Warner Bros. Pictures has released new images from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The final chapter of the Harry Potter film series begins as Harry, Ron, and Hermione leave Hogwarts behind and set out to find and destroy the Horcruxes, the secret to Voldemort’s power and immortality.

Part I comes to IMAX 3D theaters November 19, 2010, and Part II on July 15, 2011.

View the rest of pics after the jump.

BMZ Film Page >>

As August came to a scorching close, attendance numbers at the Ontario Science Centre also set a new high, with 330,605 visitors during July and August. This is a 13 per cent increase over last year’s attendance for the two months, making it the busiest summer in 11 years. At 948,140 visitors, attendance for the year to date is up 112,290 and is already approaching the million visitor mark.

This success is attributed in part to the popularity of Harry Potter™: The Exhibition, as well as a roster of exciting programs including The Science of Flight, Spellbinding Science, and OwlFest, and a variety of IMAX films in the Shoppers Drug Mart® OMNIMAX® Theatre.

“These strong attendance figures reflect the amazing appeal of the special exhibition as well as our permanent exhibits for visitors of all ages,” said Lesley Lewis, Ontario Science Centre CEO. “Our programming has also been outstanding. Visitors have experienced live eagles soaring above their heads in the Great Hall, bubbling potions and exploding experiments that really bring science to life.”

Harry Potter: The Exhibition closes on Mon. Sept. 6. Due to popular demand, the Science Centre has extended the hours for Harry Potter: The Exhibition to 11 p.m. on Fri. Sept. 3 and Sat. Sept. 4. Last tickets will be sold at 9:30 p.m.

The fall/winter season will be another busy period with three significant new temporary exhibitions, all free with admission to the Science Centre. Mythic Creatures: Unicorns, Dragons and Mermaids, from the American Museum of Natural History, New York, begins Oct. 9, Whales/Tohorã from Te Papa Tongarewa, the Museum of New Zealand, opens Nov. 4 and Nature Unleashed, from the Field Museum in Chicago on February 11, 2011. For more details on these upcoming exhibitions and films visit our website, www.OntarioScienceCentre.ca.

Press Release >>

Photo by Andreas Praefcke

IMAX’s underwater documentary Under the Sea opens at Fort Worth Museum’s IMAX Dome theater this weekend. From the Fort Worth Star Telegram:

Consider the leafy sea dragon. Or the flamboyant cuttlefish.

Yes, they’re real. And you’ll have the chance to consider them up close — almost face-to-face — in Under the Sea, an IMAX film that opens this weekend at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.

The movie is designed to make you feel like you’re in the ocean, surrounded by colorful sea creatures. It’s not easy to get this far underwater without getting wet. Narrated by Jim Carrey, the 41-minute film takes viewers all over the world, including south Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Great Barrier Reef. You’ll see just how beautiful it is down there under the surface, and you’ll learn about how climate change is affecting the world’s oceans.

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NOW you see it – soon you won’t? As the bid to rid Bournemouth of its hated IMAX building continues, potential developers are being issued with a strict set of instructions for the site.

And these include a condition that the building – either the current one or a replacement – must be reduced in height to restore some sea views.

. . .

Bournemouth council is leaving it to bidders to decide whether they would prefer to demolish the controversial Waterfront building completely, or improve what’s there.

But it is insistent that the remodelled or replacement building must be something “the town can be proud of”.

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The Century Award is the highest honor bestowed by the membership of the International 3D Society and a blue ribbon panel of stereoscopic experts. Three companies will be recognized for their historical achievement in Stereoscopic 3D over the past thirty years. IMAX is being honored for its “Solido Systems” technology, RealD for its “Cinema System” digital 3D projection technology and Texas Instruments for its “DLP Cinema” technology.

“IMAX Solido was an important stepping stone in the evolution of IMAX 3D technology. It introduced millions of moviegoers to IMAX 3D and we’re honored to be recognized with this award as we continue to break new ground in 3D cinema with our current digital projection system,” stated Brian Bonnick, IMAX’s Executive Vice President, Technology.

“The RealD Cinema System introduced today’s digital 3D revolution by blending cutting-edge 3D science with a new breed of digital cinema projection to solve the issues inherent to film-based 3D of old,” said Joseph Peixoto, President of Worldwide Cinema at RealD.

” Who would have thought that our 3D technology invention that started in our lab would now be enabling a major part of digital cinema 3D worldwide,” said Dave Duncan, business manager for Texas Instruments, DLP Cinema Products. “We are very proud to receive this award and are committed to furthering 3D from the theater to the home and now the classroom for interactive learning.”

The black-tie Stereoscopic 3D Technology Awards ceremony will recognize technological achievement across the stereoscopic medium.

“These Century Awards will record for history the technologies, organizations and individuals responsible for 3D’s extraordinary journey,” added Jim Chabin, President of the International 3D Society.

Buzz Hays, Society Chair and Executive Stereoscopic 3D Producer for the Sony 3D Technology Center, Sony Corporation of America, noted, “The field of stereoscopic 3D has progressed dramatically in the past decade and continues to evolve daily as more and more talented individuals get involved and identify new needs and opportunities. 3D technologies continue to advance, it is important to recognize the achievements of the visionaries who created the tools to empower the artists who, together, will propel our medium forward.”

The International 3D Society is a professional community dedicated to advancing the arts and technologies of Stereoscopic 3D. The 3D Technology Awards Show will feature MasterImage3D passive glasses and technology and NEC projectors and equipment.

