Across the three most recent Sundance Film Festivals with published attendance reports, an average of 81,712 people attended in person each year. The festival’s final Utah edition earlier this year screened 151 feature-length, episodic and short projects over 11 days . Put another way, a typical recent Sundance involves roughly 163,400 ears listening to film audio and nearly 136,700 occasions when somebody needs a seat to plop their butt during a screening.
These big numbers will meet Boulder, whose venues were built for high school plays, choral concerts and lectures rather than the nation’s largest independent film festival. Sundance is explicitly expanding its program for its Boulder debut in January, increasing each of its four central competition sections to 12 films alongside broader slates for Premieres, NEXT, Midnight and live offscreen events.
Out of the 11 primary screening venues on the 2027 festival map, only three regularly screen films.
Before Sundance can aim for a successful launch in January, festival organizers and local partners are executing a citywide technical retrofit, replacing theater seats dating back to the 1980s, hanging dozens of cinema surround speakers and even swapping out stained-glass windows so new projection beams can pass through cleanly.
Holden Payne, Sundance’s director of technical exhibition, called the move “an opportunity for technical evolution, with targeted upgrades” that will leave several local spaces with long-term improvements long after the credits roll.
Physical accessibility is receiving a parallel boost, with Sundance director of production and operations Kristin Nolan noting that venue owners are installing varied accessible seating options, restroom upgrades, stage access for filmmakers and upgraded in-theater accessibility equipment for the 2027 festival and beyond.
From 40 new speakers at eTown to fresh cupholders at the Roe Green Theatre, the venue-by-venue breakdown shows how Boulder’s civic spaces are transforming ahead of opening night.
Boulder Theater
PURPOSE: Theater
UPGRADES: Sound system, film screen
The Boulder Theater’s current Art Deco incarnation opened in 1936 as a movie house, although entertainment on the site dates to the Curran Opera House in 1906. Its neon marquee and Art Deco interior eventually became more closely associated with concerts, hosting performers ranging from Johnny Cash to The Black Keys. Sundance, in a July 21 profile of the venue, framed its 2027 conversion as a return to a building where film was part of the original identity.
For Sundance, the theater is getting a new cinema sound system and a new movie screen.
“We have a great sound system for live music, but what’s being installed is new cinema sound and a new screen,” Cheryl Liguori, CEO of Z2 Entertainment, which operates the theater, told Sundance in the July profile. She described the work as combining the existing venue with “the best sound and projection for film that exists today.”
Liguori also pointed to the building’s original purpose. “Film is in our DNA because it was a film house,” she said.
Macky Auditorium
PURPOSE: Theater
UPGRADES: Sound system, speakers, acoustic treatments, film screen, digital projection box, lighting improvements and accessible amenities
Completed in 1922 after 13 years of construction and legal delays, Macky Auditorium is CU Boulder’s largest indoor concert hall, a Neo-Gothic landmark with sandstone walls, red tile, two large towers and a history of hosting figures including Eleanor Roosevelt and the Dalai Lama. Sundance released in an Aug. 14 profile that the auditorium will add film premieres to itslegacy.
The transition requires building a cinema setup into a room designed around live performance. Zack Tupperc, CU Boulder’s assistant vice provost for academic resource management, told Sundance that Macky and Roe Green Theatre required creating a Dolby Atmos — a fully immersive, 3D listening experience — “from scratch.”
CU detailed that work in April. Macky is getting a cutting-edge sound system, which offers a high level of detail and clarity. The system can switch between Dolby Atmos for film and enhanced sound for concerts and other performances. New speakers are being installed throughout the auditorium and around the ceiling, along with removable acoustic panels and a new movie screen. A digital projection booth will be added to the balcony. The project also includes lighting improvements, a ramp to the stage and accessible seating on the lower and balcony levels.
Muenzinger Auditorium
PURPOSE: Theater
UPGRADES: Sound system, speakers, film screen
Muenzinger Auditorium enters Sundance with the most film experience of CU Boulder’s three screening venues. The 400-seat auditorium is home to the International Film Series, which has presented films on campus since 1941. Sundance highlights that history, with Tupper saying Muenzinger had “historically been a screening venue” and therefore required less work than Macky and Roe Green.
Before the renovation, Muenzinger used a curved wall coated with movie-screen paint, while speakers had to be physically wheeled into place for screenings. CU announced in April that the Sundance project would add speaker arrays along the walls and install a new screen that creates space for new speakers behind it and Dolby Atmos immersive sound. The work also includes new accessible seating.
