Actually, the french Panrama [1] invented by Philippe Jaulmes (1958) totally inspired the Imax Dome, after a demo the Expo'67 in Montreal [2].
The Panrama story is long, documents only in french, and I'm still learning bits. For la Géode, the Panrama team tried hard to make a deal to use their french-made tech, so they would have installed 4 smaller omni screens next to the big Imax dome. This was scrapped from the beginning, as la Géode was built on the Omnimax spec from the ground-up. The panrama team still managed to operate a 18m screen in Paris Montparnasse [3] (Espace Gaîté / now Théatre Rive Gauche), and there is one screen left fully equipped in Montpelier, but closed [4]. The Panrama tech was originally 16mm wide, then 35mm, and finally horizontal VistaVision 35mm.
[1] https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panrama [2] https://vimeo.com/199136507 [3] https://www.panrama.net/pages/histoire.html [4] https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4htqhr
the website says the geode closed down in 2018 for renovations. the website was last updated in 2022.
wikipedia says the geode is closed til september 2024 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_G%C3%A9ode.
what kinda shenangigans are going on there?
La Geode was an institutional place sold to the Pathé Gaumont cinema group in 2018. I got news in 2022 that the issue was that it's full of asbestos. I heard there is an ongoing legal procedural because it was not noticed in the contract..
I would really like to know more about what they are doing inside. I followed some architectural projects, and they might have removed the imax dome to operate a simpler wide screen + divided the place for others screens. So sad, it was one of the last omnispherical screen in France, there is only one left in Le Futuroscope.
French administration would be my first guess :)
More than fifty years ago a similar venue existed at Walt Disney World. It was a ride through a wrap-around ovoid. Very immersive.
30 years ago, la geode already existed in Paris : https://www.lageode.fr/
I got good memories of this as a kid, and if you are in the area, it's definitely a must-do in the city. Especially since it's attached to one of the most fun science museums you'll get to visit with a lot of interactive bits.
I do want to get into the sphere to experience what 3 decades of progress have given us.