"DINOSAURS Alive! Roars Into the" IMAX® Theatre at Discovery Place

New film takes guests on modern-day dinosaur hunt beginning Saturday, March 29

March 18, 2008

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — DINOSAURS Alive! roars into Discovery Place in a BIG way as the Museum’s newest IMAX film premieres on the Carolinas’ largest movie screen in The Charlotte Observer IMAX® Dome Theatre Saturday, March 29.

DINOSAURS Alive! features spectacular animation and a live-action story that joins renowned paleontologists from the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) and their graduate students in the field as they uncover new fossils – including the remarkable discovery of what may be the oldest dinosaur ever found in North America.

Narrated by Academy Award®-winner, Michael Douglas, the film brings dinosaurs, their behaviors and their ancient environments to life on screen as never before seen – juxtaposing stunningly realistic and scientifically accurate computer generated imagery (CGI) with intriguing 1920s documentary footage.

Interwoven throughout the film’s storyline is a real-life, scientific adventure that reveals how paleontologists search for, discover and study fossils to determine different dinosaur species – how big they grew, how fast they moved, how they were related to other species, how they interacted with others, what they may have eaten, how they may have raised their young, what their surroundings looked like and how they may have died.

Audiences will be immersed into the world of giant lizards, witnessing dinosaurs locked in mortal combat, nesting in colonies, protecting their young and facing catastrophic forces of nature. Guests also will learn which dinos traveled in herds, which made nests, which were the predators, which were the hunted and other surprising behaviors.

DINOSAURS Alive! takes audiences to Mongolia with 1920s archival footage of paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews – a larger-than-life adventurer believed to be the inspiration for the Indiana Jones character. Andrews led five AMNH expeditions to the Gobi Desert and discovered one of the greatest repositories of dinosaur remains ever found. The film then returns to that same site today with leading AMNH paleontologists, Mike Novacek and Mark Norell, who have been making annual expeditions to the desert every summer since 1990. IMAX cameras follow Mike and Mark and an inspiring team of dedicated young graduate students eager to hone their dinosaur hunting skills in the field, as they set out on a hot and dusty Mad Max-like journey across the Gobi’s stark desert terrain.

DINOSAURS Alive! then heads to New Mexico, one of the few places in the world where rock layers preserve the whole age of dinosaurs – from the Cretaceous, Jurassic and Triassic Periods – and where breakthrough discoveries continue to be made in the high desert badlands.

The film shows the rich history of life stretching back 220 million years and brings audiences to the fabled Ghost Ranch, where the number of fossils uncovered during the dig is staggering – revealing layers of dinosaurs and reptiles in concentrated deposits in a mass burial place.

More fossils than ever are being found today. While there have been great discoveries over the last century and we know much more about these amazing creatures than ever before, the scientific quest to find and understand dinosaurs and the world they inhabited is ongoing. DINOSAURS Alive! estimates that less than two percent of all the dinosaur species that once lived has been discovered. For young paleontologists, the adventure is just beginning and this spellbinding new film is sure to spark imaginings of what mysteries still lie buried beneath our feet.

DINOSAURS Alive! runs from Saturday, March 29 — Monday, Sept. 1, 2008. Tickets to DINOSAURS Alive! are $8 for ages 14-59, $7 for ages 2-13 and 60+ and are free for children younger than 2. Group and Member discounts also are available. Visit discoveryplace.org or call 800-935-0553 for showtimes. Concessions, including popcorn, beverages and candy are available during movie showings.

DINOSAURS Alive! is a production of David Clark Inc., Giant Screen Films, the Maryland Science Center, and Stardust Blue, in association with the American Museum of Natural History. The film is written and directed by two veteran filmmakers, Academy Award-nominated Bayley Silleck and Emmy Award-winning David Clark, with cinematography by Bill Reeve. Dinosaur animation was created by Digital Artists Montreal Network (DamnFX), whose artists have previously created dinosaurs for the Discovery Channel. Major funding was provided by the National Science Foundation with additional support from the Museum Film Network, and the 3D Film Interest Group. The film is distributed by Giant Screen Films of Evanston, IL. www.dinosalive.com

About Discovery Place
Discovery Place is located in uptown Charlotte at 301 N. Tryon Street. Convenient parking is available in the science center’s parking garage — the Carol Grotnes Belk Complex — at the corner of Sixth and Church streets. For more information about Discovery Place, guests should call 704-372-6261 or visit discoveryplace.org.

One of the top hands-on science museums in the nation, Discovery Place provides ever-changing, entertaining facilities that foster experiences in areas that range from life science to space exploration. More than a half-million people from all over the United States visit Discovery Place, its IMAX® Dome Theatre and Charlotte Nature Museum each year. Discovery Place is supported, in part, with a Basic Operating Grant from the Arts & Science Council.

About IMAX Corporation
IMAX Corporation is one of the world’s leading entertainment technology companies, specializing in digital and film-based motion picture technologies.

The worldwide IMAX network is among the most important and successful theatrical distribution platforms for major event Hollywood films around the globe, with IMAX theatres delivering the world’s best cinematic presentations using proprietary IMAX, IMAX 3D, and IMAX DMR technology.

IMAX DMR is the Company’s groundbreaking digital remastering technology that allows it to transform digitally virtually any conventional motion picture into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience. IMAX’s renowned projectors display crystal-clear images on the world’s biggest screens, and the IMAX brand is recognized throughout the world for extraordinary and immersive entertainment experiences for consumers. As of September 30, 2006, there were 280 IMAX theatres operating in 40 countries.

IMAX®, IMAX® 3D, IMAX DMR®, IMAX MPX® and The IMAX Experience® are trademarks of IMAX Corporation. More information on the Company can be found at www.imax.com.

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