IMAX brings CGI T-Rex to life on Victoria’s biggest screen

Among the largest creatures to ever walk the Earth, dinosaurs take over the big screen at the Royal BC Museum again this spring.

The king of dinosaurs takes centre stage when T.REX, the latest documentary from the team behind Dinosaurs Alive, Titans of the Ice Age, and Dinosaurs of Antarctica, opens at IMAX Victoria.

The film dives deep into the world of the planet’s most famous and fearsome dinosaur, following the remarkable real-life discovery of a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton in the rocky badlands of North Dakota by three young boys – a fantasy come true, according to director Dave Clark.

“Telling the story of these boys’ find was particularly exciting because of the serendipity of our film crew being with them at the moment of discovery and throughout the excavation. Dinosaur digs are typically documented from fragments of footage and some recreations, but in this case our cameras were there from start to finish,” he says in an interview posted online.

As the boys’ dinosaur is excavated, the film traces T-Rex’s life history in super realistic computer graphic imagery – bringing dinosaurs back to life as we follow vulnerable baby “rexlings,” teenage hunters, and an adult T-Rex encounter with a formidable Triceratops.

“Our cameras explore numerous mounted T-Rex skeletons at museums around the country and explain new insights being gained from new fossils and new tools to understand them,” Clark says.

Audiences journey into the Cretaceous period, brought to life by the latest advancements in computer-generated imagery technology and breakthroughs in tyrannosaur paleontology.

With expert insights from paleontologists, the film brings audiences face-to-face with T-Rex and other carnivorous animals on the big screen, showcasing the fascinating interplay between speculation and scientific evidence. Narrated by Jurassic Park actor Sam Neill, viewers get a firsthand look at how decades of paleontological research and new fossil finds have revolutionized the way we think about these ancient giants.

Tickets, for both two- and three-dimensional screenings, are available at imaxvictoria.com.