The Natural History Museum’s Ddinosaur exhibit. Photo by Victoria Pickering

One of the area’s most spectacular moviegoing experiences is about to go the way of the dinosaur. But a group of documentary filmmakers is not letting it go down without a fight.

This fall, the Smithsonian plans to demolish the Samuel C. Johnson IMAX Theater at the National Museum of Natural History in order to make space for an expanded cafeteria.

Currently, the theater’s massive screen, six stories high, offers immersive 3-D experiences like Dinosaurs Alive, a 40-minute documentary that makes paleontology, well, come alive. While the film’s depiction of field expeditions in New Mexico’s fabled Ghost Ranch may seem like dry science on a small screen (or smartphone), the IMAX format immerses you in the scientists’ work, and CGI renditions of dinosaurs in battle come off as more exciting than most blockbusters.

Jonathan Barker of SK Films and Producer of Amazon Adventure 3D and Flight of the Butterflies, is one of the filmmakers who provides such films to the museum-going public, and he and his colleagues have organized to form Save Our IMAX to help get the word out about the importance of this venue.

Barker told DCist that the Smithsonian has no plans to move natural history film programming to another museum auditorium. Furthermore, the decision to close the Johnson IMAX theater, which opened in 1999, was made without public input.

According to Barker, the plan to tear down the theater indicates skewed priorities for the Smithsonian. “It’s a publicly funded institution with a mandate and mission—and that mandate and mission isn’t to sell hamburgers. It’s to inspire and educate the public about the world we live in.”

Is there anything they can do about it?

“Our number one hope is that we can influence the museum and its board of advisors,” says Barker”” but they’re already made their decision. I’m not so optimistic that they’re going to get a letter from us and change their mind.”

A spokesperson for the Smithsonian says the decision wasn’t made just to expand cafeteria seating. “It was a museum decision to make other use of the space for future museum programming,” Linda St.Thomas told DCist. “There are tentative plans to offer some natural history themed films at the Air and Space location as the schedule permits.”

Meanwhile, the organizers of Save Our IMAX remain optimistic that the Smithsonian may reverse course as the public is made increasingly aware of their cause.

For now, the theater’s last date of operation is September 30. If you haven’t seen a movie on its 66-foot high screen, you have until then to experience one of the area’s great cultural spectacles.

This post has been updated.

The Samuel C. Johnson IMAX Theater is, for now, at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, 10th St NW & Constitution Avenue Northwest, Washington, DC 20002