Niagara: Miracles, Myths and Magic | |
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Directed by | Kieth Merrill |
Written by | Ben Burtt Kieth Merrill |
Produced by | Nicholas J. Gray Richard W. James |
Starring | Philippe Petit (among others) |
Cinematography | David Douglas |
Edited by | Ben Burtt |
Music by | Bill Conti |
Distributed by | Destination Cinema |
Release date |
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Running time | 41 minutes |
Country | United States |
Niagara: Miracles, Myths and Magic (known as Niagara: Legends of Adventure for digital projections) is a 1986 IMAX film directed and produced by Kieth Merrill.
The film, currently shown every 45 minutes every day on the American and Canadian sides of the Niagara Falls border, shows the history of the Niagara Falls since the earliest legends. [1] The film also shows the creation and history of the Maid of the Mist boats. [2]
In Canada, the movie currently plays at the Greg Frewin Theatrical Centre. It originally played at the IMAX Niagara Falls theatre from 1987 to 2020, which featured 70mm film projection on a 82 ft (25 m) wide screen. The theatre exclusively played Niagara: Miracles, Myths and Magic to the general public, although on June 5, 1998, it hosted a gala screening of Titanic with director James Cameron. [3] On October 27, 2020, the theatre closed to the public, and it was demolished in May 2022. On August 24, 2022, the movie was rebranded as Niagara: Legends of Adventure and was relocated to the Greg Frewin Theatrical Centre. This venue uses digital 4K projection on a 44.72 ft (13.63 m) wide screen, resulting in a smaller picture compared to the original IMAX venue.
In the United States, the movie plays at the Thunder Theater Cafe using digital projection.
Part of the film's focus is people who braved the falls, such as a tight-rope walker, a barrel rider, and those unfortunate enough to accidentally plunge over the Falls. Actors portraying Annie Edson Taylor, Roger Woodward and Charles Blondin (played by Philippe Petit) appear in the film.
70 mm film is a wide high-resolution film gauge for motion picture photography, with a negative area nearly 3.5 times as large as the standard 35 mm motion picture film format. As used in cameras, the film is 65 mm (2.6 in) wide. For projection, the original 65 mm film is printed on 70 mm (2.8 in) film. The additional 5 mm contains the four magnetic stripes, holding six tracks of stereophonic sound. Although later 70 mm prints use digital sound encoding, the vast majority of existing and surviving 70 mm prints pre-date this technology.
A movie theater, cinema, or cinema hall, also known as a movie house, picture house, picture theater or simply theater, is a business that contains auditoria for viewing films for public entertainment. Most are commercial operations catering to the general public, who attend by purchasing tickets.
IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio and steep stadium seating, with the 1.43:1 ratio format being available only in few selected locations.
Cinerama is a widescreen process that originally projected images simultaneously from three synchronized 35mm projectors onto a huge, deeply curved screen, subtending 146-degrees of arc. The trademarked process was marketed by the Cinerama corporation. It was the first of several novel processes introduced during the 1950s when the movie industry was reacting to competition from television. Cinerama was presented to the public as a theatrical event, with reserved seating and printed programs, and audience members often dressed in their best attire for the evening.
3D films are motion pictures made to give an illusion of three-dimensional solidity, usually with the help of special glasses worn by viewers. They have existed in some form since 1915, but had been largely relegated to a niche in the motion picture industry because of the costly hardware and processes required to produce and display a 3D film, and the lack of a standardized format for all segments of the entertainment business. Nonetheless, 3D films were prominently featured in the 1950s in American cinema, and later experienced a worldwide resurgence in the 1980s and 1990s driven by IMAX high-end theaters and Disney-themed venues. 3D films became increasingly successful throughout the 2000s, peaking with the success of 3D presentations of Avatar in December 2009, after which 3D films again decreased in popularity. Certain directors have also taken more experimental approaches to 3D filmmaking, most notably celebrated auteur Jean-Luc Godard in his film Goodbye to Language.
The Empire, Leicester Square is a cinema currently operated by Cineworld on the north side of Leicester Square, London, United Kingdom.
Niagara Falls State Park is located in the City of Niagara Falls in Niagara County, New York, United States. The park, recognized as the oldest state park in the United States, contains the American Falls, the Bridal Veil Falls, and a portion of the Horseshoe Falls.
Cinesphere is the world's first permanent IMAX movie theatre, located on the grounds of Ontario Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Constructed in 1971, it is the largest IMAX theatre in Ontario. The theatre has both IMAX 70mm and IMAX with Laser projection systems. The theatre is considered a building of heritage value and shows movies each weekend. It is owned by the Government of Ontario, which owns the entire Ontario Place site.
The Maid of the Mist is a sightseeing boat tour of Niagara Falls, N.Y., U.S.A., starting and ending on the American side, crossing briefly into Canada during a portion of the trip.
A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying motion picture film by projecting it onto a screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras. Modern movie projectors are specially built video projectors.
The TCL Chinese Theatre, commonly referred to as Grauman's Chinese Theatre, is a movie palace on the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Century Theatres is a movie theater chain that operates many multiplexes in the western United States, primarily in California, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. In its later years, it had expanded into the inter-mountain states, the Pacific Northwest, Texas, Alaska and parts of the Midwestern United States. Founded in 1941, the chain was headquartered in San Rafael, California until it was acquired by Cinemark Theatres from Plano, Texas in 2006. Many now-Cinemark-owned theaters continue to operate under the Century brand.
Cineplex Inc. is a Canadian operator of movie theater and family entertainment centres, headquartered in Toronto. It is the largest cinema chain in Canada; as of 2019, it operated 165 locations, and accounted for 75% of the domestic box office.
Empire Theatres Limited was a movie theater chain in Canada, a subsidiary of Empire Company Ltd., the holding company of the Sobey family conglomerate.
Disney Digital 3-D is a brand name used by The Walt Disney Company to describe three-dimensional films made and released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures mostly under the Walt Disney Pictures label and shown exclusively using digital projection.
Greg Frewin is a Canadian illusionist and "World Champion of Magic" by the International Federation of Magic Societies. His awards include first place at the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM); the Gold Medal of Excellence, also from the IBM; first place at the Society of American Magicians' annual magic convention competition; and first place at FISM, the "Olympics of Magic", which were held in Yokohama, Japan in 1994.
The Dreamworld Cinema was a movie theatre located inside the Dreamworld amusement park on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
Warren Theatres was a movie theater chain based in Wichita, Kansas, United States. While the company was founded by Bill Warren, he sold ownership of most of the Warren Theatres locations to Regal Entertainment Group in 2017. The sale excluded two theaters that were in development and the Palace Theatre in Springfield, Missouri.
The Scotiabank Theatre Toronto is a major movie theatre at the RioCan Hall in the Entertainment District of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada at Richmond and John Street owned by Cineplex Entertainment for the building and the lands owned by RioCan. Opened in 1999, the venue screens theatrical films throughout the year, but is best known as one of the major venues for the annual Toronto International Film Festival alongside the nearby TIFF Bell Lightbox.