Provided by NBC Sports
The lighting of the Olympic torch will be treated to the big screen this summer, thanks to a new partnership between NBC and Imax.
The television network that broadcasts the Olympics will broadcast live coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympic Opening Ceremony on Friday, July 26th at IMAX facilities nationwide. This is a first for the Olympics and the film company.
The opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics is unique in another way. This is the first time the event will be held outside of a stadium. Instead, organizers have turned the Seine River, which runs through the heart of Paris, into a theatrical stage, with a four-mile-long flotilla of about 100 boats carrying hundreds of thousands of people from more than 200 countries. It will carry 1,000 players. of the audience. The journey takes viewers under the iconic Pont Austerlitz next to the Paris Botanical Gardens, before passing through central Paris and ending in front of the Trocadero, where the final part of the show takes place. IMAX will provide live coverage of the Opening Ceremony by NBC to more than 150 IMAX facilities across the United States.
Singer and talk show host Kelly Clarkson and two-time Super Bowl champion Peyton Manning are scheduled to co-host the Opening Ceremony coverage with NBC's Mike Tirico. NBCUniversal owns the U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games through 2032.
“We will bring the Opening Ceremony live to audiences in IMAX facilities across the country, and we are thrilled to announce that the world will come together to witness a great start to 16 days of great sport against the backdrop of one of the most beautiful cities in the world. We look forward to sharing this historic moment with the world,” said NBC Olympic Chairman Gary Zenkel.
“We're excited to expand NBC's coverage of the Opening Ceremony to IMAX theaters across the U.S. so fans can gather to watch the long-awaited and awe-inspiring start to the Paris Olympics in July,” said Rich Gelfond, CEO of IMAX. ” he said. .
NBC is working with movie theaters in other ways to reach Olympic audiences. It recently announced that it has partnered with AMC, the country's largest theater chain, to air selected coverage of the competition in approximately 160 movie theaters.