The International Film Series already puts the room through a substantial movie workload, drawing more than 3,000 students and community members to about 60 films and several panels each semester, according to CU. The upgraded screen and sound system are currently in use.
Roe Green Theatre
PURPOSE: Theater
UPGRADES: Sound system, speakers, film screen, digital projection box, seats, accessible amenities
Roe Green Theatre is one of CU Boulder’s primary spaces for theater and dance, and it already underwent a major renovation before Sundance entered the picture. A 2023 project improved the room’s acoustics, stage lighting, speaker placement and air-handling system, including a near-silent HVAC system designed to avoid disrupting live performances.
In an August profile, Sundance grouped Roe Green with Macky as spaces where CU Boulder is creating a Dolby Atmos cinema experience “from scratch.”
CU noted in April that the theater is slated for Dolby Atmos and new ceiling speakers, a projection hush box and a new screen. A ramp will provide access to the stage, new carpet is being installed, and its seats — dating to the 1980s — are being replaced with state-of-the-art theater seats, complete with drink holders. Work is scheduled to wrap in October.
Old Main
PURPOSE: Talks, festival programming
UPGRADES: None
Completed in 1876, the same year Colorado became a state, Old Main is the university’s very first building, housing all classes, the library and the president’s living quarters, according to CU. The building now houses the Chapel Theatre and other university spaces. Sundance noted that Old Main’s history of lectures, performances and public gatherings makes it a fitting home for Sundance conversations and storytelling, which is exactly what the venue will be used for.
In April, CU said that no Sundance-related upgrades are planned for Old Main this year.
Boedecker Theater
PURPOSE: Theater
UPGRADES: Film screen
The Boedecker Theater already functions as an independent cinema and regularly screens films with Sundance connections. Documentaries make up roughly 40% of the theater’s regular programming, according to Sundance.
The theater is getting a new screen with smaller perforations, Dairy Arts Center Executive Director Melissa Fathman csaid in an interview with the Daily Camera. Speakers sit behind the screen, she said, so the material contains tiny openings that allow sound to pass through.
“The smaller those holes are, the better the picture quality, so we’re getting smaller holes,” Fathman said.
The Dairy Arts Center will also serve as the primary home of New Frontier, Sundance’s returning program for experimental work that fuses film, art and technology. The building began as a milk-processing facility before local artists converted it into an arts center now used by as many as 150 organizations each year for film, visual art, dance, music and theater.
Gordon Gamm Theater
PURPOSE: Theater
UPGRADES: Mobile projector, speakers, acoustic treatments, seats
The Gordon Gamm Theater normally hosts live theater and dance, so for Sundance, the space inside the Dairy Arts Center is installing a new projector on a trolley so technicians can move it to make way for live performances, Fathman told the Daily Camera.
Multiple speakers are being added throughout the theater, along with acoustic treatments on the wall that’s shared with neighboring Grace Gamm Theater to reduce sound bleed. The Dairy is also replacing Gordon Gamm’s roughly 20-year-old seats.
Gordon Gamm will join the Boedecker as part of the Dairy’s larger Sundance footprint, including its role as the primary home for New Frontier. Sundance said in August that the Dairy’s mix art programming helped make the center a natural match for the experimental program.
The volume of festival traffic, however, also presents a food-and-drink logistics problem.
“We’re also figuring out how to quickly serve popcorn and drinks to 15,000 people,” Fathman said.
eTown Hall
PURPOSE: Theater, festival programming
UPGRADES: Projector, window upgrades, film screen, sound system, speakers and amplifiers
eTown Hall occupies a former downtown church that was converted into a live music venue, recording studio and community center after eTown purchased the building in 2008. The organization completed its renovation and opened the hall in 2012, retaining pieces of the building’s architecture while rebuilding it around recording, performance and energy-efficiency systems.
The hall will host both film screenings and festival programming.
The venue’s conversion for film has required working around one of those preserved architectural details. Sundance’s production company installed a new projector, but a round stained-glass window sat directly behind the projection booth. The window was removed and rebuilt with optical glass in its center so the projector could shine through it, eTown Marketing and Communications Manager Chris Coomey told the Daily Camera.
A new perforated movie screen is also being installed. Sundance is augmenting eTown’s existing sound system with full Dolby Atmos, including 40 new speakers and six amplifiers, Coomey said.
