The Boeing IMAX, the only premium IMAX theater of its kind in the state, will not be showing theatrical films under new ownership. Instead, local film buffs’ worst fears have been realized: The only programming on the docket for the theater is a few short documentaries from IMAX and the Chihuly Glass Center, and ambiguous “content,” according to Ron Sevart, President and CEO at the Space Needle and Chihuly, which purchased the theater from the Pacific Science Center earlier this year.

“We weren’t looking to operate a theater,” said Sevart in an extensive interview with The Stranger. Instead of being a theater for movies, Sevart described the space as now being a place where they’ll show various “content” that will be determined more in the future. 

Locals, including a former employee of the Pacific Science Center who asked not to be named so as to speak freely about the theater without fear of retaliation, are concerned that this could make the space less of a communal arts space to go see movies and more an addition for existing tourism attractions.  

“They’re a tourist company, there’s not a lot of locals going to see the Space Needle,” the employee said. “They don’t have a super vested interest in the community.” (Sevart said he disagreed with that description and that he thinks people are reacting with excessive “fear” about the changes.)

To many local filmlovers who spoke to The Stranger, even calling it an IMAX theater feels like not only a misnomer when no features will show there, but a decision that will effectively kill the cultural value of the space for the film community. For Raul Lezcano, a local director and content creator who said he interviewed for a job under new ownership though didn’t get it, the decision to not play theatrical films after the purchase left him “flabbergasted.” 

“I wasn’t expecting the news to be the death of it. It sucks,” Lezcano said, arguing filmmakers, or IMAX themselves, ought to push back against the move. “I don’t understand how this can happen…this is the only [true] IMAX in the state.”

There is still no set opening date or ticketing information, said Sevart. However, Sevart did confirm to The Stranger that they intend to reopen in some fashion by the end of this month. 

“There’s about three million dollars that we’re investing back into the facility to get it back into shape and to make some concession improvements. Those concession improvements may take us all the way into June and potentially July,” Sevart said, warning that there will likely be some further construction even after reopening. 

So with them putting such a hefty chunk of change into it, would the Space Needle ever consider bringing theatrical movies back in some form further down the road after they reopen? Sevart said that their present agreement with IMAX leaves that door open for them, but that there is no work currently being done to do so. “We’re open to being educated over time, because it’s not a business that we understand. The one thing that we know is the historical way that it operated really wasn’t sustainable.”

When asked if they had hired any sort of programmer for the space, Sevart said he’d need to have that word described to him. When it was described to him, he didn’t provide a direct answer, but that he intends to share more information later this summer. 

“There’s a lot that we’re not talking about right now that we’re willing to do, but I think we can have a better conversation about that stuff after we talk to our partners,” Sevart said. “We really want to do things that the community is proud of.”

Proud is not the word that local filmlovers are using to describe how they’re feeling about the new direction of the space. Instead, they’ve been attempting to organize to ask new ownership not to abandon feature films. Their hope is that this could lead to at least some films still being shown going forward. 

“Hopefully public opinion can sway them,” Lezcano said, calling for other people to speak out. “That’s the only thing I could hope for.”