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{{Short description|1976 IMAX film by MacGillivray Freeman Films}}
{{Redirect|To Fly|the album|To Fly to Steal{{!}}''To Fly to Steal''}}
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{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Use American English|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = To Fly!
| image          = To Fly (1976 short film).jpg
| alt            = A hot-air balloon, hang-glider, and rocket above a forested rocky terrain. The tagline is "Go where dreams have wings."
| caption        = 2013 theatrical release poster
| director       = {{plainlist|
* [[Greg MacGillivray]]
* Jim Freeman
}}
| producer       = {{plainlist|
* Greg MacGillivray
* Jim Freeman
}}
| writer         = {{plainlist|
* [[Francis Thompson (film director)|Francis Thompson]]
* Greg MacGillivray
* Jim Freeman
* [[Robert M. Young (film director)|Robert M. Young]]
* [[Arthur Zegart]]
* [[Thomas McGrath (poet)|Thomas McGrath]]
}}
| starring       = [[Peter Walker (actor)|Peter Walker]]
| cinematography = {{plainlist|
* Greg MacGillivray
* Jim Freeman
}}
| music          = [[Bernardo Segall]]
| editing        = {{plainlist|
* Greg MacGillivray
* Jim Freeman
}}
| studio         = {{plainlist|
* [[MacGillivray Freeman Films]]
* Francis Thompson, Inc.
}}
| distributor    = {{plainlist|
* Lawrence Associates
* [[Conoco]]
}}
| released       = {{Film date|1976|7|1}}
| runtime        = 27 minutes{{Efn-la|Several sources misstated the running time by a few minutes<ref name=":18" /><ref name="Montreal" /><ref name="Chernitsky">{{Cite news|last=Chernitsky|first=Tom|date=May 4, 1977|title=Cedar Point premieres breath-taking new film|page=12|work=[[Elyria, Ohio|Elyria]] Chronicle Telegram|publisher=Lorain County Printing and Publishing Company|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/elyria-chronicle-telegram-may-14-1977-p-12/|url-access=subscription|access-date=December 8, 2021|via=[[NewspaperArchive]]|archive-date=December 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208064214/https://newspaperarchive.com/elyria-chronicle-telegram-may-14-1977-p-12/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":44" />}}
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = [[US$]]590,000
| gross          = $135 million
}}

'''''To Fly!''''' is a 1976 American [[Short film|short]] [[docudrama]] film directed by [[Greg MacGillivray]] and Jim Freeman of [[MacGillivray Freeman Films]], who wrote the story with [[Francis Thompson (film director)|Francis Thompson]], [[Robert M. Young (film director)|Robert M. Young]], and [[Arthur Zegart]]. It premiered at the giant-screen [[IMAX]] theater of the [[National Air and Space Museum]], which opened to celebrate the [[United States Bicentennial]]. The film chronicles the [[history of aviation]] in the US, with a narration written by [[Thomas McGrath (poet)|Thomas McGrath]]. Thematically, it explores the search for [[national identity]] through the country's [[westward expansion]] as well as humanity's relationship with aviation.

The idea of the film was proposed in 1970 and revisited two years later following the museum's interest in an IMAX theater for the planned building. MacGillivray and Freeman expanded a [[Film treatment|treatment]] written by the [[Smithsonian Institution]] and Thompson, adding various scenes in the [[storyboard]] intended to jolt IMAX audiences. Due to the large dimensions of the screens, the filmmakers aimed for immersion and clarity via novel cinematographic techniques. This was further enhanced by the [[surround sound]] design. The ending space sequence, featuring the first IMAX rocket launch scene, was made with various experimental [[special effects]]. The film was edited by MacGillivray and Freeman, and features a [[Film score|score]] composed by [[Bernardo Segall]]. It was finished on schedule in two years, with a low [[US$]]590,000 fund from [[Conoco]].

''To Fly!'' was released on July 1, 1976, distributed by Lawrence Associates and Conoco. It was initially scheduled to screen only for the Bicentennial, but due to public demand was kept indefinitely. In response to these demands, a 20th-anniversary [[special edition]] was released in 1996. The film led to an increase in the number of IMAX theaters worldwide and helped popularizing the nascent format, with various intense reactions observed among audiences, and was thus included in the [[National Film Registry]] and IMAX Hall of Fame. It also set MacGillivray as a major IMAX filmmaker. With increasing popularity, ''To Fly!'' remained among the [[List of highest-grossing documentary films|highest-grossing giant-screen documentaries]]. Critics praised the film in its audiovisual and narrative aspects—though some were negative on the latter—and it received several accolades.

== Summary ==
''To Fly!'' begins in [[Vermont]]<ref name=":18" /> on July 4, 1831. After reciting a zestful [[quatrain]] declaring himself a pioneer, a fictional hot air balloonist named Ezekiel ascends on a voyage around [[New England]].<ref name=":47" /> Spectators below look at the balloon in awe and surprise. Ezekiel sees a canoeist heading to whitewater at [[Horseshoe Falls]] and warns him to shore to avoid the rapid.

The film then chronicles the [[history of aviation]], beginning with hot air balloons. Its advent is described by the narrator as "like the opening of a new eye", allowing humans to reach untouched places and extend their limits, furthering their perspectives about the world. Despite this, the majority of Americans still used [[Horse-drawn vehicle|horses]]; for speedier travel, trains were invented, then cars and powered aircraft. The [[Roaring Twenties]] saw the rise of [[barnstorming]], expanding access to aviation among Americans. As part of [[Jet Age|diversifying aviation]], military jets were created, thereupon forming [[aerobatic]] teams like the [[Blue Angels]]. The use of [[jetliners]] made travel faster, and the American territory [[Territorial evolution of the United States|expanded]] beyond the [[mainland United States|mainland]]. Then, [[ultralight aviation]] was invented.

After describing the human imagination as limitless due to a philosophical awakening from the aerial view of the world, ''To Fly!'' lastly depicts the [[Saturn IB]] rocket launch for the [[Apollo–Soyuz]] mission<ref name=":8">{{Cite magazine|last1=MacGillivray|first1=Greg|author-link=Greg MacGillivray|last2=Freeman|first2=Jim|date=July 4, 1976|title=Producing the IMAX Motion Picture: 'To Fly'|magazine=[[American Cinematographer]]|location=[[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]]|volume=57|issue=7|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/196332360|id={{ProQuest|196332360}} |via=[[ProQuest]]|url-access=subscription}}</ref> at the [[Kennedy Space Center]] on July 15, 1975.<ref>{{Cite web|date=March 19, 2010|title=The Apollo-Soyuz Mission|url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo-soyuz/astp_mission.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210823001915/https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo-soyuz/astp_mission.html|archive-date=August 23, 2021|access-date=August 23, 2021|publisher=[[NASA]]|quote=The Saturn IB rocket lifts off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 15, 1975...}}</ref> Dubbing spaceflight a globally historical feat, the film suggests it can be used in finding [[extraterrestrial intelligence]]. The film ends with the narration:<ref name="MFF" />

{{blockquote|We have come a long way from the time when people gazed enviously upon the birds in-flight. Today, we look upon our planet from afar, and feel a new tenderness for the tiny and fragile Earth. For we know now, that even as we walk upon the ground, we are [[Earth's orbit|ever in-flight through the universe]]. And so, we begin to realize that human destiny has ever been, and always must be, to fly!}}

==Production==

=== Background ===
[[File:Report_"US_NMNH_Evaluation_and_Recommendations_-_Museum_Planning,_1970.".jpg|alt=A sketch of a building with a screen showing footage of fauna|thumb|Illustration of a proposed [[IMAX]]-decorated [[Rotunda (architecture)|rotunda]] at the [[National Museum of Natural History]]; this was canceled for an IMAX theater at the [[National Air and Space Museum]].]]

The [[Smithsonian Institution]] made efforts starting in 1911 to modernize its museums with multimedia content, though this only accelerated since the 1960s. The idea of a giant-screen theater at the [[National Air and Space Museum]] (NASM) was mooted in 1970 in a 153-page report by the [[National Museum of Natural History]]'s (NMNH) curator team, which argued the museum needed a "contemporary medium of communications" that will resonate intellectually and psychologically. It suggested an experiential film that would showcase the American landscape and the country's introduction to technology, ending with predictions of the country's future.<ref name=":16" />{{Rp|198, 204, 219}} Among these giant-screen film formats was [[IMAX]], characterized by its tall screen which fills the audiences' [[peripheral vision]], triggering immersive [[telepresence]] which creates the illusion of being present within the film's setting.<ref name=":42">{{Cite book |last=Seel |first=Peter B. |title=Digital Technology and the Future of Broadcasting: Global Perspectives |date=July 16, 2015 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1138891227 |editor-last=Pavlik |editor-first=John V. |editor-link=John V. Pavlik |page=6 |chapter=Telepresence and Immersion with Ultra-High-Definition Digital Displays: Background and Future Directions for Research}}</ref> The NMNH proposed a panoramic, curved IMAX screen that envelops its [[Rotunda (architecture)|rotunda]], but this was discarded.<ref name=":16" />{{Rp|222}}

In 1972, the deputy director of the Smithsonian, [[Melvin B. Zisfein]], wrote a memo praising IMAX over other giant-screen formats like [[Cinerama]] and [[Circle-Vision 360°]], and suggested making an IMAX film for the NASM. Several [[film treatment]]s were written, the first titled "The Beautiful Mysteries of Flight", though all were rejected.{{Efn|Other treatments include "Flying For Fun" (rejected as only catering to enthusiasts), "The Evolution of Flight" (rejected for excessive animation), "To the Stars and Beyond" (rejected for its monotony), and "Speed".<ref name=":16" />{{Rp|324}}}}<ref name=":16" />{{Rp|224–225}} A year later, IMAX's co-founder [[Graeme Ferguson (filmmaker)|Graeme Ferguson]] expressed interest in an IMAX film for the [[US Bicentennial]], also considering the possibility of it being [[feature-length]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Graeme Ferguson|last1=Gregory|first1=Shelby M.|last2=Wilson|first2=Phyllis|magazine=[[Cinema Canada]]|date=August 1973|issue=9|page=37|url=https://cinemacanada.athabascau.ca/index.php/cinema/article/download/211/284|url-status=live|via=[[Athabasca University]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812143145/https://cinemacanada.athabascau.ca/index.php/cinema/article/download/211/284|archive-date=August 12, 2020}}</ref> In 1974, after hearing about plans for a new building of the NASM at the [[National Mall]] in [[Washington, D.C.]] as part of the Bicentennial, he proposed this to the museum director [[Michael Collins (astronaut)|Michael Collins]]. While Ferguson believed this would enhance the museum, Collins had not seen an IMAX film and initially rejected the proposal. However, at [[Expo '74]], an IMAX representative convinced him to go to the IMAX theater and see Ferguson's film ''[[Man Belongs to the Earth]]''; he became convinced that an IMAX theater would provide a sense of realism to visitors and accepted the idea.<ref name=":38">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/spacefarersimage0000unse |title=Spacefarers: Images of Astronauts and Cosmonauts in the Heroic Era of Spaceflight |date=November 6, 2013 |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]] Scholarly Press|editor-last=Neufeld |editor-first=Michael J. |editor-link=Michael J. Neufeld |location=[[Washington, D.C.]] |pages=152–153 |chapter=Origins of the IMAX Space Films |isbn=9781935623199 |access-date=December 9, 2021 |url-access=registration |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

