the West Coast premiere of “The Greatest Story Ever Told” on February 17, 1965, the World Premiere of “The Battle of the Bulge” on December 16, 1965 and the World Premiere of “Ice Station Zebra” on October 23, 1968. In 1999, The Dome exhibited an exclusive week long showing of the original “Blade Runner” answer print.
The Cinerama Dome was recently renovated by Pacific Theatres and the theater is now able to exhibit 3-strip Cinerama features — something it never did even when it first opened. The Cinerama Dome and the Seattle Cinerama are currently the only theaters in the US equipped to show 3-strip Cinerama prints. In 2002, the restored “This Is Cinerama” was shown in 3-strip Cinerama, the first time it had been screened at the Cinerama Dome. The original 3-strip Cinerama version of “How The West Was Won” was shown in February 2003 and October 2005.
A new 14-screen luxury theater, ArcLight Cinemas, now adjoins the original Cinerama Dome and offers first-run commercial, art, revival, and other specialty films. A unique movie lover’s paradise.
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Recent comments (view all 919 comments)
The Dome will be hopping on November 7 for the John Wayne tribute. Patrick Wayne, Kim Darby and others will be there for the showing of “True Grit.” Tickets are $25, but Goldstar discounts them to $16.50.
Last year’s Steve McQueen tribute was fantastic and included the rare opening of the main Dome entrance and outside box offices.
Man, I’d love to see the newly restored Ben-Hur get a week-long presentation at the Dome. C'mon, Arclight, make it happen. You did it for The Godfather back in 2008.
Since most film prints are made from video (most films are edited on video these days so most film prints are made from the video) the difference between the video presentation and the film presentation is not that obvious to most. Of course those of us with an eye for it notice the dirt and splices in the film version (no matter how much care someone takes there is always a little dirt). Focus in a film presentation is also more critical as the focus on most film projectors tends to shift more then their digital counterparts. Of course nothing yet beats something that was filmed in 65mm then printed and shown in 70mm.
The John Wayne tribute was great-hope some of you attended. A live musical duo, scores of people in Western and period miltary costumes, the whole Wayne family in attendance as well as Kim Darby and ageless Earl Holliman. There was a very nice videotaped tribute from Glen Campbell. The “True Grit” print was quite good.
Was at the Arclight tonight to see M:I 4 and noticed a sizeable improvement in the digital projection in the Dome. I asked around after the show and my suspicions were confirmed… The Dome actually recently installed a newer 4k projector to replace the older NEC 2k they’ve been using for a few years. While it didn’t solve the geometric and cross wash issues the Dome has always had, it seemed noticeably brighter and much more detailed without all the chromatic aberration that frequently accompanied the older NECs. I was impressed. I doubt it will address the issues of 3D in the Dome, but I was pleasantly surprised at how great the 2D image from this new projector looked on that big screen.
AMC has committed to going all digital and they are sending most of their film projectors to the scrap pile. There were some 3D presentations using film but that was years ago and that equipment is no longer available. So digital is required for modern 3D presentations. The trend is digital film is being used less and less.
Arclight Hollywood has been having 9am showings this week. I went to We Bought a Zoo (Tues) and War Horse (Weds) Both showings I was the only person in the audience. I loved having my own private screenings, both of which I used points and had free popcorn from the scratchers they gave me. Wish it was that easy all time time. :–)
Film gauge is measured in millimeters 16mm 35mm 65mm (camera use) and 70mm. Digital projection is rated by resolution the current popular resolution is 2K or 2,000 lines of resolution (it is in reality a little less). There are some 4K digital projectors out there and that is the next generation of digital projectors but most digital product is still 2K. The majority of movies made now are either shot using video or if the project is shot on film it is transferred to video for editing. So even if you see a film presentation of a recently made film that film was made from a digital master. The current plan is for all theaters to be digital by the year 2013. AMC has converted most of their theaters and has sent many of the film projectors to the scrap yard. Other theaters are doing the same http://in70mm.com/news/2011/1640/index.htm While a very few theaters will have dual capability the Dome looks like it will be one of those theaters but film will only be used for special presentations.
question are any of the auditoriums able to playback movies in discrete 7.1 surround sound?
The Dome has 5 screen channels and multi channel surronds so at least that auditorium should be able to play 7.1 but there are so few films if any with a 7.1 sound track