NORWALK, CT – Jean-Michel Cousteau knows sharks, and a new IMAX® movie he’s presenting at The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk confirms that sharks are as awesome as we think.
But the film, “Sharks,” also warns that the oceans’ top predators are horribly misunderstood and paying a deadly price for their reputation.
Cousteau, from the famous family of ocean explorers and defenders, invites Aquarium audiences to dive into “Sharks,” which will play at 1 & 3 p.m. daily from Jan. 18 through June 20 in Connecticut’s largest IMAX movie theater, with a screen that’s six stories high.
“The minute I saw the amazing footage, I knew I had to be involved with this IMAX theater documentary,” Cousteau said in the film’s media materials. “To inspire and educate people to act responsibly in order to ensure the preservations of the world’s oceans is a mission the film and I have long shared.”
(Cousteau will talk about threats facing the oceans during a May 20 appearance at The Maritime Aquarium. Get tickets at www.maritimeaquarium.org or call 203-852-0700, ext. 2206.)
Jack Schneider, the Aquarium’s curator of animals, likes how “Sharks” explains the creatures’ necessary and historic role in the ocean food chain, and also addresses drastic declines in many species’ populations.
“It’s important that we stop seeing sharks as blood-thirsty marauders, and understand that sharks are essential to the survival of the oceans,” Schneider said. “The film also does a nice job of presenting a number of different shark species with varying adaptations. And IMAX offers the best way to see these animals without having to swim in the water next to them.”
IMAX is the world’s largest film format. Outstanding image clarity and the enormous screen size, combined with The Maritime Aquarium’s 12,000-watt surround-sound audio system, result in an immersive thrill that’s so unique it’s been trademarked: “IMAX is Believing®.”
This film will be a perfect companion to the Aquarium’s new Sharks & Rays gallery, with its big Shark & Ray Touch Pool, and the Open Ocean exhibit, with its sand tiger sharks – a species also featured onscreen.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune said “Sharks” “certainly doesn’t have the ‘fearsome denizen of the deep’ tone usually found in movies about sharks.” And a Dallas Morning News critic wrote that director Jean-Jacques Mantello “gets you so close to these creatures, you’ll feel like fending them off with your hands.”
“Sharks” is 42 minutes long. Also showing in The Maritime Aquarium’s IMAX Theater from Jan. 18-June 20 are “The Last Reef” at 11 a.m. & 2 p.m. and “Born to Be Wild” at noon & 4 p.m.
Tickets for an IMAX movie are $9.50 for adults, $8.50 for seniors 65+ and $7 for children age 2-12. Maritime Aquarium members receive $2 discounts. To include a visit into The Maritime Aquarium with an IMAX film, tickets are $24.95 for adults, $22.95 for both youths (ages 13-17) & seniors (65+), and $17.95 for children (2-12).
For tickets or more details, including more information about the May 20 lecture by Jean-Michel Cousteau, go to www.maritimeaquarium.org or call (203) 852-0700, ext. 2206.