People walk on the path around Ontario Place's Cinesphere in Toronto on Sept. 29, 2022.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
On Sept. 11, 2021, the greatest red-carpet photos in the history of the Toronto International Film Festival were taken on the shores of Lake Ontario.
It was there, in the shadow of the hulking and rusting Ontario Cinesphere, where director Denis Villeneuve and star Rebecca Ferguson posed ahead of the Imax premiere of Dune: Part One. The glamour of Hollywood royalty contrasted against the fading infrastructure of the provincial government – all backgrounded by a film festival operating in skittish pandemic-era hybrid mode – made for an indelible snapshot of homegrown innovation, institutional neglect and anxious hope for a brighter future.
Denis Villeneuve attends the Dune premiere during the Toronto International Film Festival at Sept. 11, 2021.Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
Rebecca Ferguson attends the Dune premiere during the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival.Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
About one year later, on Oct. 16, 2022, the Cinesphere – opened in 1971 as the world’s first permanent Imax movie theatre – played its last screening. Ever since, the space has sat empty, as Ontario Premier Doug Ford messily attempts to redevelop the waterfront Ontario Place complex in which the orb-shaped theatre sits.
At the time of the Cinesphere’s closing, a spokesperson for Ontario’s Ministry of Infrastructure said repairs would focus on bringing the venue “back to its original appearance,” with the replacement of “deteriorating exterior roof panels, lighting, and insulation.” The reopening, it was suggested, would occur after the work was completed sometime in late 2023.
Well, it is now the summer of 2026, and the one-time jewel of Canadian moviegoing remains shuttered. And just as audiences across the country are clamouring for Imax screens more than ever before, thanks to the phenomenal success of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.
The first feature film to be completely shot with Imax cameras, The Odyssey demands to be seen on a true Imax screen, ideally one capable of playing Imax 70mm stock, the movie’s native format. The problem is that only 41 theatres around the world are equipped to do so, which has led to round-the-clock sold-out shows, and compelled theatres to keep The Odyssey playing until at least the middle of September – an unprecedented run for a contemporary blockbuster.
Construction equipment at Ontario Place on Oct. 4, 2023.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
In Canada, eight theatres are equipped to play Imax 70mm presentations. But there really should be nine, with the Cinesphere possessing both an Imax 70mm projection system and an Imax digital laser setup. What’s worse, according to the latest update from the Government of Ontario, the Cinesphere will remain closed until at least 2029, as the controversial redevelopment of Ontario Place drags on.
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This includes the latest plan to construct a new Ontario Science Centre that will incorporate the Cinesphere, after Queen’s Park abruptly closed the original Science Centre in the city’s northeast end in June, 2024, over concerns about the safety of its roof.
There are plenty of reasons to be frustrated, even infuriated, about the state of Ontario Place as a whole. Urgent concerns over the environmental impact, infrastructural legacy and economic sustainability of Queen’s Park’s plans for the area are all well justified. But for Canadian moviegoers, or anyone who values the art and innovation of the medium, the fate of the Cinesphere is particularly embarrassing.
The 19-metre-high Cinesphere was built to showcase the dynamic visual power of Imax technology, which was invented by Canadians Graeme Ferguson, Robert Kerr, William Shaw and Roman Kroitor.
Initially, the awe-inspiring size and scope of Imax cinema was limited to nature documentaries, which is why a good portion of today’s Imax 70mm screens were built as part of science centres or other educational hubs. But after Imax was acquired in 1994 by a team led by U.S. investor Richard Gelfond (now the corporation’s chief executive), Hollywood’s interest in the tech gradually increased. Today, the film industry’s top directorial talents – Nolan, Villeneuve, Ryan Coogler, Damien Chazelle, Greta Gerwig – are all Imax devotees.
The curved Imax movie screen of the Cinesphere during construction, April 20, 1971.JAMES LEWCUN/The Globe and Mail
So for the Cinesphere, ground zero of the Imax renaissance, to be gathering dust while the rest of the world embraces the technology with unprecedented zeal is more than a little awkward. It is a national shame.
To be clear: This is not an Imax problem, but one created by the Ontario government.
As with most Imax screens around the world, the Cinesphere is neither operated nor managed by the tech company. Instead, Imax’s trademark brand, technology, and equipment (including maintenance of projectors, sound system, etc.) are licensed by the exhibitor that owns the venue: the provincially controlled Ontario Place Corporation. As for the redevelopment of the building’s exterior and interior, an Imax representative said that the company is not even aware of how much that effort is costing.
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Asked for the specific dollar amount, Scott Clark, director of media and legislative affairs for the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Gaming, only noted that the entire contract to design, build, finance, and maintain a “new state-of-the-art Ontario Science Centre facility,” including the cost to renovate the Cinesphere, is $1.04-billion. (The previous iteration of the Ontario Science Centre included the Omnimax Theatre, but that venue’s Imax programming was limited to documentaries, and the auditorium is now permanently closed.)
Certainly, the Cinesphere was due for an upgrade. Aside from its grimy exterior, which calls to mind a postapocalyptic scene straight out of Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049, the seating was cramped and the amenities lacking.
And this isn’t the first time that the venue has sat empty. After the province closed most of the Ontario Place amusement park in 2012, the Cinesphere stayed dormant until 2017, when TIFF used the venue for a one-off screening of Nolan’s Second World War drama Dunkirk. Shortly afterward, Ontario Place Group began to offer semi-regular screenings of Hollywood fare, which soothed local cinephiles’ sore feelings over the five-year closing.
But an operational gap of at least seven years – a timeline that feels wildly optimistic given what we have already seen when it comes to Queen’s Park’s handling of Ontario Place – is inexcusable. Especially just as Imax-sized moviegoing grows more popular with each passing day.
In a way, the Cinesphere problem is not unlike the Cinerama drama that has unfolded in Los Angeles over the past six years. But even that infamous impasse – in which the owners of the historic Cinerama Dome in the heart of Hollywood kept the space’s doors closed from the start of the pandemic onward – was finally resolved last month, with Alamo Drafthouse Cinema announcing that it will lease, restore and reopen the venue, all within the next year and a half.
In Ontario, however, moviegoers can only stare at the calendar, our own odyssey far from over. Universal Pictures, which has produced and distributed Nolan’s past two films, recently reserved a theatrical placeholder release date of July 20, 2029, for an untitled film. This is very likely the director’s next project. Will the Cinesphere be open by then? Only the gods know.