===Pre-production===

On July 1, 1974, giant-screen filmmaker [[Francis Thompson (film director)|Francis Thompson]] joined in proposing a film about the history of flight for the Bicentennial at the NASM theater.<ref name=":21">{{Cite web|last1=Naus|first1=Rainer|last2=Baer|first2=Christopher T.|date=2013|title=Conoco files on IMAX films "To Fly" and "Flyers" Files|url=https://findingaids.hagley.org/repositories/3/resources/1123|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426192139/https://findingaids.hagley.org/repositories/3/resources/1123|archive-date=April 26, 2021|access-date=August 5, 2021|publisher=[[Hagley Digital Archives]]|id=2527|orig-date=1974}}</ref> With a [[US$]]590,000 fund from the [[Continental Oil Company]] (Conoco),<ref name=":49" /> with an additional $160,000 for [[film rights]],<ref name=":16" />{{Rp|324}} they set the production deadline to 1976.<ref name=":32">{{Cite book|last=Eagan|first=Daniel|url=https://archive.org/details/americasfilmlega0000eaga|title=America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry|date=October 15, 2009|publisher=[[Continuum International Publishing Group]]|pages=728–730|chapter=To Fly!|access-date=December 19, 2021|url-access=registration|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> After writing a third treatment with Thompson,<ref name=":35">{{Cite news|date=August 9, 1976|title=History Of Flight Traced|volume=87|page=15|work=[[Commerce, Texas|Commerce]] Journal|issue=63|location=[[Washington, D.C.]]|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/commerce-journal-aug-09-1976-p-15/|url-status=live|url-access=subscription|access-date=December 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207104423/https://newspaperarchive.com/commerce-journal-aug-09-1976-p-15/|archive-date=December 7, 2021|via=[[NewspaperArchive]]}}</ref> the Smithsonian commissioned filmmaker duo [[Greg MacGillivray]] and James "Jim" Freeman,<ref name=":50">{{Cite news |last=Shepard |first=Richard F. |date=February 12, 1982 |title=Thrills Fly on the Biggest Movie Screen in Town |page=C27 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/12/movies/thrills-fly-on-the-biggest-movie-screen-in-town.html |url-status=live |access-date=March 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411092352/https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/12/movies/thrills-fly-on-the-biggest-movie-screen-in-town.html |archive-date=April 11, 2021}}</ref> who had previously made [[surf film|surf]] and giant-screen films with experimental editing; they had also shot aerials for ''[[Jonathan Livingston Seagull (film)|Jonathan Livingston Seagull]]'' (1973) and ''[[The Towering Inferno]]'' (1974).<ref name=":32" /> Collins told them that he did not want the film to be too history-oriented and instead be more fun. With Collins giving them full creative freedom,<ref name=":12" /> pre-production meetings took place in New York City for several months.<ref name=":8" />

[[File:Man Belongs to the Earth opening.webm|thumb|The opening scene of ''Man Belongs to the Earth'' (1974), which convinced Collins to build an IMAX theater, and the highlight of MacGillivray and Freeman's research for ''To Fly!'']]

Collins and Zisfein gave around 30 suggestions, about 20 of which were incorporated into the film.<ref name=":19">{{Cite web |last=MacGillivray |first=Greg |author-link=Greg MacGillivray |title=Inspire Friday Issue No. 19 |url=https://macgillivrayfreeman.com/newsletter/inspire-friday-issue-no-19/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205165845/https://macgillivrayfreeman.com/newsletter/inspire-friday-issue-no-19/ |archive-date=December 5, 2020 |access-date=August 19, 2021 |publisher=[[MacGillivray Freeman Films]] |at=From the MFF Archives}}</ref> MacGillivray and Freeman thought the treatment was imperfect and expanded it into a narrative [[docudrama]] with several moments of comedy.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Gilliam |first=Bret |author-link=Bret Gilliam |date=October 13, 2016 |title=Greg MacGillivray A Lifetime in Film Master of IMAX |url=https://www.tdisdi.com/iti/greg-macgillivray/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116153729/https://www.tdisdi.com/iti/greg-macgillivray/ |archive-date=January 16, 2021 |access-date=July 1, 2021 |publisher=[[Scuba Diving International]]}}</ref> They analyzed the existing IMAX films for inspiration,<ref name=":22">{{Cite magazine |last=Essman |first=Scott |date=April 2000 |title=Mega-Movies: The State of the Art of Large-Format Films |url=http://www.moviemaker.com/magazine/issues/38/38_imax.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060525114258/https://www.moviemaker.com/issues/38/38_imax.htm |archive-date=May 25, 2006 |access-date=August 26, 2021 |magazine=[[MovieMaker]]|issue=38}}</ref> including ''Man Belongs to the Earth'', whose opening aerial shot of the [[Grand Canyon]] enthused them.<ref name=":12" /> Per Collins, they included scenes with [[comic relief]] in ''To Fly!'' in order to not make the film feel like a dry [[historical drama]].<ref name=":4" /> Thompson agreed, saying there were enough fact-based Bicentennial films being made and that people needed more entertainment.<ref name=":40">{{Cite interview |last=MacGillivray |first=Greg |subject-link=Greg MacGillivray |interviewer=Dodge, Mary Jane |title=GSCA Moments with Mary Jane Dodge Series: Greg MacGillivray |type=[[YouTube]] video |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clVoxfQKv20 |access-date=December 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209154553/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clVoxfQKv20 |archive-date=December 9, 2021 |url-status=live |publisher=Giant Screen Cinema Association |date=November 1, 2018}}</ref> MacGillivray said IMAX is perfect for the film because it "allows me [...] to impact the audience in a greater way".<ref name=":14">{{Cite web |date=March 20, 2011 |orig-date=July 1, 1996 |title="To Fly" Segment featured on CBS This Morning |url=https://digital.hagley.org/VID_2011320_B03_ID06_02?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=e326e9886512f8d4dfe3&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=0 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808075759/https://digital.hagley.org/VID_2011320_B03_ID06_02?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=e326e9886512f8d4dfe3&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=0 |archive-date=August 8, 2021 |access-date=August 8, 2021 |website=[[CBS This Morning]]|publisher=[[KYW-TV]] |via=[[Hagley Digital Archives]]}}</ref> He and Freeman [[storyboard]]ed it with John Divers at their [[Laguna Beach, California]], office, creating "IMAX moments" to thrill audiences and to rely on visuals more than narration.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":4" /> Seven months were spent on research,<ref name=":14" /> with aviators [[Walter J. Boyne]] and [[Donald S. Lopez Sr.]] as [[technical advisor]]s.<ref name=":39">{{Cite web |last=MacGillivray |first=Greg |author-link=Greg MacGillivray |date=January 28, 2020 |title=Remembering Walter Boyne |url=https://macgillivrayfreeman.com/blog/remembering-walter-boyne/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208064338/https://macgillivrayfreeman.com/blog/remembering-walter-boyne/ |archive-date=December 8, 2021 |access-date=December 9, 2021 |publisher=[[MacGillivray Freeman Films]]}}</ref>

Actor and real-life balloonist [[Peter Walker (actor)|Peter Walker]] was chosen to portray Ezekiel due to his comic charm. The character was based upon a balloonist who in 1790 apparently made flights over New England while reciting self-written poems, purportedly to impress young women.<ref name=":49">{{Cite mailing list|url=https://mailchi.mp/macfreefilms.com/inspirefriday_issue_80|title=Inspire Friday Issue No. 80|date=February 4, 2022|last=MacGillivray|first=Greg|publisher=[[MacGillivray Freeman Films]]|via=[[Mailchimp]]|author-link=Greg MacGillivray|access-date=February 7, 2022|section=From the MFF Archives|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220205063928/https://mailchi.mp/macfreefilms.com/inspirefriday_issue_80|archive-date=February 5, 2022|url-status=live}}</ref> Walker listed ''To Fly!'' among his favorite films to star in.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Peter Walker |url=https://www.concordtheatricals.com/a/4096/peter-walker |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316054802/https://www.concordtheatricals.com/a/4096/peter-walker |archive-date=March 16, 2022 |access-date=March 16, 2022 |publisher=[[Concord Theatricals]]}}</ref> Through filmmaker [[Randal Kleiser]], whom he knew from his friend [[Basil Poledouris]], MacGillivray partook in courses with actress [[Nina Foch]] to master in directing his cast. Extras were not mandated to speak because they comprise locals, some of whom the filmmakers felt were amateur. Freeman's girlfriend Cindy Huston, MacGillivray's girlfriend Barbara Smith, and production manager-costumer Jeff Blyth made [[cameo appearances]] as different characters.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=MacGillivray |first=Greg |title=Five Hundred Summer Stories: A Life in IMAX |date=November 15, 2022 |publisher=Earth Aware Editions |isbn=9781647227364 |pages=110–117 |author-link=Greg MacGillivray}}</ref> Huston was also [[focus puller]], and Smith was [[production assistant]], [[craft service]] specialist, and [[unit still photographer]].<ref name=":4" /> Other writers were Thompson, [[Robert M. Young (film director)|Robert M. Young]], and [[Arthur Zegart]]; [[Thomas McGrath (poet)|Thomas McGrath]] wrote the narration. Additionally, Byron McKinney was [[executive producer]].<ref name=":32" /> Documentarian and historian Jon Wilkman was briefly involved,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wilkman|first=Jon|title=Screening Reality: How Documentary Filmmakers Reimagined America|date=December 18, 2020|publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]]|isbn=9781635571035|edition=1|pages=7|oclc=1132429770}}</ref> alongside [[NASA]], the [[Office of Naval Research]], and the [[California Institute of Technology]].<ref name="MFF" />

=== Filming ===
[[Principal photography]] occurred for five months in 1975. Filming paused two and a half months later during June for MacGillivray and Freeman to film the action scenes of ''[[Sky Riders]]'' (1976), then resumed for two and a half months.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":12" /> They directed and cinematographed the film, frequently switching roles and working seven days a week<ref name=":1" /> with a 5{{Nbsp}}a.m. to 9{{Nbsp}}p.m. [[shooting schedule]].<ref name=":8" /> They often filmed together in a [[multiple-camera setup]], like in one of the barnstorming shots.<ref name=":12" /> According to MacGillivray, ''To Fly!'' was the most fun film that he and Freeman worked on throughout their 11 years of partnership.<ref name=":4" />

At the time, IMAX cameras weighed {{Convert|80|lb|kg|abbr=none}} and felt "crude" to the filmmakers, dismaying them as they wanted to experiment with the cinematography.<ref name=":22" /> Furthermore, they were worried about damaging the only camera available to them, and wanted to minimize the need for retakes. Ferguson and fellow IMAX co-founders, Bill Shaw and Robert Kerr, ideated creating three new cameras with better specifications,<ref name=":4" /> with one of them to be used for Thompson in his other Bicentennial film, ''American Years''. Ferguson granted the proposal.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Remembering Graeme Ferguson|url=https://macgillivrayfreeman.com/blog/rememberinggraemeferguson/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208064242/https://macgillivrayfreeman.com/blog/rememberinggraemeferguson/|archive-date=December 8, 2021|access-date=December 8, 2021|publisher=[[MacGillivray Freeman Films]]}}</ref> When filming an aerial scene in ''American Years'', the camera's parachute failed to deploy, destroying it.<ref name="Catlin">{{Cite web|last=Catlin|first=Roger|date=February 23, 2018|title=Latest IMAX Film Studies History of American Music|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/latest-imax-film-studies-history-american-music-180968243/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129172028/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/latest-imax-film-studies-history-american-music-180968243/|archive-date=November 29, 2021|access-date=November 29, 2021|website=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]|location=[[Washington D.C.]]}}</ref> The pre-existing camera was also modified to be on par with the new ones.<ref name=":8" />

To make the film bright, colorful, and naturalistic, the crew used the [[Eastman Color Negative]] 5254 [[Tungsten film|tungsten]] [[65&nbsp;mm film]] stock, with the opening scene in [[35 mm movie film|35&nbsp;mm]]. The costly stock caused the short duration of 27 minutes. To give a dramatic look, they emphasized the characters with cross-[[Backlighting (lighting design)|backlighting]] or [[wikt:crosslight#Noun|crosslighting]]. Because of IMAX's large screens and where the [[Rule of thirds|perceived center]] would be, many novel techniques were implemented. [[Extreme long shot]]s were treated as wide-angle shots, while the latter were treated as normal shots, and close-ups were treated as [[Medium Close Up|medium close-ups]]. The latter has a wider [[Headroom (photographic framing)|headroom]] for visual comfort. Movement was condensed to ease the switching between an extreme long shot to medium close-up, and a wide-angle lens was used to further expand the film's view. Camera lenses were also carefully chosen, ranging from the [[Fisheye lens|fisheye]] 30&nbsp;mm to the [[telephoto]] 600&nbsp;mm. [[Pentax]] and [[Hasselblad]] lenses were used; the latter had their [[focal length]]s changed, [[Shutter (photography)|shutters]] removed, and [[Lens mount|mounts]] modified. It took three months to test them and the [[camera magazine]]s.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":12" /> However, they had no [[zoom lens]]es which MacGillivray said would have eased filming.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last1=MacGillivray|first1=Greg|author-link=Greg MacGillivray|date=December 12, 1982|title=Innovative Devices Used on BEHOLD HAWAII|magazine=[[American Cinematographer]]|location=[[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]]|volume=64|issue=12|page=66|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/196338732|id={{ProQuest|196338732}} |via=[[ProQuest]]|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

