Movie spat at Canyon

Movie spat at Canyon Visitors headed to the Grand Canyon can pay about $14 apiece to see a 34-minute movie at the National Geographic IMAX theater in Tusayan that takes them gliding along the Colorado River, boating with a lookalike of John Wesley Powell, and flying near to canyon walls. Some local hiking guides expressed disappointment when the Park Service said in 2009 that they'd have to compete with international visitors for backpacking permits, taking away an insider advantage for the professional guides. And some mule wranglers were displeased early last year when the Park Service cut more than half of their trips into the Grand Canyon, citing trail erosion. Air-tour companies have found sponsors for bills this year to head off some possible restrictions on when, where and how much they can fly. "That would be a $2 million capital expenditure for my company!" Perkins wrote in a letter. The Park Service should pay IMAX no heed, said Roger Clark, of the Grand Canyon Trust. The movie shows a geologist rappelling, boaters riding the Colorado River, and the development of the Grand Canyon over time through digital animation. 12 MILLION VIEWERS In the case of this film, the National Geographic facility supplies a large-format film with booming sound in its Tusayan building, which has been showing the film for about 25 years. Steve Martin, the park's former superintendent, said opposition from water bottle distributor Coca Cola was behind the on-again, off-again rule; the Park Service denied that. Destination Cinema Inc. Last year was the first the Park Service started running its film. Martin,, the previous superintendent, pledged to shorten the film to 15 minutes after requests from the IMAX theater, but the Park Service later decided it won't be doing that, either. "My review and assessment of that is that it would just take away so much from the film," Uberuaga said. A producer and director named Joshua Colover with a film studio out of Newport Beach, Calif. Peter Coyote narrates, as a camera pulls back from some hikers headed down a ridge, until the hikers become small and faraway. At stake was a business employing 100 that has shown a film to about 12 million tourists, the company's CEO wrote. He told the Park Service he lost about $500,000 last year when some visitors didn't view the IMAX film. "We are concerned that the National Park Services is about to enter the marketplace with a film product who will compete directly with ours and at no cost to the customer, putting our business at a distinct disadvantage," Destination Cinema Chief Executive Officer Bob Perkins wrote to U. A decision to ban the sale of plastic water bottles in Grand Canyon Village (amid installation of more places to fill re-usable bottles), was met with denial at higher levels of the Park Service a couple years ago, then ultimately approved. This new film is a problem, a Tusayan business owner has told the Park Service, and he has asked the federal agency to shorten the park's film to 12 or 13 minutes and change it. Grand Canyon was remiss in not having one all these years," he said. SEEKING AN EDGE When it comes to national parks, commercial interests have perennially tried to gain an edge, and this year at the Grand Canyon is not so different. Movie spat at Canyon Trade News selected by Local Linkup on 01/04/2012