The Mugar Omni Theater is a domed IMAX theater at the Museum of Science, in Boston, Massachusetts.[1]
The Mugar Omni is named after Stephen P. Mugar, the founder of Star Market, and his wife Marian G. Mugar. The Mugar Omni is non-profit and opened in 1987.[2] Over 900,000 visitors came in its first year.[3] It is the only domed IMAX theater in New England and is one of only 60 IMAX Theaters in the world to offer 180 degree domed viewing. The seats are set at a steep (cliff-side) angle and recline about thirty degrees, the screen is five stories tall, and the theater is filled with an impressive surround sound system. Because the screen fills a viewer's field of vision (including periphery vision) the screen and surround sound system give viewers the feeling of immersion and motion giving visitors a unique life like experience when viewing films. Viewers must turn their heads left to right up and down to capture all that is going on.[4] The theater shows films of educational and scientific interest such as: Bears, Beavers, Amazing Caves, Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure as well as select IMAX feature film releases in 1.43:1 aspect ratio.[5] [6] Leonard Nimoy was a host of the opening of the theater.
The average 70mm Omnimax film reel is around 3 miles long, weighs 200 pounds, and needs to be configured manually.