[[File:DHC_Chipmunk_NX13A_(5012357680).jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Art Scholl]]'s "Super Chipmunk" (pictured 1968), used as a camera plane for the filming of ''To Fly!''|alt=Grayscale photo of a monoplane]]

Many shots in the film were time-consuming to make: a 35-second shot of the Blue Angels flying over the [[Colorado River]] and [[Yuma Desert]] took over four months to choreograph. Camera mounts were designed by the [[United States Navy]] for a [[McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II]] piloted by Kevin O'Mara used to film the shot. [[Nelson Tyler]] spent two months developing two mounts for the camera helicopters to film front and side shots, providing smoothness as the smallest vibrations would be noticeable on IMAX. The helicopters were piloted by George Nolan, Chuck Phillips, and Adrian Brooks. Mounts were also made by [[Boeing]] for the [[Boeing&nbsp;747]]; they used its first prototype.{{efn|Attributed to multiple references:<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":14" /><ref name=":32" /><ref name=":26">{{Cite news|last=Alderson|first=John|date=June 27, 1979|title=PICTORIUM brings praise|page=20|work=[[Medicine Hat News]]|publisher=[[Alta Newspaper Group]]|agency=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/medicine-hat-news-jun-27-1979-p-20/|url-status=live|url-access=subscription|access-date=November 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120115022/https://newspaperarchive.com/medicine-hat-news-jun-27-1979-p-20/|archive-date=November 20, 2021|via=[[NewspaperArchive]]}}</ref><ref name=":12" /><ref name="Airspace">{{Cite web |date=June 2004 |title=Cool Blue Hot Rods |url=http://www.airandspacemagazine.com/ASM/Mag/Supp/JJ04/a4ba.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040806080031/http://www.airandspacemagazine.com/ASM/Mag/Supp/JJ04/a4ba.html |archive-date=August 6, 2004 |access-date=September 6, 2023 |website=[[Air & Space/Smithsonian]]}}</ref>}} [[Art Scholl]]'s "[[De Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk|Super Chipmunk]]" aircraft was used to film front shots.<ref name=":4" /> The Navy donated helium for the hot air balloon, thanks to the Blue Angels' presence in the film.<ref name=":48">{{Cite instagram|postid=By8Ns6llgDN|user=macfreefilms|title=#TBT to our 1976 film To Fly!|date=June 21, 2019|author=[[MacGillivray Freeman Films]]|url-status=live|access-date=November 25, 2021|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/instagram/macfreefilms/2070590189852819661|archive-date=March 6, 2022}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The balloon, in shots where it actually flies, was piloted by Kurt Stehling, with whom MacGillivray has collaborated in ''Above San Francisco'' (1973).<ref name=":12" />

[[Aerial work platform]]s were used to support the balloon basket and camera; two platforms supported the basket as it moved in opposing directions to heighten the illusion of flight.<ref name=":8" /> The balloon was decorated with 13 American flags, the number of states in the US in 1831, sewn by a [[vexillography]] shop.<ref name=":49" /> To create a shot in which a [[Sierra No. 3]] train seemingly hits the camera, inspired by the allegedly jolting effects of ''[[L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat]]'' (1895),<ref name=":12" /> the crew placed a mirror in a diagonal position at the rail facing towards the camera, which imaged the mirror for a symmetrical view of the rail as the train approached and shattered it. The illusion of pilots flying was made by filming close-ups of the aircraft backdropped by the sky while the camera dawdles within a rigid [[camera dolly]].<ref name=":8" /> Bob Wills flew a hang glider above the [[Nā Pali Coast State Park|Nā Pali coastline]].<ref name=":12" />

Various kinds of transportation were used. In one scene, a [[stagecoach]] races with the train; previously there is a [[Conestoga wagon]]. Aerials of the 747 were filmed from a provided [[Boeing 737|737]]. [[Frank Tallman]] flew a [[Curtiss Model D]] for the mechanical flight scene. A [[Ford Model T]] was used in the scene talking about the invention of cars; the succeeding scene was filmed above [[Coastal California]]. Meanwhile, the Blue Angels flew [[Douglas A-4 Skyhawk]]s. Other filming locations included the [[Gateway Arch]], [[Lake Powell]], [[Monument Valley]], [[Zion Canyon]], [[Yosemite Falls]], the [[Appalachian Mountains]], and the [[Sierra Nevada]]. The barnstorming scene was filmed in [[California]], and the opening sequence's forests in [[Parsons, West Virginia]]. Filming also occurred in [[Alaska]] and [[Craftsbury, Vermont]]. A [[barn raising]] scene from the opening was cut from the final release. Overall, {{Convert|150,000|ft|m|abbr=none}} of film stock were used.{{Efn-la|Attributed to multiple references:<ref name=":18">{{Cite news|last=Kernan|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Kernan|date=July 1, 1980|title=Flight of the Filmgoer|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1980/07/01/flight-of-the-filmgoer/45695717-730e-4ed6-9323-988aaa8dd2e2/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417140134/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1980/07/01/flight-of-the-filmgoer/45695717-730e-4ed6-9323-988aaa8dd2e2/|archive-date=April 17, 2018|access-date=August 18, 2021|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref><ref name=":8" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=''To Fly!''|url=https://www.si.edu/sites/default/files/imax/to_fly_standards.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191020060540/https://www.si.edu/sites/default/files/imax/to_fly_standards.pdf|archive-date=October 20, 2019|access-date=August 5, 2021|publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]]|pages=1, 3}}</ref><ref name=":35" /><ref name=":12" /><ref name=":47" /><ref name="Airspace" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Metraux |first=Daniel A. |title=Craftsbury: A Brief Social History |series=The Hazen Road Dispatch |year=2001 |oclc=3372581 |location=[[Greensboro, Vermont]] |page=1}}</ref>}}

==== Space sequence ====
[[File:Apollo 4 separation of interstage ring.webm|thumb|upright=1.2|Video of the [[Saturn V]]'s [[interstage]] ring, also shown in the film]]

''To Fly!''{{'s}} space sequence depicts the launch of the [[Saturn IB]], before showing a fictional spaceship [[Interplanetary spaceflight|voyaging around]] the [[Solar System]]. Five [[nebulae]] are then depicted before ending with a view of Earth.<ref name=":41" />

The filmmakers were given permission to film the launch, marking the first time such was filmed in IMAX.<ref name=":8" /> They took this part more seriously because it could not be repeated.<ref name=":35" /> After filming {{Convert|1,200|ft|m|abbr=none}} away from the [[launch pad]], they left their camera outside for a day, forming condensation inside and exacerbated by seasonal thunderstorms. It was found wet and jammed, and the crew spent three hours cleaning it to recover the recording. Meanwhile, a shot of the [[Saturn V]]'s [[interstage]] ring jettisonning back to Earth was filmed in [[16 mm film]] from the actual rocket's [[S-II|second stage]], during [[Apollo 4]] in 1967.<ref name=":28" />

With a low budget, they initially conceived the space sequence as merely a compilation of astronomical images but realized they needed some kind of movement for an IMAX film, and thus saved money on the live-action filming in order to achieve a better space sequence. They expected ''To Fly!'' to be compared with the film ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' (1968), and tried to make the sequence as reminiscent of that film as possible. They learned that small objects like stars on an IMAX screen are much smaller on a traditional presentation, and typical small stars would be oversized in IMAX; after some difficulty, they were able to create perfect-sized stars on an {{Convert|8|×|360|in|cm|abbr=none|adj=on}} [[Lith print|Kodalith]] [[Negative (photography)|negative]] [[sheet film]]. Because of the nature of IMAX, filming some scenes at six and twelve [[frames per second]] (fps) was preferred over [[stop motion]]. George Casey and [[Lester Novros]] of special effects company Graphic Films{{Efn-la|They had worked on another IMAX film, ''[[Voyage to the Outer Planets]]'' (1973).<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bear|first=Greg|author-link=Greg Bear|url=https://www.gregbear.com/pages/fleet.php|title=The Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater: the Early Years, and Before|access-date=September 7, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321121036/https://www.gregbear.com/pages/fleet.php|archive-date=March 21, 2023|url-status=live}}</ref>}} provided planetary models and a studio, and also assisted the crew.<ref name=":28" />

The spaceship seen was a transparent {{Convert|2|in|cm|abbr=none|spell=in|adj=on}} portion of a larger {{Convert|36|in|m|abbr=none|adj=on}} model built by MacGillivray and Freeman, backlit on a glass frame.<ref name=":28" /> As [[special effects supervisor]],<ref name=":8" /> Blyth designed it to have the same color palette as the 747, and inspired by concepts of advanced [[ion thruster]]s and [[magnetically confined fusion]]s like [[deuterium]] and [[helium-3]]. It took 150 hours to create, with Collins as technical advisor. For a shot in which the spaceship passes [[Jupiter]] and [[Io (moon)|Io]], the crew filmed each object one by one; the film would be rewound back to layer in the next object. The camera was placed on a motorized dolly. Some shots, including the one of [[Saturn]], were filmed at an [[animation stand]]. Others used a faux version of the [[slit-scan photography]] kit used for ''2001: A Space Odyssey'': the sheet film was projected onto a white board, which the fisheye-lensed camera was put close to. Models were attached to a [[peg bar]], near where their glass frame was suspended on. To film extreme slow shots with distinct movement, a [[geared head]] and a zoom-motored gear were used, creating a slight [[Panning (camera)|pan]]. They filmed all these on 16&nbsp;mm first to see if it could be done on IMAX.<ref name=":28" />

[[Bellows (photography)|Bellows]] and close-up lenses by Hasselblad were used for the penultimate nebulae shots; the camera was facing a tray filled with water and a mixture of black ink and white [[enamel paint]] lit by [[color gel]]s. The materials' temperature, thickness, size, and type had to be precise to achieve the reaction. Unable to film at the desired 96 fps, [[mineral oil]] and [[paint thinner]] were poured into the tray to slow down movement; the thinner was favored because it created more interesting 3D-like movements. Often, a short wire was shaped and dipped in to create specific patterns.<ref name=":28">{{Cite magazine|last1=Blyth|first1=Jeff|date=July 4, 1976|title=Filming the Space Sequences for "To Fly"|magazine=[[American Cinematographer]]|location=[[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]]|volume=57|issue=7|url=https://proquest.com/docview/196331873|via=[[ProQuest]]|url-access=subscription}}</ref> [[Special effects]] designers Jim Palmer and Barney Kaelin created laser patterns, the first in any IMAX film.<ref name=":8" /> Overall, the space sequence took four and a half months to prepare, test, and film.<ref name=":28" />

=== Post-production ===
[[File:IMAX split screen mattes revision.jpg|alt=A square split equally to nine, with an X denoting center of attention at the lower center. Another square has bars above and below, only split to six with the X put higher up|thumb|upright=1.5|Illustration of the new [[Matte (filmmaking)|mattes]] for the multi-image scenes]]

''To Fly!'' was edited by MacGillivray and Freeman, with [[Alexander Hammid]] supervising, using a [[Moviola]]. Knowing they would experiment with the editing, the film's shots were directed beforehand to allow them to do so. The pacing of the shots was designed so that audiences can explore the entire IMAX screen. The 35&nbsp;mm opening where Ezekiel is still at ground is [[Windowbox (filmmaking)|windowboxed]] to 1⁄6th of the screen; as he ascends, the scene [[Smash cut|smash]]-[[Dissolve (filmmaking)|dissolves]] and the whole screen is filled, intendedly to intensify the scene's mood and as a reference to aviation, which the narration calls "like the opening of a new eye".<ref name=":8" /> This was inspired by the opening scenes of ''[[This Is Cinerama]]'' (1952) and the first ever IMAX film ''[[North of Superior]]'' (1971).<ref name=":12" />

The placing of multiple images on the same screen were occasionally used; these were inspired by the multi-image films ''[[In the Labyrinth (film)|In the Labyrinth]]'' (1967) and ''[[Tiger Child]]'' (1970), made by IMAX's precursor Multiscreen. In one scene of the Blue Angels, the screen divides into 36 duplicates of the same shot. With IMAX screens having a different focus center, thus making an evenly-divided multi-image scene confusing for audiences, Jim Liles of the [[Optical printer|Optical]] Department at [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] and filmmaker Dennis Earl Moore designed new [[Matte (filmmaking)|mattes]] in which the bottom row is 15% larger than the top. Smith supervised the curation of archival and original footage to be incorporated into these scenes. After four months of editing, two [[Norelco]] AAII 70/35&nbsp;mm projectors were installed to preview in the highest quality possible.<ref name=":8" />

