Maritime Aquarium Shares Plans For New 4D Theater In Norwalk

NORWALK, CT — As part of the Walk Bridge replacement project, the Maritime Aquarium's IMAX Theater will be taken down and replaced with a new 4D theater. The new entertainment venue will allow guests to experience not just the sights and sounds of the film they are watching, but also smells and movements.

According to the aquarium's Director of Marketing Tina Tison, this more immersive type of theater experience has become a very popular offering for other aquariums, zoos and museums around the country.

"Many guests are interested in having something more interactive and more immersive," Tison said. "The 4D theaters have become very popular, so it was one of the options we were looking at when this project first came to light."

Similar to the current IMAX theater's offerings, the 4D theater will mainly show mission-based films about the ocean, wildlife and other aspects of nature. Guests may be able to experience rain, wind, snow or other sensations during a film, and the seats of the theater will move at appropriate moments.

The theater's replacement is part of the Maritime Aquarium Functional Replacement Project, wherein the state will functionally replace what is taken at the facility as a result of the Walk Bridge project.

During their meeting Tuesday, the Common Council authorized Mayor Harry Rilling to execute an agreement with Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners LLP for the Functional Replacement Project to provide architectural design services for a total not to exceed a little over $1.5 million.

"What we’re doing as part of the state funding is functional replacement," Maritime Aquarium Chief Operating Officer Dave Truedson said. "You’re functionally replacing what they’re taking, so although the theater aspect is different going from IMAX to 4D, it’s still similar to what we have now. You'll have your concessions to enhance the theater experience, we’ll have an entrance down there and ticketing as well, but the experience really is inside that 4D theater."

According to Tison, the entire experience is also much shorter, as the aquarium's current IMAX movies range between 40 and 45 minutes in length.

"These 4D offerings are usually between 12 and 15 minutes on the long side," Tison said, "so it’s very immersive but it’s also a much more efficient thing to build into your outing for the day and your time at the aquarium."

Much like the IMAX theater today, the 4D theater also has the capability to hold other events such as a speaker series or a large-scale team meeting.

According to Truedson, the aquarium does not have a firm date on when construction of the theater will start, however they are "looking to get in the ground" in October.

"We had sent our project out to bid, and it came out higher than expected," Truedson said, "so we went into value engineering mode and looked at redesign and where we could save some dollars, and one of the ideas was to move the theater toward the east, toward the river, and take it off an existing 54-inch sewer line. As you can imagine, there’s quite a bit of cost when you’re spanning over the top of a sewer line and trying to build over the top, so we’ve achieved quite a bit of savings."

The aquarium is currently in the process of redrawing the theater further toward the east, which Truedson said is approximately a five-month project that began March 1.

"Since we opened almost 31 years ago, a movie experience has been part of the offering we’ve given to the community and to any of our guests," Tison said. "[The 4D theater] is a way for us to continue that, but it’s a way for us to continue that in a slightly reimagined way that takes into account some new technology and some new available features...so for us it’s really for consistency and sustaining that offer with why we’re here and what we can provide."