The Beauty of the Beast

For some kids, not much beats that thrill of going to the movies for the first time. Ideas previously confined to the imagination are projected like alchemy 20 feet high, in Surround Stereo. What could beat that? Well ... try a screen six stories high, the sound pumped through 40-odd speakers, and you've got an idea.

Austin's Imax theatre opened in late spring 2001, alongside the much-storied Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. The latest film to play at the venue transplants a classic kid fantasy to the gargantuan screen: swimming with dolphins. Dolphins is luminous and enchanting, educational eye candy that goes down remarkably easy for kids phobic of traditional book-learning.

So far, the 400-seat venue has been well-received by Austin, with ticket sales soaring about 50% above projections, according to Heather Brand, the museum's head of public relations. However, the theatre has opted out of the biggest Imax event in years -- Disney's newly remastered, souped-up-for-the-big-big-screen Beauty and the Beast. Brand explains the reasoning behind the museum's decision: "The contract for the film with Disney specifies that the film must be screened approximately 95% of the time, allowing for only one other large-format film to be screened only once a day. This doesn't leave much choice for the school groups that plan to visit the museum -- and [Beauty and the Beast], at two hours in length, is generally longer than most school groups have to spend at the museum."

Further, Disney stipulates a minimum ticket price of $11 per ticket -- almost double the regular adult ticket price and nearly triple the children's price for the Austin Imax -- and theatres would have to jack up the cost even further in order to turn a minimal profit. Brand plainly states, "We don't want to change our policy of offering a diversity of films at a reasonable rate."

The cold, hard facts might be difficult to explain to kids eager to be the Austin venue's guest (Imax theatres in San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston will be showing the film), but they'll have to content themselves with swimming with dolphins, exploring the frontier West, and hurtling through space. (Upcoming Austin Imax releases include Lewis & Clark and Space Station 3D.) Or perhaps defending the Alamo -- the museum is currently in negotiations to bring John Wayne's classic 1960s western The Alamo to the theatre, to be shown in conjunction with the museum's upcoming Davy Crockett exhibit and a film series on the Texan hero screening at the museum's smaller, non-Imax venue, the Texas Spirit Theater. Curiously enough, Ron Howard's new feature on the Alamo is in pre-production now; rumor has it the director is considering shooting at Austin Studios.