There are a couple of places in Hampton Roads to watch the latest Hollywood movies with bigger screens and higher definition than the average theater — but the largest IMAX screen in the region, which can show 70mm film, hasn’t displayed mainstream movies in about a decade, and may soon be out of commission all together.
The IMAX theater at the Virginia Air & Space Science Center in Hampton, which has been in operation since 1992, checks in at 72 feet high and 32 feet wide, much larger than standard IMAX screens. Theaters that can support IMAX 70mm film are highly sought after for film enthusiasts and difficult to find — there are only 25 in the U.S. and the closest one is just outside Philadelphia, according to USA Today.
The space center shifted its focus to showing educational programming as part of a master plan published in January 2018. “Star Wars: Rogue One” was the last feature film shown in the theater, based on a review of the center’s promotions on its Facebook page. The change was followed by offering the option to include IMAX movies in the price of general admission tickets, according to spokesperson Meghan Dincler.
“We weren’t really seeing a return on investment for the Hollywood movies back when we were showing them, because we are a nonprofit and the cost of showing the films was pretty high,” Dincler said in an email. “As a result, we decided to shift our focus more to things that align with our main mission of education and inspiration through hands-on exhibits.
“We are a museum/science center first, so that’s our main priority when it comes to the things that we’re allocating money towards.”
In addition to the cost of showing Hollywood movies, the center closes at 5 p.m., so showing films later in the day would require hiring new staff and present other logistical challenges, according to Melvin Ferebee, Jr., the space center’s interim director.
The space center is funded primarily by the City of Hampton, NASA, donations and grants. The center’s moves in recent years come after a period of serious financial struggles which led to the city coming to its aid with an additional $1.6 million in 2013.
“We’re in a very good financial position and that has been because we have been rather conservative in our spending,” Ferebee said in an interview. “We have been operating effectively with a skeleton crew and we’re still doing well.”
The current lineup of films at the theater are “The Blue Angels” documentary presented in 3D — which rivals “Top Gun: Maverick” in its immersive intensity in the cockpit — along with the nature documentary “Into America’s Wild” and “America’s Musical Journey” tracing the country’s musical history, all shot with IMAX cameras.
IMAX theaters have received heightened attention in the era of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.” The film unseated 2009’s “Avatar” as the highest-grossing IMAX movie and it’s now the highest-grossing film of Nolan’s career at a time when streaming services are challenging audiences’ loyalty to the theater experience.
The reason for all the hoopla is that 70mm IMAX is the largest and highest-resolution format for watching a movie. In technical terms, 70mm IMAX presents the image with a 1.43:1 aspect ratio compared to the 1.9:1 aspect ratio of a normal IMAX theater, and is much higher quality than a standard theater’s 2.39:1 aspect ratio.
While the space center’s financial position has improved, the future of its IMAX theater its”] remains cloudy, according to Ferebee. When he took over as interim director in February, IMAX representatives told him the center’s system is at “end of life,” he said. The center’s current service contract with IMAX lasts until 2028, after which IMAX will not support the system.
Ferebee said he was told upgrading to the latest IMAX system would cost about $986,000.
“I saw the number and went, ‘OK, I’m the interim executive director, I will tell the board and I will leave it to my successor,’” Ferebee said. “I’m not making that decision in 2026.”
The center continues to grow its relationship with school systems across the region — and in Richmond — and entered into formal agreements with Hampton City Schools and Portsmouth Public Schools in the past five years, according to Ferebee. The center also provides STEM programs that are funded by the state.
Staff was unable to provide specific data on IMAX ticket sales since switching to educational programming, but Dincler said the current lineup has been very popular with audiences so there hasn’t been a “large incentive to shift back to Hollywood releases, with all of the extra costs associated with that.”
Garney Johnson, 48, has lived in Hampton Roads since 2007 and sees hundreds of movies a year as an AMC A-Lister and Regal Unlimited member — he even traveled to Pennsylvania to see “The Odyssey” in 70mm IMAX. He said the first movie he saw at the Virginia Air & Space Science Center IMAX theater was “I Am Legend,” and the last one he saw was “Star Wars: Rogue One.”
“People who are enthusiastic about filmgoing miss the space center option but the more casual filmgoer that goes to the movies a lot, they’re going to the place that they have a subscription,” Johnson said.
Johnson, an administrator at the Lions Medical Eyebank who works out of Sentara, said he can understand why a theater like the space center’s can’t afford to show new Hollywood movies but said he thinks there’s “definitely an audience.” He suggested a a weekly series where they show a print of a classic movie, likely in the science fiction realm to keep with the theme, and offer it as part of a membership program once it becomes a regular thing.
Asked about this idea, Ferebee said he wasn’t against it.
“I just need to have the business case,” he said.
Gavin Stone, 757-712-4806, [email protected]
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