MacGillivray chose the [[film score|film's score]] to be composed and conducted by [[Bernardo Segall]]. It was performed by a 49-piece [[symphony orchestra]] at [[the Burbank Studios]] which he considered "the most professional and experienced" in California that he could find. Segall's works were described by MacGillivray as having "an air of sophistication and elegance, which would maintain the steady rhythm and pulse of the film".<ref name=":8" /> The score was the first in history to use a [[keyed bugle]], which is also depicted in the film's opening scene: at the gathering for Ezekiel's ascent, a small [[fanfare band]] plays a [[Fife (instrument)|fife]], drum, clarinet, and [[B♭ (musical note)|B♭]] keyed bugle.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dudgeon|first=Ralph Thomas|title=The Keyed Bugle|date=October 20, 2004|publisher=[[Scarecrow Press]]|isbn=0810851237|edition=2|location=[[Metuchen, New Jersey]]|pages=134|chapter=The Revival|oclc=1285644620}}</ref> The score was then [[Music editing|edited]] by Richard R. McCurdy and [[Music mixing|mixed]] by [[Dan Wallin]]. It was recorded in [[Multitrack recording|16 channels]] and then [[Mixdown|downmixed]] to three of the six channels on a 35&nbsp;mm [[sound follower]], which would play in sync with the picture in theaters.<ref name=":8" />

Sound design was done at [[Todd-AO]]'s [[Hollywood, Los Angeles]], studio.<ref name=":4" /> Sam Shaw edited the sound effects while [[Ray West]] and Jack Woltz mixed them. Some scenes in the film were made solely to exploit IMAX's sound technology. For example, a multi-image scene in which two jets cross each other uses the [[Surround sound|surround]] nature of the sound system; MacGillivray expected audiences to "shiver" due to the dramatic shift of attention. In the train screen-hitting shot, the horn and engine noise gradually surround the audience.<ref name=":8" /> [[Don't Go in the House|Joseph Ellison]] also helped with the sound design,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Edwards|first=Matthew|title=Twisted Visions: Interviews with Cult Horror Filmmakers|date=June 19, 2017|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|isbn=978-1476628141|location=[[Jefferson, North Carolina]]|pages=66|chapter=Don't Go in the House: An Interview with Joseph Ellison}}</ref> which completed on June 18, 1976.<ref name=":12" /> After post-production, which—combined with the space sequence production—took six months, Conoco applauded the film's [[rough cut]]. The company's investors and the Smithsonian gave input for the final cut,<ref name=":8" /> which spanned more than {{Convert|8,000|ft|m|abbr=none}} of film stock.<ref name=":50" />

== Themes and style ==
{{Quote box
| quote = ''To Fly'' is [...] about the uncontaminated America that we all long to see and have so much trouble finding. [It] edit[ed] out the deteriorations of which we are daily more conscious at ground level. [...] The weather is always perfect. We never get to see a rundown city, a huge and outmoded industrial complex or a countryside [...] ruined forever. [It] is what the historians call "nature's nation".
| author = —[[John Russell (art critic)|John Russell]]
| source = ''[[The New York Times]]'' (1980)<ref name=":7" />
| salign = right
| bgcolor = powderblue <!-- Accessible color, will not disadvantage readers with tritanopia -->
| width = 400px
| border = 2px
}}

''To Fly!'' is described as a [[hegemonic]] film on how the imagination of the American people pioneered aviation,<ref name=":16" />{{Rp|224}} illustrated with scenes of aircraft flying over various American landscapes.<ref name=":25" /> Film critic Daniel Eagan said most of the views depicted in its opening sequence are "stately, processional, celebrating the American landscape while remaining distant from it". From there, the film explores the US, triggering "some patriotic empathy."<ref name=":32" /> It was also viewed as a [[Nationalism|nationalist]] film, linking the American quest for [[national identity]] to the development of aviation through [[metanarrative]]s like the linear, westward journey of Americans. Like other early IMAX films, its omniscient [[visual rhetoric]] is most distinct in the space sequence.{{Efn-la|Attributed to multiple references:<ref name=":16" />{{Rp|224}}<ref name="Voyages">{{Cite book |editor-last=Ruoff |editor-first=Jeffrey|last=Griffiths|first=Alison |title=Virtual Voyages: Cinema and Travel|chapter=Time Traveling IMAX Style: Tales From the Giant Screen |date=January 24, 2006 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8223-3713-3 |location=[[Durham, North Carolina]] |publication-date=January 3, 2006 |pages=14, 241, 245, 252 |oclc=1139359751}}</ref><ref name=":45">{{Cite news|last=Gelmis|first=Joseph|date=February 19, 1982|title='To Fly': breathtaking|page=II/5|work=[[Newsday]]|location=[[Melville, New York]]|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91308348/|access-date=December 28, 2021|via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{Open access}}|archive-date=December 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228162906/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91308348/newsday/|url-status=live}}</ref>}} The film generally shies away from the [[Industrial Revolution in the United States|Industrial Revolution's effects on the US]] in favor of displaying untouched nature.<ref name=":7" /> The Smithsonian said that ''To Fly!''{{'s}} theme is: "Flight, in all its forms, is part of the Human condition, part of our Destiny".<ref name=":2" /> This refers to [[manifest destiny]], a mythic cultural belief that propelled the westward expansion.<ref name=":10" />

Collins said ''To Fly!''{{'s}} style makes it "a break from the learning going on in the rest of the museum",<ref name=":1" /> and NASM board members said it is an amplification of visitors' fascination of flying after seeing the museum's exhibits.<ref name=":44">{{Cite news|date=July 1976|title=Theater Features Novel Film|page=2|work=The [[Smithsonian Institution|Smithsonian]] Torch|location=[[Washington, D.C.]]|url=https://siarchives.si.edu/sites/default/files/pdfs/torch/Torch%201976/SIA_000371_1976_07_V2.pdf|url-status=live|access-date=December 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412120911/https://siarchives.si.edu/sites/default/files/pdfs/torch/Torch%201976/SIA_000371_1976_07_V2.pdf|archive-date=April 12, 2019|via=[[Smithsonian Institution Archives]]}}</ref><ref name=":14" /> Film author Alison Griffiths agreed, saying that as an add-on to a museum admission, whereas the exhibits give visitors information and interest, the film gives them a sense of wonder for aviation in an effect akin to [[synesthesia]]. This is achieved through its immersive cinematography, which provides viewers with vicarious participation.<ref name=":16" />{{Rp|226}} Steve McKerrow of ''[[The Baltimore Sun]]'' opined certain scenes reference classic films: the train screen-hitting scene is similar to the one from ''[[The Great Train Robbery (1903 film)|The Great Train Robbery]]'' (1903); the hot air balloon scenes are reminiscent of ''[[Around the World in 80 Days (1956 film)|Around the World in 80 Days]]'' (1956); and the barnstorming scene is seemingly set in the same field as the ''[[North by Northwest]]'' (1959) [[crop duster]] chase scene.<ref name=":23" /> As a [[travelogue film]] of the US, ''To Fly!'' was also compared to the closing sequence of ''This Is Cinerama''.<ref name=":32" /> The aerial shots of various lands also signify aviation's usage in cartography, [[reconnaissance]], resource exploration, [[land-use planning]], and navigation.<ref name=":2" />

== Release ==

=== NASM ===
{{Listen
| filename     = Canon (2004) - Strolling Strings - United States Air Force Band.mp3
| title        = "Pachelbel's Canon"
| description  = An unrelated rendition of [[Pachelbel's Canon]], which played in ''To Fly!''{{'s}} NASM screenings as an [[Overture#Film|overture]]
}}

The first press announcements of ''To Fly!'' were issued on May 16, 1976,<ref name="Pierce">{{Cite news|date=May 16, 1976|title=Spectacular Movie Has No Stars but it's Big|page=12|last=Douglas|first=David|work=[[Fort Pierce, Florida|Fort Pierce]] News Tribune|location=[[Philadelphia]]|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-may-16-1976-3079000/|url-status=live|access-date=December 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307075418/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-may-16-1976-3079000/|archive-date=March 7, 2022|via=[[NewspaperArchive]] {{Open access}}}}</ref> and the film was previewed to members of the [[US Congress]] on June 24 at the NASM's IMAX theater<ref name=":12" /> (later renamed Samuel Pierpoint Langley,<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 4, 1981 |title=NASM Theater Renamed After Langley |url=https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_1742 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729053030/https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_1742 |archive-date=July 29, 2021 |access-date=August 23, 2023 |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution Archives]]}}</ref> then [[Smithsonian Theaters|Lockheed Martin]]).<ref name=":11">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/smithsoniannatio0000unse/ |title=Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum: An Autobiography |date=October 2, 2020 |publisher=[[National Geographic Society]]|editor-last=Neufeld |editor-first=Michael J. |editor-link=Michael J. Neufeld |location=[[Washington, D.C.]] |publication-date=October 26, 2010 |pages=270 & 307|isbn=9781426206535 |access-date=December 1, 2021 |editor-last2=Spencer |editor-first2=Alex M. |url-access=registration |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> Two days prior to the preview, Freeman died in a helicopter crash while finding locations for a commercial at the Sierra Nevada.<ref name=":12" /> Grief-stricken, MacGillivray initially doubted he could continue filmmaking but decided to retain, keeping the company's name, [[MacGillivray Freeman Films]] (MFF), as a tribute.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McLellan |first=Dennis |date=March 10, 1996 |title=Getting the Big Picture : Filmmaker Greg MacGillivray of Laguna Beach Sees the Imax Format as a Way to Create a Lasting Impression |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-03-10-ls-45405-story.html |url-access=limited |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122065912/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-03-10-ls-45405-story.html |archive-date=November 22, 2021 |access-date=November 22, 2021 |website=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref>

''To Fly!'' premiered on July 1, 1976, labeled as sponsored by Conoco.<ref name=":7">{{Cite news|last=Russell|first=John|date=May 8, 1980|title=Film: 'To Fly,' Irresistible Fantasy|edition=National|page=0|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/05/08/archives/film-to-fly-irresistible-fantasy.html|url-status=live|url-access=limited|access-date=July 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210721094625/https://www.nytimes.com/1980/05/08/archives/film-to-fly-irresistible-fantasy.html|archive-date=July 21, 2021}}</ref> The New York City-based Lawrence Associates handled theatrical distribution.<ref name=":21" /><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Carr |first1=Robert E. |title=Wide Screen Movies: A History and Filmography of Wide Gauge Filmmaking |last2=Hayes |first2=R. M.|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |year=1988 |isbn=978-0899502427|page=439}}</ref> With [[underwriting]] concerns, the Smithsonian prohibited Conoco from using the Smithsonian's name for commercial uses, but granted "limited right" to use Conoco's name for it.<ref name=":16" />{{Rp|226}} It was later relabeled as sponsored by parent company [[DuPont]].<ref name="MFF" /> MacGillivray assisted the inexperienced projectionists and frequently visited the booth to ensure that the film roll was in consistently mint condition.<ref name=":8" /> A [[Pachelbel's Canon]] rendition was played as an [[Overture#Film|overture]]; it was praised as being memorable and evocative. ''The Washington Post'' credited the film alongside ''[[Ordinary People]]'' (1980) for the music's popularity.<ref name=":18" /><ref name=":24">{{Cite web|last=McDougall|first=Walter A.|date=December 1, 2003|editor-last=Kuehner|editor-first=Trudy|title=The Ecstasy and the Agony of Our Romance With Flight: A Meditation on the Centennial of the Wright Brothers Triumph|url=https://www.fpri.org/article/2003/12/the-ecstasy-and-the-agony-of-our-romance-with-flight-a-meditation-on-the-centennial-of-the-wright-brothers-triumph/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122070727/https://www.fpri.org/article/2003/12/the-ecstasy-and-the-agony-of-our-romance-with-flight-a-meditation-on-the-centennial-of-the-wright-brothers-triumph/|archive-date=January 22, 2021|access-date=November 19, 2021|publisher=[[Foreign Policy Research Institute]]}}</ref> The NASM also released [[pin-back buttons]] depicting a hot air balloon, manufactured by Horn Co.<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Air and Space Museum To Fly |url=https://www.buttonmuseum.org/buttons/national-air-and-space-museum-fly |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228121241/https://www.buttonmuseum.org/buttons/national-air-and-space-museum-fly |archive-date=28 February 2021 |access-date=12 October 2023 |publisher=Busy Beaver Button Museum |publication-place=[[Chicago]]}}</ref>

