City: Branson, MO

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (417) 335-4832, (800) 419-4832

Address: 3562 Shepherd of the Hills Expressway

Description: For the ultimate moviegoing experience, you should definitely check out the IMAX theater. With a six-story screen that projects an image ten times larger than standard 35 mm theaters, forty-four speakers with a combined total of 22,000 watts of digital surround sound, and a seating arrangement that puts you right in the middle of the action, IMAX is a movie buff’s dream. In 1997 the theater added a projector fitted with a special lens that made it possible to show 35 mm feature-length motion pictures. What an idea that was! Since then, IMAX has shown such first-run movies from Titanic and The Fellowship of the Ring to The Dark Knight and Slumdog Millionaire. The image area of the 35 mm films fills more than half of the IMAX screen and takes full advantage of the surround-sound system. New feature films arrive every few weeks. Showtimes range from 7 to 9 p.m. depending on the season. Tickets are $9 for adults, $6 for children 2 through 12, and free for children younger than two. The signature film shown throughout the year exclusively at the Branson IMAX Theater is called Ozarks Legacy & Legend. Directed by Academy Award–winning director Keith Merrill and produced for a mere $3 million (cheap by today’s titanic movie-making standards), the film tells the story of the fictional McFarlain family (after whom the complex’s full-service restaurant is named), who inhabited the Ozarks between 1824 and 1950. They experience the triumphs and tragedies of pioneer life in the Ozarks with a touch of humor and a great deal of faith. The beauty of the untamed Ozarks is captured extremely well in a number of memorable scenes. The camera takes viewers on a ride with the vigilante Bald Knobbers into the depths of an unexplored cave, aboard a flight on the first biplane in the Ozarks, and along for a chase involving a revenuer and a moonshiner. The Civil War battle scenes are meticulously re-created, right down to the last detail. (See the History chapter for more on the Civil War in the Ozarks.) All of this is underscored with original music and numerous realistic sound effects. Ozarks Legacy & Legend is presented a number of times each day. Films are shown on the hour, every hour, beginning at 9 a.m., seven days a week year-round. Ticket prices for the large-format IMAX films are $8.50 for adults and $4.95 for children four through twelve. Children younger than four get in free. Before or after the show you can pop into McFarlain’s Restaurant. They serve up good old-fashioned home-style meals and some of the best pie in town. (See the Restaurants chapter for more information.) The specialty shops at the IMAX complex offer everything from costume jewelry to grandfather clocks. There’s even a fudge shop that hands out free samples. (For more on the shops at IMAX, see the Shopping chapter.)