At first glance, the Arctic seems an impossibly inhospitable place, a frigid wasteland of extremes in which nothing can survive.
Only one-quarter of this vast polar region at the top of the world is made up of land. The rest is comprised of a glacially cold ocean capped by vast stretches of ice.
Despite its harsh conditions, however, life has found a way to endure — and even thrive — in the Arctic. Audiences will meet just a few of the Arctic’s charismatic residents on Jan. 11 when the Tennessee Aquarium IMAX 3D Theater debuts a new giant-screen film, Arctic 3D: Our Frozen Planet.
Accompanied by the sonorous narration of Academy Award nominee Benedict Cumberbatch, viewers will explore how the Arctic changes, season by season, while visiting locations such as Wrangel Island — home to the greatest concentration of Polar Bears on Earth — and Greenland, a landmass approximately four times the size of France and covered by a mile-thick ice cap.
The latest offering from SK Films and BBC Earth, Arctic 3D, introduces viewers to a few species whose amazing adaptations allow them to survive in the Arctic.
Narwhals (aka the “unicorns” of the sea), Beluga Whales, and Polar Bears navigate the region’s ice floes, while Caribou and Muskox roam its upland tundra. Viewers will discover how Harp Seal mothers prepare their pups for independence in just 12 days and learn how Bowhead Whales become 100-ton giants on a diet of microscopic plankton. Scenes show how even bumblebees have found ways to succeed, against all odds, in this wild and unforgiving land at the top of the world.
In creating Arctic 3D, filmmakers used unprecedented techniques to capture stunning 3D footage at global and microscopic scales. A few of their novel solutions included using microscopes to film ice cracking and showing how arctic ice caps advance and retreat through the use of motion-controlled time-lapses, drone flights, and directed satellite footage.
The film has a human side, too. Audiences will discover how more than four million people across eight countries are racing to adapt to life in a landscape undergoing tremendous change as global temperatures warm.
Viewers looking to expand their understanding of how life survives in extreme landscapes can take advantage of a special “pole-to-pole” event on Thursday, Jan. 11 at 6 pm. This one-night-only double-feature will include a companion screening of Antarctica 3D as well as a presentation and Q&A on changes at the poles by weather-climate expert Dr. Marshall Shepherd.
The director of the University of Georgia’s (UGA) Atmospheric Sciences Program, Dr. Shepherd is a leading international expert whose research focuses on urban climate, hydrometeorological extremes, weather-climate risk, and innovative outreach strategies. Dr. Shepherd hosts The Weather Channel’s Weather Geeks, an award-winning talk show and podcast. He is a highly sought-after speaker and frequent guest on Face The Nation (CBS), NOVA, The Today Show, CNN, and Fox News.
Arctic 3D: Our Frozen Planet’s pole-to-pole premiere will begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 11. Daily screenings of Arctic 3D begin Friday, Jan. 12. For tickets and showtimes, visit tnaqua.org/imax/arctic-our-frozen-planet-3d/.
Also coming to the IMAX Theater in January, audiences can revisit Christopher Nolan’s landmark 2023 epic on the birth of America’s atomic age with a four-day reprisal of Oppenheimer from Friday, Jan. 12, through Monday, Jan. 15. This will be followed by a four-night run of Queen Rock Montreal, a giant-screen presentation of a landmark 1981 performance by the British rock legends. That film will play from Thursday, Jan. 18, through Sunday, Jan. 21.
Runtimes, a screening schedule and additional details for all IMAX 3D Theater films are available at tnaqua.org/imax.