The film was initially scheduled for a one-year run, as were other Bicentennial films, but was retained due to high demand.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Freishtat |first=Sarah |date=July 12, 2012 |title='To Fly!': Air and Space Museum opened in 1976 with film's first screening |url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jul/12/to-fly-air-and-space-museum-opened-in-1976-with-fi/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200408080806/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jul/12/to-fly-air-and-space-museum-opened-in-1976-with-fi/ |archive-date=April 8, 2020 |access-date=June 30, 2021 |website=[[The Washington Times]] |publisher=Operations Holdings}}</ref> At times, there were 14 shows daily.<ref name=":4" /> In the 1990s, attempts were made again to remove ''To Fly!'', but due to public grievances it was decided that a [[special edition]] be made in conjunction with the theater's digital sound system upgrade,<ref name=":11" /> released for its 20th anniversary in 1996.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=To Fly! |url=https://macgillivrayfreeman.com/project/to-fly/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320124336/https://macgillivrayfreeman.com/project/to-fly/ |archive-date=March 20, 2023 |access-date=July 1, 2021 |publisher=[[MacGillivray Freeman Films]]}}</ref> The audio was [[digitally remastered]] with new sound effects, a new narrator, and alterations of the score such as trimming, editing, and adding choral sounds. The Lake Powell-Monument Valley scene and space sequence have their music changed, and two existential narrations from the space sequence were cut.<ref name="MFF" /><ref name=":41" /> Celebrating its [[silver jubilee]] in 2001, a screening was made free.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bly |first=Laura |date=July 29, 2001 |title=This is the place for Air and Space |page=D01 |work=[[USA Today]] |publisher=[[Gannett]] |publication-place=[[McLean, Virginia]] |issn=0734-7456 |id=[[ProQuest]] [https://www.proquest.com/docview/408830136/3E8BFFF271B4732PQ/1 408830136]}}</ref> During its 35th anniversary in 2011, screenings were charged at 50 cents for adults and 25 cents for children, the same price up to the 1980s;{{Efn-la|As of {{Inflation/year|US}}, 50 cents is ${{Inflation|US|0.50|1980}}, and 25 cents is ${{Inflation|US|0.25|1980}}.<ref name="conv" />}}<ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Cite press release|title=Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Turns 35 Friday|date=June 29, 2011|publisher=[[National Air and Space Museum]]|location=[[Washington, D.C.]]|url=https://airandspace.si.edu/newsroom/press-releases/smithsonians-national-air-and-space-museum-turns-35-friday|access-date=July 7, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160707234619/https://airandspace.si.edu/newsroom/press-releases/smithsonians-national-air-and-space-museum-turns-35-friday|archive-date=July 7, 2016}}</ref> in 1976, it was charged at $1 for adults and 50 cents for children,<ref name=":35" /> but fearing they were making too much profit, it was halved six months later.{{Efn-la|As of {{Inflation/year|US}}, $1 is ${{Inflation|US|1|1976}}, 50 cents is ${{Inflation|US|0.5|1976}}, and 25 cents is ${{Inflation|US|0.25|1976}}.<ref name="conv">{{cite web|url=https://www.minneapolisfed.org/about-us/monetary-policy/inflation-calculator/consumer-price-index-1800- |title=Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–|publisher=[[Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis]]|access-date={{TODAY}}}}</ref>}}<ref>{{Cite interview |last=MacGillivray |first=Greg |subject-link=Greg MacGillivray |interviewer=Prodan, Dave |title=Greg MacGillivray Talks A Career In Surf Filmmaking, "Five Summer Stories", Plus His New Memoir |type=[[YouTube]] podcast |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdY-55qF6rA |access-date=July 25, 2023 |work=The Lineup |publisher=[[World Surf League]] |date=November 9, 2022|archive-url=https://conifer.rhizome.org/gerald90x/default-collection/20230907063306/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdY-55qF6rA|archive-date=September 7, 2023|url-status=live}}{{cbignore}} 01:03:04 to 01:03:26.</ref> The Airbus IMAX Theater of the NASM's annex, the [[Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center]], has also been screening ''To Fly!''.<ref name=":13">{{Cite web |title=To Fly! |url=https://www.si.edu/imax/movie/fly |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191019020544/https://www.si.edu/imax/movie/fly |archive-date=October 19, 2019 |access-date=August 5, 2021 |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]] |at=See also [https://web.archive.org/web/20130705031123/http://www.si.edu/Imax/Movie/1 July 5, 2013] archive.}}</ref>

=== Other venues ===
''To Fly!'' spurred the mass construction of IMAX theaters in various countries.<ref name=":22" /> The Smithsonian later also built an IMAX theater at the NMNH.<ref name=":16" />{{Rp|227}} Due to the film's intrigue, especially the transformative opening sequence, various museums established IMAX theaters.<ref name=":40" /> Other screening formats include the dome-shaped [[Omnimax]]<ref name=":3" /> and the digital [[IMAX with Laser]]. For the first 15 months since its opening in April 1983, ''To Fly!'' was the only film shown at the IMAX theater at the [[National Museum of Photography, Film & Television]] (NMPFT) in [[Bradford, England]], and its reception made them retain the theater. It was rescreened in 2013 for the museum's 30th anniversary.<ref name=":15">{{Cite web |last=Vaughan |first=Dick |date=June 13, 2013 |title=Bringing the first permanent IMAX installation to Bradford |url=https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/installing-the-first-permanent-imax-cinema-in-europe-30th-birthday-countdown/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122055547/https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/installing-the-first-permanent-imax-cinema-in-europe-30th-birthday-countdown/ |archive-date=January 22, 2021 |access-date=August 9, 2021 |publisher=[[National Science and Media Museum]] |location=[[Bradford]]}}</ref><ref name=":27">{{Cite sign |title=To Fly |date=1983 |publisher=[[National Museum of Photography, Film & Television]] |place=[[Bradford]] |type=Leaflet |url=https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/TtMAAOSw8xRfJp-N/s-l1600.jpg |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211220120123/https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/TtMAAOSw8xRfJp-N/s-l1600.jpg |archive-date=December 20, 2021 |url-status=dead|access-date=December 20, 2021}} Via [[eBay]].</ref> [[Michael Kernan]] of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' credited [[word of mouth]] to the popularity because advertising was mainly via brochures, newspapers,<ref name=":18" /> and television.<ref name="Cinesphere">{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqxWukZNTF8 |title=To Fly! |date=November 11, 2020 |type=[[TV spot]] |publisher=[[Ontario Place]] |orig-date=1994 |publication-place=[[Toronto]] |access-date=August 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210823074010/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqxWukZNTF8 |archive-date=August 23, 2021 |url-status=live |via=The Tape Keeper (on [[YouTube]])}}</ref><ref name=":31">{{Cite web |last=Wilson |first=Steven W. |date=April 28, 2018 |title=IMAX Pictorium, Gurnee 1979 — 2018 |url=https://www.greatamericaparks.com/category/show-operations/pictorium/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123165558/https://www.greatamericaparks.com/category/show-operations/pictorium/ |archive-date=January 23, 2021 |access-date=July 1, 2021 |publisher=GreatAmericaParks.com}}</ref> MacGillivray noted a 1981 ''[[Today (American TV program)|Today]]'' interview of him and Thompson by [[Tom Brokaw]] as among the things that led to the film's continued popularity,<ref name=":12" /> though said he did not expect such popularity.<ref name=":1" />

Several theaters played the film in a [[double feature]], like the NASM<ref name=":18" /> and [[American Museum of Natural History]]'s Naturemax Theater (February 11, 1982),<ref>{{Cite web |date=1982 |title=American Museum of Natural History Naturemax Theater photographic slides of "To Fly", 1982 |url=https://data.library.amnh.org/archives/repositories/3/resources/5280 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230609214749/https://data.library.amnh.org/archives/repositories/3/resources/5280 |archive-date=June 9, 2023 |access-date=September 7, 2023 |publisher=[[American Museum of Natural History]] |id=PSC 61C}}</ref> who bundled it with ''Living Planet'' (1979){{Efn-la|Directed by Moore and also produced by Thompson<ref name="NY" />}} and ''Man Belongs to the Earth''.<ref name="NY">{{Cite magazine|title=Museums, Societies, Etc.|magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]|date=March 28, 1983|volume=16|issue=13|issn=0028-7369|page=93}}</ref> The NASM later replaced ''Living Planet'' with MFF's ''[[Speed (1984 film)|Speed]]'' (1984).<ref>{{Cite news|title=OPENING|newspaper=[[The Fresno Bee]]|publisher=[[McClatchy]]|date=April 14, 2001|page=E2|issn=0889-6070}}</ref> ''To Fly!'' was put with ''[[Blue Planet (film)|Blue Planet]]'' (1990) at the [[Montreal Science Centre|Montreal]] and [[Maryland Science Center]] as they similarly showcase spaceflight.<ref name="Montreal">{{cite news|last=Griffin|first=John|date=December 1, 1990|title=Imax shows us our home; Astronaut worked camera for Blue Planet|edition=Final|newspaper=[[Montreal Gazette]]|publisher=[[Postmedia Network]]|page=E1|issn=0384-1294|id=[[ProQuest (identifier)|ProQuest]] [https://www.proquest.com/docview/432059234/ 432059234]}}</ref><ref name=":23" /> It was also the premiere film for IMAX theaters of theme parks like [[Six Flags Great America]]'s Pictorium (1979), [[Dreamworld (Australia)|Dreamworld]] in [[Gold Coast, Australia]] (1981), and [[Speelland Beekse Bergen]] at [[Hilvarenbeek]], Netherlands (June 19, 1981). Dreamworld founder John Longhurst was inspired to build the theater after seeing ''To Fly!''.{{Efn-la|Attributed to multiple references:<ref name=":29" /><ref>{{cite web|title=Dreamworld History|url=http://www.dreamworld.com.au/Schools/pdf/DW-Schools-History.pdf|url-status=dead|publisher=[[Dreamworld (Australia)|Dreamworld]]|page=3|access-date=March 24, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101230185146/http://www.dreamworld.com.au/Schools/pdf/DW-Schools-History.pdf|archive-date=December 30, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=June 2, 2015|title=Beekse Bergen ziet sterren|trans-title=Beekse Bergen sees stars|url=https://www.regionaalarchieftilburg.nl/home/blog-detail/algemeen/2015/06/02/beekse-bergen-ziet-sterren/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228042822/https://www.regionaalarchieftilburg.nl/home/blog-detail/algemeen/2015/06/02/beekse-bergen-ziet-sterren/|archive-date=February 28, 2021|access-date=November 25, 2021|publisher=[[:nl:Regionaal Archief Tilburg|Regionaal Archief Tilburg]]|language=nl}}</ref>}}

Overall, the film has screened in over 24 countries,<ref name=":22" /> including Germany, Japan, Mexico,<ref name=":18" /> and Indonesia ([[Taman Mini Indonesia Indah|Keong Emas IMAX Theater]], [[Jakarta]]).<ref>{{Cite book |title=Taman Mini Indonesia Indah dalam Satu Dasawarsa |publisher=[[Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Indonesia)|Departemen Penerangan Republik Indonesia]] |year=1986 |page=50 |language=id |trans-title=Taman Mini Indonesia Indah in A Decade |oclc=17202027}}</ref> It has been translated to 10 languages and screened at around 150 theaters worldwide. It was also shown in festivals<ref name=":1" /> like the [[1976 Toronto International Film Festival]], who took it from the [[Edinburgh International Film Festival]],<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Agnew|first=J. W.|date=September 27, 1976|title=Toronto's Festival of Festivals Planned as Major Cinema Event|magazine=[[Boxoffice Pro|Boxoffice]]|volume=109|issue=25|page=K-1|publisher=Associated Publications}}</ref> and the 2019 [[Royal British Columbia Museum|IMAX Victoria]] Film Festival who made a double feature with ''North of Superior'' titled "The Dawn of IMAX Filmmaking".<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Dawn of IMAX Filmmaking|url=https://imaxvictoria.com/movie/the-dawn-of-imax-filmmaking/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211216110110/https://imaxvictoria.com/movie/the-dawn-of-imax-filmmaking/|archive-date=December 16, 2021|access-date=December 16, 2021|publisher=[[Royal British Columbia Museum|IMAX Victoria]]}}</ref> Conoco also distributed ''To Fly!'' to schools, organizations, and non-IMAX theaters after September 6, 1976 ([[Labor Day]]),<ref name=":35" /> but the lack of non-IMAX screenings made it unpopular among filmgoers.<ref name=":7" /> They also sent 16&nbsp;mm copies of the film to all 600 existing [[List of independent television stations in the United States|independent television stations in the US]] to be aired for free, as a marketing strategy.<ref name=":12" /> On May 28, 2023, the non-IMAX theater [[Cleveland Cinematheque]] put it together with MFF's ''Great Barrier Reef'' (2018) and ''Great Bear Rainforest'' (2019), in a series of MFF double features.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=TO FLY! |url=https://www.cia.edu/cinematheque/film-schedule/2023/05/to-fly |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230528053625/https://www.cia.edu/cinematheque/film-schedule/2023/05/to-fly |archive-date=May 28, 2023 |access-date=August 24, 2023 |publisher=[[Cleveland Institute of Art]]}}</ref>