Chautauqua Auditorium
PURPOSE: Theater
UPGRADES: Winterization including insulation, radiant floors and removable insulated wall panels
Built in 1898 at the base of the Flatirons, Chautauqua Auditorium is an all-wooden, open-air National Historic Landmark that has operated primarily as a warm-weather performance venue.
Before it was announced as a Sundance venue, the Colorado Chautauqua Association began a broader project to turn the auditorium into a year-round performance space. Chautauqua said the work will add more than 200 potential programming days each year while preserving the historic building. The winterization plan includes additional insulation, radiant floors powered by a geothermal system and removable insulated wall panels that can be taken down during warmer months.
Jason Hill, chief operating officer for the Colorado Chautauqua Association, told the Daily Camera that the project remains on schedule and its scope has not materially changed.
Between now and mid-December, crews will finish the basement buildout and interior work, begin work on the geothermal bore field and integrate the mechanical systems, Hill said. Final inspections, testing and commissioning of the mechanical systems and production equipment are expected by mid-December.
The Auditorium is scheduled to begin its new year-round operation with Sundance in January.
Boulder High School Auditorium
PURPOSE: Theater
UPGRADES: Carpet, lighting, projection screen, projector, paint, accessibility upgrades, seats
Founded in 1875, Boulder High School is one of the oldest public high schools in Colorado. It already has film festival experience as a longtime venue for Boulder International Film Festival.
Much of the auditorium work predates Sundance’s February announcement that Boulder High would become a festival theater. BVSD began designing the larger bond project in 2024 and launched construction in 2025 using money from the district’s voter-approved 2022 bond.
The first summer of auditorium work included new carpet on both levels, LED house and stage lighting, a new projection screen and projector, additional storage and new paint, according to BVSD construction documents.
This summer, the district completed an accessibility upgrade in the auditorium. New seats were delayed, and BVSD’s August update said they still needed to be installed.
Sundance has connected the school work to its larger goal of improving the audience experience. In the festival’s Aug. 14 profile, BVSD Executive Director of Bond Planning and Construction Kris Stoppenhagen said the district was focused on bringing in modern technology while improving accessibility and preserving Boulder High’s historic character.
Casey Middle School Auditorium
PURPOSE: Theater
UPGRADES: Mechanical and electrical systems, accessibility, seating, windows and plumbing
Casey Middle School combines a newer campus with pieces of a much older one. Sundance noted in its Aug. 14 venue profile that an early-2010s redesign preserved two exterior walls from the original 1924 school while creating a modern facility designed for LEED Platinum certification.
The auditorium will host Sundance premieres and screenings in January.
Sundance said in August that BVSD is making improvements across its festival campuses to mechanical and electrical systems, accessibility, seating, windows and plumbing. BVSD separately completed upgrades to Casey’s auditorium HVAC components and controls in summer 2025 as part of its 2022 bond program, before the school was announced as a Sundance venue.
Canyon Theater
PURPOSE: Talks, festival programming
UPGRADES: Calibrate sound to cinema standards
Canyon Theater at the Boulder Public Library will host Sundance talks and other festival programming rather than serving as one of the 11 screening theaters. from February shows that Sundance discussed using the theater before it was announced as a venue; its plans included renting the space for roughly two weeks surrounding the festival and providing its own theater technicians.
The library is not planning a major physical or technical renovation specifically for Sundance, Communications Director Maria Tormos told the Daily Camera. Before festival preparations began, Canyon Theater’s sound had already been upgraded to a system that pairs a sharp picture setup with movie-theater surround sound.
Sundance will instead work with the library to calibrate the theater to Dolby cinema standards, Tormos said.
Cinemark Century Boulder
PURPOSE: Theater, press and industry screening venue
UPGRADES: Spotlights, electrical work
Cinemark Century Boulder is the only conventional commercial multiplex in Sundance’s Boulder lineup and will serve a specialized role rather than operating as one of the primary public festival theaters. Sundance announced in July that the Twenty Ninth Street multiplex will host press and industry screenings from Jan. 21 through Jan. 27, followed by repeat press and industry screenings on Jan. 28 and Jan. 29.
Because Cinemark already screens movies, Sundance’s work is focused on installing in-house spotlights for film introductions and post-screening Q&As, along with the electrical runs needed to support them, Nolan told the Daily Camera.
Cinemark has separately replaced screens and projectors at the theater as part of its own work. Nolan said those improvements will benefit Sundance audiences and the multiplex’s regular filmgoers.
Read more Renck: Broncos’ Bo Nix will meet the moment on Monday night against Chiefs