XpanD and Panasonic are Platinum Sponsors, NEC Display Solutions is a Gold Sponsor and Nvidia and Quantel are Silver Sponsors of the 3D Technology Awards Show. International 3D Society sponsors include Signature Sponsor XpanD and Founding Sponsors MasterImage 3D, Panasonic Hollywood Lab, The Walt Disney Studios, DreamWorks Animation (DWA), Dolby and IMAX and Member Sponsors Discovery Communications, Autodesk and DirecTV.

Press Release >>

UPDATE: Additional coverage on the International 3D Society awards:

Hollywood in HiDef: 3D Society Century Award for IMAX, RealD, DLP

Some people are saying that 3D is currently being overdone by Hollywood. Personally, I agree and I think that the technology should be reserved for films like “IMAX: Under the Sea 3D”. What does 3D technology mean to you and how has it impacted your work? Does it allow you to tell a story that otherwise would not be possible? Where do you see it going?

There is no question that we are experiencing a 3D revolution. IMAX experienced this revolution ten years ago. After several successful IMAX 3D films were released, including my Into the Deep in the early 1990s, it became evident that the audience was solidly behind 3D. Ticket sales for average 3D films easily outstripped sales for excellent 2D films. In IMAX, that enthusiasm hasn’t waned during the last fifteen years. Now it’s happening in digital cinema and I think it is here to stay.

Making 3D films is much more difficult than making 2D films. Books have been written on the reasons why this is true. The gear is complicated, the editing is difficult, it’s easy to make technical errors that make 3D viewing really unpleasant. For narrative films I am not sure it’s worth it. For 70mm IMAX 3D it’s a different story. What 70mm IMAX does best is take audiences someplace they could never physically go, like underwater. In 70MM IMAX 3D audiences experience the undersea environment in a format that is the next best thing to being there. You will have noticed I say 70mm IMAX rather than just IMAX. Today there are two IMAX formats available. Some theaters are IMAX digital, showing two streams of 2K (2,000 lines of horizontal resolution) images to create 3D. By comparison IMAX 70mm film 3D theaters show two 70mm films with an equivalent resolution of about 12K (12,000 lines of horizontal resolution) each. My IMAX films have all been captured in 70mm film.

Read the full interview here: Link >>

August 31, 2010 – Grandparents and their grandkids can celebrate National Grandparents Day with free admission to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center’s exhibit galleries provided compliments of the ScholarShare College Savings Plan and Fidelity Investments. On Sunday, September 12, 2010, grandchildren are invited to bring their grandparents to the Fleet Science Center for a day of free hands-on fun in seven interactive exhibit galleries.

The Reuben H. Fleet Science Center offers exciting “do touch” science exhibits for visitors of all ages. Grandparents and their young grandkids, aged 5 years and younger, will especially enjoy visiting “Kid City,” a special exhibition where preschool age visitors create, work, play and learn as they experience the wonders of the everyday working world. ScholarShare and Fidelity have sponsored a portion of new hands-on interactives that will be unveiled as the final phase of a two-part renovation of the exhibition this October. Visitors to the Fleet on Sunday, September 12 will get a sneak preview of a new Fire Truck exhibit made possible by ScholarShare. The Fire Truck will be on display in the main exhibit gallery, where visitors will be able to climb aboard for a special photo opportunity. Older children and their grandparents will not want to miss the new exhibition “Earth Exposed,” where they will come face to face with erupting geysers, crumbling mountains and wind-driven waves. “Block Busters!” offer visitors of all ages the opportunity to building amazing structures with thousands of KEVA planks – no glue or connectors necessary!

The Reuben H. Fleet Science Center will be open 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 12. Visitors can pick up their free exhibit gallery pass at the ticket counter upon arrival. Free parking is available adjacent to the museum and along Park Blvd.

Press Release >>

You don’t need to make the pricey pilgrimage to Phoenix to see movies in IMAX anymore. This Friday, the AMC Loews 15 Theater at the Foothills Mall will be unveiling its new IMAX screen. Here’s what you should know about the new theater:

1. AMC did not build a new auditorium. The theater converted auditorium number 2, one of Foothills’ largest, into the new IMAX auditorium.

2. The new screen is 47 feet, seven inches wide and 24 feet tall. The IMAX auditorium at the Harkins Arizona Mills Theater still has us beat with a screen that’s about eight stories wide and six stories tall.

3. The Foothills Mall also added a custom surround sound system to accommodate the unique size, seating capacity and acoustic paneling of the auditorium.

Read the rest of the list here: Link >>

UPDATE: More coverage on Tucson’s new digital IMAX:

Aztec Press Online: IMAX experience comes to Tucson

The final chapter of the Harry Potter film series begins as Harry, Ron, and Hermione leave Hogwarts behind and set out to find and destroy the Horcruxes, the secret to Voldemort’s power and immortality.

Part I comes to IMAX 3D theaters November 19, 2010, and Part II on July 15, 2011.

BMZ Film Page >>

The Alamogordo Daily News reports:

THe Clyde W. Tombaugh IMAX Dome Theater and Planetarium at the New Mexico Museum of Space History will be closed Monday through Wednesday for maintenance on the Spitz starfield projector. The projector is capable of showing the night sky on any given date in history or at the present. It is primarily used to enhance planetarium programs. For more information, call 437-2840 or visit the website at www.nmspacemuseum.org.

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