=== Home media ===
[[File:1.33_vs_1.43_vs_1.78_frame.png|thumb|upright=1.3|Comparison between the [[1.33:1]] (dark blue), 1.44:1 (light gray), and [[1.78:1]] aspect ratios (the entire frame)|alt=refer to caption]]
In 1985, ''To Fly!'' was released on videocassette formats [[Betamax]] and [[VHS]],<ref name=":17">{{Cite web|last=Hasan|first=Mark R.|date=September 3, 2014|title=Beta: To Fly! (1976)|url=https://kqek.com/mobile/?p=9557|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815201314/https://kqek.com/mobile/?p=9557|archive-date=August 15, 2020|access-date=August 15, 2021|publisher=KQEK.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Hasan|first=Mark R.|date=September 3, 2014|title=MacGillivray Freeman Films, Part 1|url=https://kqek.com/mobile/?p=9570|access-date=August 25, 2023|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530005357/https://kqek.com/mobile/?p=9570|archive-date=May 30, 2023|publisher=KQEK.com}}</ref> while its [[LaserDisc]] was in 1991 by Lumivision, catalog number LVD9113. The latter,<ref name=":41">{{Cite AV media |title=To Fly |date=1991 |publisher=Lumivision |type=[[LaserDisc]] & backcover |id=[[Universal Product Code|UPC]] 0724117911362}}</ref> as well as a VHS of the anniversary edition by IMAX subsidiary DKP 70MM Inc., features [[Dolby Surround]]-encoded audio.<ref>{{Cite AV media notes |title=To Fly! |publisher=[[IMAX Corporation|DKP 70MM Inc.]] |type=[[VHS]] backcover |id=[[Universal Product Code|UPC]] 776424900034. ISBN 978-1551757443}}</ref> On March 20, 2011, the first VHS was preserved at the [[Hagley Museum and Library]] and is freely available at their [[finding aid]] website. For the VHS, the windowboxed opening scene was zoomed to fill the entire screen, and a large portion of the opening [[drum roll]] was cut.<ref>{{Cite web|date=March 20, 2011|title=To Fly!|url=https://digital.hagley.org/VID_2011320_B03_ID05|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101070349/https://digital.hagley.org/VID_2011320_B03_ID05|archive-date=November 1, 2020|access-date=August 5, 2021|publisher=[[Hagley Digital Archives]]}}</ref> Together with the LaserDisc and second VHS, the film is cropped to the television [[1.33:1]] [[aspect ratio]],<ref name=":41" /> in lieu of the slightly wider IMAX 1.44:1.<ref name=":32" /> On October 7, 2021, MFF launched a [[streaming service]] called Movies For Families<ref>{{Cite interview|title=Introducing Movies For Families - A New Streaming Channel|type=[[YouTube]] trailer|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qusB-WR3hE|access-date=November 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120115023/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qusB-WR3hE|archive-date=November 20, 2021|url-status=live|publisher=[[MacGillivray Freeman Films]]|date=October 7, 2021}}</ref> and included ''To Fly!''{{'s}} anniversary edition, cropped to the widescreen ratio of [[1.78:1]]. The multi-image scenes were re-adjusted, like the 36-duplicate shot which became 30.<ref name="MFF">{{Cite web |title=''To Fly'' |url=https://mff.vhx.tv/to-fly |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601022956/https://mff.vhx.tv/to-fly |archive-date=June 1, 2023 |access-date=August 19, 2023 |publisher=[[MacGillivray Freeman Films|Movies For Families]]}}</ref>

== Reception ==

=== Box office ===

''To Fly!'' is regarded as the first [[Blockbuster (entertainment)|blockbuster]] IMAX film.{{Efn-la|Attributed to multiple references:<ref name=":16" />{{Rp|227}}<ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Champlin |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Champlin |date=February 7, 1985 |title=IMAX brings you larger than life |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-02-07-ca-5450-story.html |url-status=live |url-access=limited |access-date=July 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230725094629/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-02-07-ca-5450-story.html |archive-date=July 25, 2023|quote=They made the first notable IMAX film, "To Fly," which premiered at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum in 1976 and is still playing.}}</ref>}} Over one million people watched it during its first year at the NASM, with approximately 80% of its 485 seats occupied.<ref name=":44" /><ref name=":4" /> Initially, Collins had projected three and a half NASM visitors to view it.<ref name=":35" /> By 1980, it amassed more than 6.3 million viewers, with an average seat occupation of 77%,<ref name=":16" />{{Rp|226}} growing to 6.5 million by 1983.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 1983 |title=Flying high at the Smithsonian |volume=37 |page=12 |work=[[Changing Times (magazine)|Changing Times]] |publisher=[[Kiplinger]] |issue=3 |id=[[ProQuest]] [https://www.proquest.com/docview/199075388/6C286CF4B4974773PQ/1 199075388]}}</ref> Over 15 million people have watched it at the museum;<ref name=":3" /> 4 million of which were in its three years,<ref name="Globe">{{Cite news|last=Arnold|first=Gary|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/04/05/graceful-globe-trotting/a58c5fb1-051e-4221-8f3d-6ed549f6e5bf/|title=Graceful Globe-trotting|date=April 5, 1979|access-date=August 22, 2023|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|archive-date=August 22, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230822074717/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/04/05/graceful-globe-trotting/a58c5fb1-051e-4221-8f3d-6ed549f6e5bf/|url-status=live}}</ref> then 4.5 million the following year.<ref name=":18" /> By 1982, around 100 million audiences were recorded across the US.<ref name=":16" />{{Rp|226}} By 1991, over 100 million people have viewed ''To Fly!'' at schools and on television.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Weybret|first=Marty|date=June 27, 1991|title=For movie crew, Lodi a Dutch treat|page=3|work=[[Lodi News-Sentinel]]|publisher=Horizon Publications|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2245&dat=19910627&id=5JszAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wTIHAAAAIBAJ&pg=929,535893|url-status=live|access-date=July 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210721094632/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2245&dat=19910627&id=5JszAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wTIHAAAAIBAJ&pg=929%2C535893|archive-date=July 21, 2021|via=[[Google News]]}}</ref> In 1996, ''[[CBS This Morning]]'' dubbed ''To Fly!'' "the longest-running ticketed film in one location in history" and reported that it accumulated over 300 million views worldwide.<ref name=":14" /> From 2000 to 2012, there was an audience addition of 1.5 million at the NASM.<ref name=":1" /> Overall, the film is the longest-exhibited documentary and [[sponsored film]] in the world.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":6" />

Museums like the NASM and NMPFT used early earnings of the film to underwrite expenses,<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Third Five Years of the 8th AF News, 1985-1989|year=1990|page=173|publisher=8AFPX Division of the [[Eighth Air Force]] Historical Society|editor-last=Woolnough|editor-first=John H.|location=[[Strasburg, Pennsylvania]]|oclc=23660412}}</ref> maintain theaters, and/or fund IMAX films.<ref name=":35" /><ref name=":27" /> It grew from $20&nbsp;million in 1993—thus being the 14th highest-grossing independently distributed film in the US and Canada (excluding erotic films)—<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 17, 1993 |title=In winner's circle |url=https://variety.com/1993/film/news/in-winner-s-circle-109686/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208233646/https://variety.com/1993/film/news/in-winner-s-circle-109686/ |archive-date=February 8, 2023 |access-date=August 30, 2023 |website=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |publisher=[[Penske Media]]}}</ref> to $100&nbsp;million in 1999.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Olson |first=Eric J. |date=January 4, 1999 |title=Giant screens poised for big impact |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |volume=373 |issue=7 |page=9 |issn=0042-2738}}</ref> Up to 2000, it earned $50 million in the NASM alone.<ref name=":22" /> ''To Fly!'' was the third highest-grossing IMAX documentary as of 2002, earning $113&nbsp;million, behind ''[[The Dream Is Alive|The Dream is Alive]]'' (1985, $150&nbsp;million) and MFF's ''[[Everest (1998 film)|Everest]]'' (1998, $114&nbsp;million).<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Nicole |first=Sperling |date=April 23, 2002 |title=Imax's hopes for DMR loom large: Technology could help boost selection of giant-screen films. (Money) |magazine=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |publisher=[[MRC (company)|MRC]] |volume=373 |issue=2 |page=13 |issn=0018-3660}}</ref> It gained a net addition of $2.7&nbsp;million up to early 2003,<ref name="Voyages" /> then a gross $900,000 throughout the year,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chautard |first=Andre |date=January 4, 2004 |title=Nature's movie mogul |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jan-04-ca-chautard4-story.html |url-access=limited |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230831100301/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jan-04-ca-chautard4-story.html |archive-date=August 31, 2023 |access-date=August 31, 2023 |website=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref> and another $11.3&nbsp;million up to 2011.<ref name=":36">{{Cite web|last=Rose|first=Michael|date=June 19, 2011|title=Taking IMAX to the Max: Greg MacGillivray Is the Grandmaster of the Giant Screen|url=https://www.documentary.org/feature/taking-imax-max-greg-macgillivray-grandmaster-giant-screen|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122064121/https://www.documentary.org/feature/taking-imax-max-greg-macgillivray-grandmaster-giant-screen|archive-date=November 22, 2021|access-date=November 22, 2021|publisher=[[International Documentary Association]]|location=[[Los Angeles]]}}</ref> In between that, ''[[The Numbers (website)|The Numbers]]'' reported over $86.6&nbsp;million within the US and Canada and $34.1&nbsp;million elsewhere, totaling at $120.7&nbsp;million. This meant the film became the second-highest-grossing 1976 film behind ''[[Rocky]]'', which earned $117.2&nbsp;million, and above ''[[A Star Is Born (1976 film)|A Star is Born]]'', which earned $63.1&nbsp;million.<ref>{{Cite The Numbers|id=To-Fly|title=To Fly!|access-date=December 19, 2021|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141208234051/http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/To-Fly#tab=summary|archive-date=December 8, 2014}}</ref> MFF reported an overall $135&nbsp;million gross as of December 2019,<ref name=":9" />{{Rp|page=3}} thus being the company's second highest-grossing documentary film after ''Everest''.<ref name=":3" />

