The Milwaukee Public Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin has dropped their connection with IMAX for their dome theater, the Humphrey IMAX Dome Theater, and have changed the name of the theater as well.

The theater will now be known as the Daniel M. Soref National Geographic Dome Theater, which will focus on educational documentaries and planetarium shows. Currently playing at the theater are To the Arctic, Wildest Weather in the Solar System, and Flying Monsters 3D. The photo to the left was taken in 2010, so we'll need to get an updated photo to replace it.

An article published on jsonline.com on Friday quotes a Milwaukee Public Museum spokesperson about the switch in association from IMAX to National Geographic:

"The National Geographic films are made specifically for educational facilities like the museum. You won't see them on the National Geographic Channel," [museum spokeswoman Mary Bridges] said.

She added that although giant-screen films will continue to be shown at the venue, IMAX offerings will be less frequent.

"IMAX films are really getting commercial, and we are an educational entity," Bridges said.

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The dome theater broke ground in 1994 and opened in 1996. When IMAX increased their releases of converted mainstream movies, the museum's theater joined in, but the curvature of the dome theater distorted the picture, unlike the traditional flat IMAX screen installed at the AMC Mayfair Mall 18 in the Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin in 2009. In December of 2009, museum officials were beginning to debate the future of the IMAX theater, and now, three years later, we're seeing their answer.

Given that a museum's core pursuit is education, it makes sense for them to concentrate on educational movies. As IMAX chases box office receipts with even more mainstream movies, shifting to a company more in line with those educational goals is a good idea.

Photo above Copyright © 2010 SVJ Designs, LLC All Rights Reserved. Thanks to reader Ron H. for passing this information along!