Suozzi Announces Long Island's Only IMAX to Show First-Run Feature Films

IMAX, Housed at Cradle of Aviation, to Show Films at Night In Effort to Maximize Museum’s Facilities

Garden City, N.Y. – Nassau County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi today announced that Long Island’s only IMAX Theater, housed at the Cradle of Aviation Museum, will for the first time show first-run, feature-length movies at night. The move is part of a push by Suozzi and the Cradle to attract more visitors to the museum, and to Museum Row.

“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” is slated to be the theater’s initial first-run feature, shown the very minute the film opens nation-wide – midnight, July 11 – and is scheduled to run through October 4. As a dry run, the 300-seat IMAX Theater will show “Night at the Museum,” the Ben Stiller hit released last December, from June 29 to July 10. A special tour of the Cradle – with characters coming to life – will be included in selected showings of “Night at the Museum.”

“Showing first-run movies in this state-of-the-art theater – the only IMAX on Long Island – will just enhance an already vital part of the County’s cultural life,” Suozzi said. “The Cradle is a wonderful educational and entertainment resource, and we’re making the most of it.”

“We are so excited that the new Harry Potter movie will be kicking off this exciting initiative at the Cradle,” said Todd Richman, chairman of the Cradle of Aviation’s board. “And we thank the County for its on-going support. Showing first-run Hollywood films in our IMAX Theater makes the Cradle and Museum Row an even more attractive destination for families.”

Box-office proceeds will help fund Cradle operations. The Cradle of Aviation Museum’s ten permanent exhibits chart the history of flight, from the early days of kites and hot-air balloons, through flight’s Golden Age in the early 20th century, to the race to the moon – and beyond. It also spotlights Long Island’s crucial role in the history of aviation. The Cradle is a key attraction on Museum Row, on Charles Lindberg Blvd. in Garden City, which also includes the Long Island Children’s Museum and the Nassau County Firefighters Museum.