=== Critical response ===
{{Quote box
| quote = Can you really call yourself a Washingtonian if you haven't seen ''To Fly''?
| author = —John Kelly
| source = ''[[The Washington Post]]'' (2016)<ref name=":6" />
| salign = center
| bgcolor = powderblue <!-- Accessible color, will not disadvantage readers with tritanopia -->
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''To Fly!'' was well-received by many film critics;<ref name=":47">{{Cite news|date=March 19, 1980|title=To Fly!: Movie Gives Feelings of Flying On Seven-Story Screen|page=11C|work=The Gaffney Ledger|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91308924/|access-date=December 28, 2021|via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{Open access}}|archive-date=December 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228162912/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91308924/the-gaffney-ledger/|url-status=live}}</ref> John Alderson of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' summarized that "the subject charms its imagination, while the IMAX format goes right to the brink of sensory overload".<ref name=":26" /> Contemporary critics called it underrated and electric,{{Efn-la|Attributed to multiple references:<ref name="Voyages" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":7" />}} with David Handler of the [[Newspaper Enterprise Association]] dubbing it "the ultimate [[Psychedelic film|film trip]]".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Handler |first=David |date=March 26, 1982 |title=The longest-running hit film in nation: 'To Fly' |work=[[The Desert Sun]] |agency=[[Newspaper Enterprise Association]] |issue=200 |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19820326.2.160&srpos=1&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-To+Fly%21+IMAX+1976-------1 |url-status=live |access-date=November 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129013040/https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19820326.2.160&srpos=1&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-To+Fly%21+IMAX+1976-------1 |archive-date=November 29, 2021 |via=[[California Digital Newspaper Collection]]}}</ref> ''The Washington Post'' called it an icon of the city<ref name=":18" /> and a must-watch to all Washingtonians.<ref name=":6">{{Cite news|last=Kelly|first=John|date=January 10, 2016|title=A long time ago, big reels of film came to Air and Space Museum. No more.|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-long-time-ago-big-reels-of-film-came-to-air-and-space-museum-no-more/2016/01/10/164b7736-b658-11e5-a842-0feb51d1d124_story.html|url-status=live|url-access=limited|access-date=July 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021200641/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-long-time-ago-big-reels-of-film-came-to-air-and-space-museum-no-more/2016/01/10/164b7736-b658-11e5-a842-0feb51d1d124_story.html|archive-date=October 21, 2020}}</ref> The film was cited by scholars and authors as examplifying the role of screen size in amplifying a film's [[kinesthetic]] thrills.{{Efn-la|Attributed to multiple references:<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lombard|first1=Matthew|last2=Reich|first2=Robert D.|last3=Grabe|first3=Maria Elizabeth|last4=Bracken|first4=Cheryl Campanella|last5=Ditton|first5=Theresa Bolmarcich|date=January 10, 2006|title=Presence and Television: The Role of Screen Size|journal=[[Human Communication Research]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|volume=26|issue=1|pages=75–98|doi=10.1111/j.1468-2958.2000.tb00750.x}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Frome|first=Jonathan|date=2006|title=Representation, Reality, and Emotions Across Media|url=https://www.academia.edu/2619922|url-status=live|journal=Film Studies|publisher=[[Manchester University Press]]|volume=8|issue=1|pages=22|doi=10.7227/FS.8.4|eissn=2054-2496|url-access=registration|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127090724/https://www.academia.edu/2619922/Representation_Reality_and_Emotions_Across_Media|archive-date=November 27, 2021|access-date=November 27, 2021|via=[[Academia.edu]]}}</ref><ref name=":16" />{{Rp|225}}<ref name=":10" />}} Some called ''To Fly!'' one of the best IMAX films,{{efn|Attributed to multiple references:<ref name=":25" /><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":23">{{Cite web|last=McKerrow|first=Steve|date=May 8, 1993|title=Maryland Science Center brings hit IMAX movies back|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1993-05-08-1993128113-story.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210622113351/https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1993-05-08-1993128113-story.html|archive-date=June 22, 2021|access-date=November 20, 2021|website=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Graeber|first=Laurel|date=May 31, 2002|title=''FAMILY FARE''|page=44, section E|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/31/movies/family-fare.html|url-status=live|url-access=limited|access-date=November 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180128095525/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/31/movies/family-fare.html|archive-date=January 28, 2018}}</ref>}} with guides like the ''[[Michelin Green Guide]]'' and one by ''[[BioScience]]'' calling it a must-watch for those planning to visit the NASM.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=September 1, 1976|title=People and Places — NASM: Space Scholars Welcome|journal=[[BioScience]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|volume=26|issue=9|pages=586|doi=10.2307/1297286|jstor=1297286}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=[[Michelin Guide|Michelin]] Must Sees Washington D.C.|year=2011 |publisher=[[Michelin]]|isbn=978-1907099465|edition=4|publication-date=October 26, 2011|pages=40}}</ref>

The cinematography was praised for its innovativeness and vertiginous aesthetics,{{Efn-la|Attributed to multiple references:<ref name="Chernitsky" /><ref name=":50" /><ref name=":26" /><ref name=":24" />}} equated to theme park rides and [[epic films]],<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 7, 1983 |title=IMAX — TO FLY! |pages=26 |work=[[The Guardian]] |location=[[London]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97718927/the-guardian/ |url-status=live |access-date=March 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316033314/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/97718927/the-guardian/ |archive-date=March 16, 2022 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{Open access}}}}</ref><ref name=":30" /> which was further amplified by Segall's score.<ref name=":25">{{Cite news|last=Whitehead|first=Donna|date=October 8, 1992|title=New IMAX film invites the audience 'To Fly!'|page=19|work=[[Norwalk, Connecticut|Norwalk]] News|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/norwalk-news-oct-08-1992-p-19/|url-status=live|url-access=subscription|access-date=November 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120083523/https://newspaperarchive.com/norwalk-news-oct-08-1992-p-19/|archive-date=November 20, 2021|via=[[NewspaperArchive]]}}</ref> ''[[The Tampa Tribune]]'' rated the film three out of four stars, deeming the Horseshoe Falls and barnstorming scenes the best.<ref name=":30">{{Cite news |date=March 27, 1998 |title=Come "Fly' with MOSI; This pioneer showcase for the biggest of screens remains a visual thrill for all ages |page=5 |work=[[The Tampa Tribune]]|issn=1042-3761}}</ref> The opening scene was praised for being banal which effectively shocks audiences during the giant-screen transition.{{Efn-la|Attributed to multiple references:<ref name=":18" /><ref name=":32" /><ref name=":26" />}} Donna Whitehead of ''Norwalk News'' called it intimate and stellar, and the ending uplifting.<ref name=":25" /> [[John Russell (art critic)|John Russell]], an art critic for ''[[The New York Times]]'', credited the cinematography to the audiences' immersion in the story, which progressively improves throughout the film. Critics called it poetic and [[paean]]-like, citing its expressive depictions of nature and aviation.{{Efn-la|Attributed to multiple references:<ref name=":45" /><ref name=":24" /><ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Finehout |first=Robert M. |date=January 1985 |title=Public relations film: Larger than life |journal=[[Public Relations Journal]]|issn=1942-4604 |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=4–6|quote=A paean to aviation from gas balloon to moon landing...}}</ref>}} The film's vintage-contemporary duality was credited by ''The Gaffney Ledger'' for its nostalgic weight.<ref name=":47" /> Nathan Southern of [[AllMovie]] gave the film four and a half stars out of five, deeming it a visually vivid historical insight and "one of the greatest unsung landmarks of American documentary".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Southern|first=Nathan|title=To Fly! (1976)|url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/to-fly-v146451|url-status=live|access-date=November 18, 2021|website=[[AllMovie]]|publisher=[[RhythmOne]]|archive-date=January 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170117081459/http://www.allmovie.com/movie/to-fly-v146451}}</ref> As the filmmakers intended, Alderson likened the space sequence to that of ''2001: A Space Odyssey''.<ref name=":26" />

The narration was praised as personal and meditative,<ref name=":7" /> though others found it cursory<ref name=":32" /> and superfluous. Some critics panned Ezekiel's character as banal and mawkish, and the omissions of [[List of aviation pioneers|real-life aviation pioneers]] were noted, alongside how in some shots the balloon appears to be immobile.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |date=March 27, 1998 |title='Grease' makes a well-oiled return Series: what's new on screen |edition=State |pages=10 |work=[[St. Petersburg Times]] |id=[[ProQuest]] [https://www.proquest.com/docview/263266080 263266080]}}</ref><ref name="Card" /> Filmmaker Mark R. Hasan thought the Betamax audio lacks quality in the dialogue, though he noted the film is highly degraded on videocassette from the original, and said ''To Fly!'' excels starting from the barnstorming scene.<ref name=":17" /> While some praised its effectiveness for inspiring audiences<ref>{{Cite web|last=Smith|first=Jeremy|date=November 18, 2021|title=Film gimmicks that worked (and a few that didn't) - Slide 20|url=https://www.yardbarker.com/entertainment/articles/film_gimmicks_that_worked_and_a_few_that_didnt/s1__34078445|url-status=live|access-date=November 20, 2021|website=[[Yardbarker]]|publisher=Playmaker|archive-date=July 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726162635/https://www.yardbarker.com/entertainment/articles/film_gimmicks_that_worked_and_a_few_that_didnt/s1__34078445}}</ref> even in smaller formats,<ref name=":17" /><ref name=":32" /> others found its panoramas to be boring, similar to other IMAX films that are said to overexploit immersion as a [[Movie gimmick|gimmick]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Heritage|first=Stuart|date=October 14, 2010|title=Why Imax is still the way forward for cinema|url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/14/imax-cinema-3d|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207092457/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/14/imax-cinema-3d|archive-date=February 7, 2019|access-date=July 1, 2021|website=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Daly |first=Sean |date=December 11, 2004 |title='Fighter Pilot': Hang Onto Your Popcorn Bucket |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2004/12/11/fighter-pilot-hang-onto-your-popcorn-bucket/727ae4c2-3490-46df-9def-ebb63b5401d2/ |access-date=August 28, 2023 |archive-date=August 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230831101858/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2004/12/11/fighter-pilot-hang-onto-your-popcorn-bucket/727ae4c2-3490-46df-9def-ebb63b5401d2/ |url-status=live }}</ref> With familiarity to the later catalog of "more intrepid" IMAX films, the ''[[St. Petersburg Times]]'' found ''To Fly!''{{'s}} impressiveness debatable for many modern first-time viewers. Because of this, the newspaper graded it C in a 1998 review.<ref name=":5" /> Meanwhile, documentarian Ross Anthony graded it B+, or two and a half stars out of four, noting that he would have graded it A in the 1970s, and deemed ''To Fly!'' "amusing and informative (on a basic level)".<ref name="Card">{{Cite web|last=Anthony|first=Ross|title=Flight Game: To Fly|url=http://rossanthony.com/T/tofly.shtml|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170804233337/http://rossanthony.com/T/tofly.shtml|archive-date=August 4, 2017|access-date=August 15, 2021|website=Hollywood Report Card}}</ref>

=== Audience response ===
[[File:To Fly! balloon.png|left|thumb|upright=1.4|As the squared scene transitions to this one, audiences were heard exclaiming in awe.|alt=A hot-air balloon ascends to a clear sky]]

The Smithsonian reported a diverse demographic of audiences,<ref name=":14" /> who were reportedly "astonished" by ''To Fly!''{{'s}} IMAX vertiginous shots. Shouts and gasps were heard in screenings,<ref name=":32" /><ref name=":26" /> especially during the opening sequence—where people exclaimed in awe—as well as at the Blue Angels and hang-gliding scenes.<ref name=":18" /><ref name="Moon">
Mansfield, Paul (January 17, 1998). "I reached for the moon - and touched it". News. ''[[The Times]]''. No. 66101. [[London]]: [[News UK]]. col S, p.27.</ref> Others, however, screamed in fright and "hastily" left the theater during its vertiginous scenes; journalist [[Douglas Preston]] attributed this to nausea.<ref name=":16">{{Cite book|last=Griffiths|first=Alison|title=Shivers Down Your Spine: Cinema, Museums, and the Immersive View|date=June 11, 2013|publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]|isbn=978-0231129893|chapter=From Daguerreotype to IMAX Screen: Multimedia and IMAX at the Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>{{Rp|225}} For some, uncontrollable dizziness lingered long after the film had finished,<ref name="Moon" /><ref name=":42" /> equated by ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine with [[airsickness]].<ref name=":3" /> Vomit bags were unavailable, making the film inaccessible for people with vertigo.<ref name="Moon" /><ref name=":46">{{Cite news|last=Himowitz|first=Michael J.|date=July 1, 1976|title=Aerospace Museum Makes Fancy Out Of Flight|volume=133|page=3|work=[[The Baltimore Sun|The Evening Sun]]|issue=64|location=[[Baltimore]]|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91307380/|access-date=December 28, 2021|via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{Open access}}|archive-date=December 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228162918/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91307380/the-evening-sun/|url-status=live}}</ref> Later, the NASM added pre-entry warnings about potential dizziness and [[motion sickness]].<ref name=":10">{{Cite book |last1=Geiger |first1=Jeffrey |title=Cinematicity in Media History |last2=Littau |first2=Karin |date=November 30, 2013 |publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]] |isbn=9780748676149 |pages=140 & 143}}</ref> On the contrary, some people noted they were able to watch ''To Fly!'' without getting scared due to it being illusionary.<ref name=":1" />

