IMAXs and evolution

Without comment from our neighbours to the south.

From the Guardian, Creationists take their fight to the really big screen

They are the epitome of safe family entertainment, renowned for lavish animations, exquisitely filmed scenes of natural grandeur and utterly tame scripts. But IMAX films have suddenly found themselves catapulted into controversy, thanks to their occasional use of the dreaded E-word: evolution. In several states, IMAX cinemas — including some at science museums — are refusing to show movies that mention the subject or suggest that the Earth’s origins do not conform with biblical descriptions.

Reading the NYTimes article on the same issue, it becomes clear that decisions by American IMAX theatres have impacts here as well.

The number of theaters rejecting such films is small, people in the industry say – perhaps a dozen or fewer, most in the South. But because only a few dozen Imax theaters routinely show science documentaries, the decisions of a few can have a big impact on a film’s bottom line – or a producer’s decision to make a documentary in the first place.

One Response to “IMAXs and evolution”

  1. sieber says:

    Picked up by CNN that add:

    Critics worry screening out films that mention evolution will discourage the production of others in the future.

    “It’s going to restrain the creative approach by directors who refer to evolution,” said Joe DeAmicis, vice president for marketing at the California Science Center in Los Angeles and a former director of an IMAX theater. “References to evolution will be dropped.”