Cinerama Dome and ArcLight Cinemas

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.

Recent comments (view all 1,112 comments)

Cliffs on March 14, 2013 at 11:02 am

Aliens in the Dome last night was fantastic!! Looked and sounded tremendous and the theater was just about at capacity. Batman and Back to the Future are getting similarly full. Hopefully these packed screenings remind Arclight/Pacific that the Dome has value beyond being a 3D dump bin.

Flix70 on March 18, 2013 at 10:42 am

Nice to finally hear from somone who went to one of the retro screenings. Glad to hear “Aliens” was a hit, Cliffs. Here’s hoping Arclight will indeed see the merits of retro screenings in the Dome and keep them going year-round. Let us know your thoughts on any future retro screenings you attend. I’m still waiting to hear from anyone who caught “Days of Heaven” back in Feb.

Flix70 on March 23, 2013 at 3:01 pm

Looks like Arclight has added some additional one-shot retro screenings at the Dome: East of Eden (April 7), Moulin Rouge/Romeo & Juliet (April 14), Slendor in the Grass (April 23), The Untouchables (April 30) and Citizen Kane (May 1).

HowardBHaas on March 23, 2013 at 3:35 pm

Are those classics shown in 35mm or, as I’m guessing, 2k or 4k digital?

RogerA on March 23, 2013 at 4:58 pm

Now if they can only get the digital to look as good as 65/70mm

Danny Baldwin on March 23, 2013 at 7:19 pm

“East of Eden” and “Splendor in the Grass” are 35mm, the rest digital.

Flix70 on April 18, 2013 at 10:22 am

AFI Night at the Movies returns to Arclight April 24. Highlights include: Blade Runner, Pulp Fiction and The Thing. As usual one of the 13 films screens in the Dome: this year it’s In The Heat of the Night, introduced by Sidney Poitier.

Cliffs on April 22, 2013 at 2:30 pm

‘Classics in the Dome’ begins 5/3:

5/3, Friday Jaws

5/3, Friday 2001: A Space Odyssey

5/4, Saturday The Red Shoes

5/4, Saturday On the Waterfront

5/5, Sunday Lawrence of Arabia

5/5, Sunday Vertigo

5/6, Monday Dr. Strangelove

5/7, Tuesday Cool Hand Luke

No doubt all digital, but Lawrence should be 4K. Unfortunately, the CapeTown festival is that weekend, so it’s a no go for some.

RogerA on May 11, 2013 at 3:35 pm

I went to the Gatsby party at the Cinerama Dome on Thursday and the event was great! Well planned. Here is some video from the party http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxeaFpHOJ8w&feature=youtu.be

RogerA on May 11, 2013 at 4:25 pm

And I was impressed at the picture quality, bright, clear, the sound was set a little low but the visual was very good.