New Bedford Whaling Museum has been quietly working on an exciting new upgrade to its facility.

The brand new equipment arrived on Johnny Cake Hill over the summer, and the technical team has spent the past month transitioning the theater into a 3D experience.

The theater at the museum has been closed since the end of July, and it reopened Wednesday, Director of Museum Experience and Community Engagement Jennifer Zanolli said.

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The official launch of SouthCoast's first and only 3D theater will happen Sept. 29 as the museum hosts the 2022 Manhatten Short Film Festival. The audience at the museum will "join more than 100,000 film lovers across 400 venues and six continents to simultaneously screen and vote on The Final Ten to select the Best Film and Best Actor awards."

Hosting the film festival is great, but what's more exciting is the launch of the 3D capability at the museum's theater. There is nothing else like it on the SouthCoast.

The new 3D experience is called Big Blue Pictures, and it features showings of two marine-themed films: Ocean's Our Blue Planet and Antarctica On the Edge. Zanolli tells us that these two films will be featured in the next year. In September 2023, the museum will bring in two new 20-minute films.

"This is a great opportunity to come back and refamiliarize yourself with the New Bedford Whaling Museum," Zanolli said. "It's a great new option that we have available for our guests. It gives you another lens to enjoy all that is on display."

The brand new immersive 3D experience has daily showings with a $5 admission and $3 for members.

Look Inside New Bedford's Abandoned Orpheum Theatre

New Bedford's Orpheum Theatre has been vacant for decades, but artifacts remain in place as an ode to its rich history. Let's go inside.

WARNING: Under no circumstances should you enter this property. By doing so you risk bodily harm and/or prosecution for trespassing on private property.

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