The lighting of the Olympic torch will get the big screen treatment this summer thanks to a new partnership between NBC and Imax.
The television network, which broadcasts the games, will air its live coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony across Imax locations nationwide on Friday, July 26. It’s a first for the games and for the cinema company.
The Summer Olympic opening ceremony is unique in other ways. It’s the first such event to not be held in a stadium. Instead, organizers will turn the River Seine, which flows through the heart of Paris, into a theatrical stage, one on which a four-mile-long flotilla of nearly 100 boats will carry thousands of athletes from more than 200 countries past hundreds of thousands of spectators. This trip will take viewers under the iconic Austerlitz Bridge, beside the Jardin des Plantes, before crossing through central Paris and finishing in front of the Trocadéro, where the final parts of the show will take place. Imax will present NBC’s live coverage of the opening ceremony to more than 150 IMAX locations throughout the United States.
Singer and talk show host Kelly Clarkson and two-time Super Bowl champion Peyton Manning will join NBC’s Mike Tirico to host coverage of the Opening Ceremony. NBCUniversal owns the U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games through 2032.
“We look forward to providing our Opening Ceremony coverage to audiences at IMAX locations across the country, sharing in this historic moment as the world regathers to witness the spectacular beginning of 16 days of athletic greatness against the backdrop of one of the most beautiful cities in the world,” said Gary Zenkel, president of NBC Olympics.
“We are excited to extend NBC’s coverage of the Opening Ceremony to IMAX theatres across the U.S., allowing fans to gather and watch the highly-anticipated and awe-inspiring start to the Paris Olympic Games this July,” said Rich Gelfond, CEO of IMAX.
NBC is working with movie theaters in other ways as it looks to build an audience for the Olympics. It recently announced that it will team with AMC, the country’s largest theater chain, to air select coverage of the competitions at approximately 160 cinemas.
