Coming March 13 to select IMAX ® and giant screen theaters
December 13, 2019 (Laguna Beach, CA) — MacGillivray Freeman Films and Oceanic Research Group Films today announced that Emmy® Award-winning actor Bryan Cranston will narrate the upcoming giant-screen documentary Ancient Caves. Produced with support from the Giant Dome Theater Consortium, the film will open worldwide in select IMAX® and giant screen theaters in science centers and museums starting March 13, 2020. The world premiere will be hosted by the Science Museum of Minnesota on March 4.
Ancient Caves brings science and adventure together as it follows paleoclimatologist Dr. Gina Moseley on a mission to unlock the secrets of the Earth’s climate in the most unlikely of places: caves. Moseley and her team of cave explorers travel the world exploring vast underground worlds in search of stalagmite samples – geologic “fingerprints” – that reveal clues about the planet’s climate history. Their quest leads them to some of the world’s most remote caves, both above and below the water, in France, Iceland, the Bahamas, the U.S. and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula where they study how rapidly Earth’s climate can change and how it has affected human civilization. Together, they go where very few humans will ever go, revealing the incredible lengths scientists will go to study the unknown.
Ancient Caves is directed by Emmy ® Award-winning underwater cinematographer Jonathan Bird, who has specialized in documentary and underwater film production for more than 30 years. With a beautiful orchestral score by Emmy® Award-winning composer Bruce Zimmerman, Ancient Caves will take audiences to enchanted places that few have ever seen. It is the first giant-screen production for Bird and Ocean Research Group Films.
“Bryan Cranston is a natural-born storyteller, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have his luminous voice lend depth and mystery to our story of cave science and exploration,” said director Jonathan Bird. “His remarkable talent will help us highlight the incredible achievements of our team of explorers as they search for clues hundreds of feet below the earth’s surface.”
“Ancient Caves takes audiences to some of the world’s most beautiful and hard-to-reach places, and Bryan Cranston brings a voice that is intense and captivating, which matches the spirit of the film perfectly,” said Patty Collins, Director of Global Sales at MacGillivray Freeman Films. “His rich narration will bring to life the stunning visuals that Jonathan Bird and his team have captured for the film.”
Bryan Cranston is an Academy Award® nominee, and Emmy®, Golden Globe, SAG, Tony® and Olivier Award winner. He was most recently seen on the big screen starring opposite Kevin Hart and Nicole Kidman in The Upside, which grossed over $120 million worldwide. Cranston recently wrapped production on Disney’s The One and Only Ivan starring opposite Helen Mirren, Angelina Jolie, Sam Rockwell, and Danny DeVito which will be released nationwide in August 2020.
On television, Cranston’s portrayal of Walter White on AMC’s Breaking Bad garnered him four Emmy® Awards, four SAG Awards and a Golden Globe Award. He holds the honor of being the first actor in a cable series and the second lead actor in the history of the Emmy® Awards to receive three consecutive wins. As a producer on Breaking Bad, Cranston won two Emmy® Awards and a Producers Guild of America (PGA) Award for “Outstanding Drama Series.”
Cranston is a longtime supporter of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, The Alzheimer’s Association, St. Jude’s Hospital, and many other leading nonprofit organizations.
Ancient Caves is a MacGillivray Freeman Films presentation of an Oceanic Research Group Films production with support from the Giant Dome Theater Consortium.
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About Oceanic Research Group
Oceanic Research Group, Inc. is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to the conservation of the oceans through education. It primarily produces educational content aimed at students and teachers. Founded in 1990 with a series of marine science films specifically for use in the classroom, the company has expanded into teacher education, scholarships and the Emmy® Award-winning marine science program Jonathan Bird’s Blue World, which began on public television and transitioned to YouTube in 2012. Ancient Caves is the second giant screen film from Oceanic Research Group’s film division, but the first for exhibition in IMAX and giant screen theaters. www.oceanicresearch.org www.blueworldTV.com
About MacGillivray Freeman Films
MacGillivray Freeman Films is the world’s foremost independent producer and distributor of giant-screen 70mm films with 45 films for IMAX ® and giant-screen theaters to its credit. Throughout the company’s 50-year history, its films have won numerous international awards including two Academy Award ® nominations and three films inducted into the IMAX Hall of Fame. MacGillivray Freeman’s films are known for their artistry and celebration of science and the natural world. It is the first documentary film company to reach the one-billion-dollar benchmark for worldwide box office. www.macgillivrayfreemanfilms.com
About the Giant Dome Theater Consortium
In 2010 the Giant Dome Theater Consortium was legally incorporated in the State of Minnesota to support the production of educational films for IMAX and other giant screen theaters. The consortium is an alliance of seven U.S. Science Museums all operating giant dome theaters like the IMAX Laser Dome Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The consortium members are the Science Museum of Minnesota, the St. Louis Science Center, the Cincinnati Museum Center, Boston Museum of Science, the Fleet Science Center in San Diego, Discovery Place in Charlotte, and the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science Industry in Chicago. The consortium has participated in the production of six giant screen films including National Parks Adventure released in conjunction with the Centennial Celebration of the National Park Service, and Tornado Alley that documented the largest coordinated assemblage of severe storm researchers supported by the National Science Foundation.
