Product Code Database
The Cinerama Dome is a movie theater on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California that closed in 2020. Designed to exhibit widescreen Cinerama films, it opened November 7, 1963. The original developer was William R. Forman, founder of Pacific Theatres. The Cinerama Dome continued as a leading first-run theater, most recently as part of the ArcLight Hollywood complex, until it closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in California. The ArcLight chain closed permanently in April 2021, with the theater never having reopened. In June 2022, it was announced that there were plans to reopen under a new name, Cinerama Hollywood.
Pacific Theatres founder, William R. Forman, announced the construction of the Cinerama Dome in July 1963 at a star-studded, ground-breaking ceremony where Spencer Tracy, Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Edie Adams, and Dorothy Provine donned hard hats, and, with picks and shovels, began construction. Forman had committed to United Artists that the theatre would be ready for the November 7, 1963, world premiere of the first movie filmed in the new 70mm, single-strip Cinerama process, Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World. Working around the clock, the entire construction spanned only 16 weeks. The Cinerama Dome is the only concrete geodesic dome in the world. The theatre is made up of 316 individual hexagonal and pentagonal shapes in 16 different sizes. Each of these pieces is approximately across and weighs around . The theatre also has design elements such as a loge section with stadium seating, architecturally significant floating stairways, and, at the time of its opening, the largest contoured motion-picture screen in the world, measuring high and wide, with a maximum aspect ratio of 2.69:1.
The premiere of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, filmed in Ultra Panavision 70, marked the dawn of "single lens" Cinerama. Previously, Cinerama was known for its groundbreaking three-projector process. From 1963 until 2002, the Cinerama Dome never showed movies with the three-projector process. (The nearby Warner Cinerama at 6433 Hollywood Boulevard used the three-projector process until December 1964.) A unique "rectified" print was made with increased anamorphic compression towards the sides, which compensated for distortions that would otherwise be induced by Cinerama's deeply curved screen.
The Cinerama Dome made its digital cinema debut in May 2005 with . In 2009, James Cameron's Avatar was the first 3D film to be shown in the Cinerama Dome, using technology from XpanD 3D.
In December 2015, the Cinerama Dome upgraded to a laser-projection system, using two Christie 6P projectors and Dolby 3D. The venue is still capable of both 35mm and 70mm-film projection.
In April 2021, the parent company of Pacific Theatres announced that it would not be reopening any of its locations, including the Cinerama Dome, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Later in the year, it was reported that a permit had been filed with provisions for a bar and restaurant.
In June 2022, it was reported that Decurion Corp. had plans to reopen the theater under the name Cinerama Hollywood along with the adjoining fourteen-screen multiplex. There were also plans to include two bars and a restaurant at the location. Three months later, it was reported that the theater would not be reopening until at least the latter part of 2023; in May 2023, it was reported that it was delayed once again to the latter part of 2024. In November 2023, the reopening was again delayed until the second quarter of 2025 due mostly in part to the redesign happening in the space including the addition of restaurants and event space. In April 2025, it was reported the reopening of the Cinerama Dome was uncertain due to the property manager saying it would not reopen that year and that Decurion was unwilling to either sell or reopen the complex. A petition to reopen the complex had reached more than 30,000 signatures at the time of the report. When asked about the future of the Cinerama Dome and Arclight Hollywood during a June 2025 public hearing held by the Los Angeles l Office of Zoning Administration, land use consultant Elizabeth Peterson of the Elizabeth Peterson Group said:
In August 2025, a report from The Hollywood Reporter stated that the reopening of the Cinerama Dome and ArcLight Hollywood remained in limbo. Two months later, Dome Center LLC, the company that owns the property, filed an application for a conditional-use permit to sell alcohol for on-site consumption at the Cinerama Dome Theater and the Arclight Hollywood. However, no timetable for the reopening was given.
The preservation of the Cinerama Dome came at a time when most other surviving Cinerama theaters were being demolished. An example of this was the case of the Indian Hills Theater in Omaha, Nebraska, a round Cinerama theater boasting a 110-foot screen that was razed in 2001 to make room for a parking lot.
The Cinerama Dome was declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1998.
|
|
