The Future of IMAX® Victoria

Amanda Richardson communications specialist

This is an exciting time for the IMAX® Victoria team and everyone at the Royal BC Museum.

As you may remember, at the height of the pandemic in August 2020, the Royal BC Museum formally acquired IMAX® Victoria. The theatre had long operated under the same roof and been a welcome addition to the museum’s overall offerings, so when the opportunity presented to become one big family, we jumped at the chance.

Since then, we’ve begun welcoming guests back at full capacity, seen the return of the annual pass program and brought back Hollywood feature films like Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water, and are now looking at exciting new ways of engaging British Columbians and the museum community, beginning with the IMAX® Victoria Film Festival this March.

“What we know is that we want to continue to provide guests with an outstanding moviegoing experience,” says Colin Hardie, Theatre and Box Office Director. “We want to continue to be the leaders in our field that saw us earn the Giant Screen Cinema Association award for best booth in 2019 and be one of the world’s first IMAX® theatres to upgrade to digital laser projection in 2014. We also know that we want to do more to support local, BC-based, Canadian filmmakers.”

That last bit is a big one and something we’re really excited about.

Last year while hosting Orcas: Our Shared Future, we screened the locally produced film Saving Luna by directors Michael Parfit and Suzanne Chisholm. The story follows a young orca who gets separated from his family in Nootka Sound, off the coast of Vancouver Island. The film, with its island roots, was an overwhelming hit with guests and we knew we needed to give British Columbians more opportunities to see their home and its residents up on the big screen.

Earlier this year, we put that thought into action by screening the film Carbon by Victoria-based filmmaker Niobe Thompson and by selecting multiple films from the National Film Board to screen throughout the week leading up to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. In the past, we’ve also opened our doors to members of the film industry—like Great Bear Rainforest’s sound engineer Tim Archer—to run dailies during postproduction or mix the sound on projects.

“These relationships not only make use of our state-of-the-art equipment in new and exciting ways, it helps ensure filmmakers, videographers and sound engineers are able to put out the best product possible,” Hardie says.

Sound Bites Concession and the Shop at IMAX® also continue to be a huge part of the guest experience and another way we are looking at supporting local businesses. We’re hoping to be able to support more local businesses through our retail and concession stand over the coming months to provide guests with unique shopping and snacking experiences they can’t get at other theatres.

We’re excited for the year ahead and can’t wait to welcome regular guests and annual passholders to experience all that IMAX® Victoria has to offer.