Cinesphere to (temporarily, hopefully) Close

Oh, it’s a sad day for Toronto movie fans. The Ontario government has decided to shutter part of Ontario Place-the kind-of-odd Provincially-owned almost-an-amusement-park built on artificial islands on Toronto's waterfront-to save money on operating costs while the attraction undergoes $20 million worth of renovations. 

On the chopping block (for this year, at least) is the Cinesphere, famous for being the world’s first permanent IMAX theatre. The timing for this couldn’t be worse for movie fans: last year, both Ontario Place and the Cinesphere celebrated their 40^th anniversary and the Cinesphere received an upgrade which allowed it to play IMAX 3D films.

Trade Minister Allan Grossman and Premier William Davis tour Ontario Place in 1971
(Photo by David Davies, the Telegram)

Some parts of Ontario Place (like the Molson Amphitheatre) will remain open, but it just wouldn’t be the same without the IMAX documentaries (Hubble 3D, Blue Planet and Bugs! all played last year) that we’ve been seeing at Ontario Place since childhood. Hopefully, this closure will only be temporary and we’ll be back watching three-story high ants soon enough. (Further reports are claiming that it will close until at least 2017 so... not likely)

Find more of Sean Kelly's work on his excellent blog right here, and follow him on twitter by typing in @SKonMovies ! More of his stuff for thesubstream is right over yonder.