Many who watched the film returned with their children to rewatch it, akin to a generational tradition.<ref name=":1" /> Similar remarks were made by [[Carl Sagan]], who remained astonished after seeing it more than five times at the NASM.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sagan |first1=Carl |title=[[The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark]] |last2=Druyan |first2=Ann |publisher=[[Random House]] |year=1995 |isbn=0-345-40946-9 |pages=348 |oclc=32855551 |author-link=Carl Sagan |author-link2=Ann Druyan}}</ref> Several pilots credited the film for propelling their interest in aviation,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pimentel |first=Dan |date=May 8, 2023 |title=Capturing the Essence of Flying |url=https://www.flyingmag.com/capturing-the-essence-of-flying/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230509032450/https://www.flyingmag.com/capturing-the-essence-of-flying/ |archive-date=May 9, 2023 |access-date=August 30, 2023 |website=[[Flying (magazine)|Flying]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Virts |first=Terry W. |title=How to Astronaut: An Insider's Guide to Leaving Planet Earth |publisher=[[Workman Publishing Company]] |year=2020 |isbn=978-1523512041 |at=First page of "Making Movies" |author-link=Terry W. Virts}}</ref> including astronaut [[Terry W. Virts]] to whom ''To Fly!'' is his first, and among his most memorable, childhood IMAX films.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ziv |first=Stav |date=May 10, 2016 |title='A Beautiful Planet' Whisks Viewers to Space for 45 Minutes |url=https://www.newsweek.com/beautiful-planet-whisks-viewers-space-45-minutes-458109 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624033256/https://www.newsweek.com/beautiful-planet-whisks-viewers-space-45-minutes-458109 |archive-date=June 24, 2021 |access-date=July 1, 2021 |website=[[Newsweek]]}}</ref> Dan Moran of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' said it is among the few films that kept Pictorium audiences awake instead of asleep.<ref name=":29">{{Cite web|last=Moran|first=Dan|date=June 12, 2018|title=The Pictorium, Great America's IMAX pioneer, bids a sudden and quiet departure|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/opinion/ct-lns-six-flags-great-america-pictorium-st-0613-story.html|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210622015114/https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/opinion/ct-lns-six-flags-great-america-pictorium-st-0613-story.html|archive-date=June 22, 2021|access-date=November 30, 2021|website=[[Lake County News-Sun]]|publisher=|location=[[Gurnee, Illinois]]|agency=[[Chicago Tribune]]}}</ref> The [[2011 Virginia earthquake]] coincided with ''To Fly!''{{'s}} Horseshoe Falls scene at Lockheed Martin; projectionist Keith Madden and audiences assumed the shaking they felt came from the theater's [[subwoofer]]s rather than an earthquake.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Madden |first1=Keith |last2=Trenner |first2=Pat |date=October 4, 2011 |title=Is it Real, or is it IMAX? |url=https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/is-it-real-or-is-it-imax-96193008/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306121333/https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/is-it-real-or-is-it-imax-96193008/ |archive-date=March 6, 2021 |access-date=November 28, 2021 |website=[[Air & Space/Smithsonian]] |location=[[Washington, D.C.]]}}</ref> Modern expert hang-gliders were surprised at the hang-gliding stunt by Wills, described as dynamic yet on an "impossibly simple craft".<ref name=":34">{{Cite web |last=Glenshaw |first=Paul |date=August 2019 |title=Born in the 1960s, The Sport of Hang Gliding Still Hangs On |url=https://www.airspacemag.com/airspacemag/rise-and-fall-of-hang-gliding-180972601/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210407230622/https://www.airspacemag.com/airspacemag/rise-and-fall-of-hang-gliding-180972601/ |archive-date=April 7, 2021 |access-date=November 28, 2021 |website=[[Air & Space/Smithsonian]] |location=[[Washington, D.C.]]}}</ref>

Responding to the film's popularity, Bill McCabe of the DuPont Aerospace Enterprise said that because humans have a supposedly innate interest in flying, the film has a universal appeal.<ref name="WHYY">{{Cite web |last=Wilmore |first=Bill |date=March 20, 2011 |orig-date=June 25, 1996 |title="To Fly" Segment featured on Channel 12 WHYY |url=https://digital.hagley.org/VID_2011320_B03_ID06_01 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211220124550/https://digital.hagley.org/VID_2011320_B03_ID06_01 |archive-date=December 20, 2021 |access-date=December 20, 2021 |publisher=[[WHYY-TV]] |via=[[Hagley Digital Archives]]}}</ref> Several educators categorized it as [[educational entertainment]],<ref name=":40" /> though with less interest among field trip groups than other IMAX documentaries.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Baca |first=Ricardo |author-link=Ricardo Baca |date=August 1, 2011 |title=A MEGA experience |work=[[Corpus Christi Caller-Times]] |publisher=[[Gannett]] |issn=0894-5365 |id=[[ProQuest]] [https://www.proquest.com/docview/2569233136/3EA18E0C94F34178PQ/1 2569233136]}}</ref> The audience response prompted the Smithsonian to write a tagline on their website: "''Feel'' the Earth Drop Away Beneath You".<ref name=":16" />{{Rp|229}} "Feel" was later changed to "Watch". In 2013 to commemorate its 37th anniversary, a new poster artwork was created with the tagline "Go where dreams have wings", and in 2016, a 40th-anniversary one-minute [[Trailer (promotion)|trailer]] was released.<ref name=":13" /> MacGillivray opined that the film's "unpretentiousness and lightheartedness" makes it a form of [[escapism]] and its unconventional ending makes it "more profound and in a way, more lasting".<ref name=":1" />

=== Accolades ===
By 1992, ''To Fly!'' had received 11 awards.<ref name=":25" /><!-- WILL LOOK FOR MORE SOURCES -->
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="width: 99%;"
|+ List of accolades received by ''To Fly!''
! scope="col" |Awarder
! scope="col" |Category
! scope="col" |Recipient(s)
! scope="col" |Result
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |{{Abbr|Ref(s)|References}}
|-
! scope="row" |[[CINE]]
|Golden Eagle Award
| rowspan="8" |''To Fly!''
| {{won}}
| rowspan="8" style="text-align:center;" |<ref name=":3" />
|-
! rowspan="2" scope="row" |[[Chicago International Film Festival]]
|Best Film Award
|{{won}}
|-
|Special Jury Award (Cinematography)
|{{won}}
|-
! scope="row" |[[Berlin]] Inforfilm Festival
| rowspan="2" |''{{Abbr|N/A|not available}}''
| {{won|place=First}}
|-
! scope="row" |Bicentennial Festival of Films on Aeronautics and Space
| {{won|place=Grand}}
|-
! scope="row" |Festival of the Americas
|Special Jury Award
| {{won}}
|-
! scope="row" |[[Columbus International Film Festival]]
|Chris Bronze Plaque Award
| {{won}}
|-
! scope="row" |Information Film Producers Association
|Best Documentary of the Decade
| {{won}}
|}

== Legacy ==

''To Fly!'' is regarded as an influential IMAX film, with filmmaker and author [[Lenny Lipton]] calling it the giant-screen film industry's "signature film".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lipton |first=Lenny |title=The Cinema in Flux |date=April 7, 2021 |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media]] |isbn=978-1-0716-0950-7 |location=[[Los Angeles]] |pages=581 |chapter=IMAX and PLF Exhibition |author-link=Lenny Lipton}}</ref> Jon Wilkman, writing for ''[[Literary Hub]]'', listed the film in 2020 as one of the "21 Documentaries That Redefined the Genre".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wilkman|first=Jon|date=February 18, 2020|title=21 Documentaries That Redefined the Genre|url=https://lithub.com/21-documentaries-that-redefined-the-genre/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208235337/https://lithub.com/21-documentaries-that-redefined-the-genre/|archive-date=February 8, 2021|access-date=December 21, 2021|website=[[Literary Hub]]|publisher=[[Grove Atlantic]]}}</ref> In 1980, Kernan listed the film as one of the top reasons people visited Washington, D.C., alongside the [[Washington Monument]] and [[J. Edgar Hoover Building]].<ref name=":18" /> It also has a significant history with political figures, viewed by heads of state from Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. During [[First inauguration of Ronald Reagan|his first inauguration]] in 1981, US President [[Ronald Reagan]] handed a copy of it to [[Soviet General Secretary]] [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], and later showed it to him while in Moscow. When [[George H. W. Bush]] met Israeli Prime Minister [[Yitzhak Shamir]] in 1989, they went to the NASM and watched ''To Fly!.''<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />

[[File:ChrisNolanTDK (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|[[Christopher Nolan]] at the premiere of his film ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' (2008), whose IMAX cinematography was inspired by ''To Fly!'' and consulted by MacGillivray|alt=A man amid a crowd]]

Contrary to popular belief, the film is not the first in IMAX, though was instrumental in introducing more people to the format.<ref name=":42" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Pisano |first=Dominick |date=May 3, 2010 |title=IMAX—Not the First, but Close! |url=https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/imax%E2%80%94not-first-close |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706014815/https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/imax%E2%80%94not-first-close |archive-date=July 6, 2020 |access-date=July 8, 2020 |publisher=[[National Air and Space Museum]]}}</ref> This was acknowledged by IMAX filmmakers like [[Kieth Merrill]] of ''[[Grand Canyon: The Hidden Secrets]]'' (1984),<ref name=":4" /> and [[Ron Fricke]] who decided to film ''[[Chronos (film)|Chronos]]'' (1985) in IMAX after seeing ''To Fly!'', regretting not shooting his more-popular film ''[[Koyaanisqatsi]]'' (1982) with it.<ref>{{Cite book|last=MacDonald|first=Scott|title=The Sublimity of Document: Cinema as Diorama|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2019|isbn=978-0190052140|location=[[New York City]]|pages=31|doi=10.1093/oso/9780190052126.001.0001|oclc=1083674891}}</ref> [[Brian J. Terwilliger]] theatrically premiered his IMAX film ''[[Living in the Age of Airplanes]]'' (2015) at Lockheed Martin as a tribute to ''To Fly!'' which he watched as a teenager.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Tallman|first=Jill W.|date=April 9, 2015|title='Living in the Age of Airplanes' Premieres at Air and Space Museum|url=https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2015/april/09/living-in-the-age-of-airplanes-premieres|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805125206/https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2015/april/09/living-in-the-age-of-airplanes-premieres|archive-date=August 5, 2020|access-date=November 21, 2021|publisher=[[Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association]]}}</ref> [[Christopher Nolan]] watched the film at the age of 14 and noticed the audience tilting their heads during the aerial scenes; MacGillivray also consulted him on the IMAX cameras for ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' (2008),<ref name=":20">{{Cite speech |location=LG [[IMAX]] Theater, [[Sydney]] |date=September 25, 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbBv2IMS1zY |title=''The Dark Knight Rises'' 15/70mm rescreening |access-date=July 25, 2023 |publisher=【IMAX】[[YouTube]]r Aventa |publication-date=September 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20230725092328/pbBv2IMS1zY |archive-date=July 25, 2023 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}</ref> the first major feature-length film to be shot on IMAX<ref>{{cite web |last=Tapley |first=Kristopher |date=July 18, 2018 |title=''The Dark Knight'' Set for 10th Anniversary Imax Re-Release (Exclusive) |url=https://variety.com/2018/film/news/dark-knight-10th-anniversary-imax-re-release-1202875906/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817143259/https://variety.com/2018/film/news/dark-knight-10th-anniversary-imax-re-release-1202875906/ |archive-date=August 17, 2018 |access-date=August 28, 2023 |website=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |publisher=[[Penske Media]]}}</ref> and whose aerial scenes were inspired by ''To Fly!''.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Blair|first1=Elizabeth|date=May 2, 2014|title=Maintaining The IMAX Experience, From Museum To Multiplex|url=https://www.npr.org/2014/05/02/308939700/maintaining-the-imax-experience-from-museum-to-multiplex|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210701122246/https://www.npr.org/2014/05/02/308939700/maintaining-the-imax-experience-from-museum-to-multiplex|archive-date=July 1, 2021|access-date=July 1, 2021|website=[[All Things Considered]]|publisher=[[NPR]]}}</ref> After watching the film, scientist [[Anatoly Sagalevich]] ideated the underwater IMAX film ''[[Titanica]]'' (1992) to filmmaker [[Stephen Low (filmmaker)|Stephen Low]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Titanica |url=https://www.stephenlow.com/project/titanica/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230325223407/stephenlow.com/project/titanica/ |archive-date=March 25, 2023 |access-date=August 21, 2023 |publisher=[[The Stephen Low Company]] |at=Production Notes}}</ref>

The film was also cited as a great influence on the legitimization of IMAX and multi-image scenes in IMAX films, which has been common practice ever since.<ref name=":32" /> A reviewer urged major film companies to "watch out", predicting ''To Fly!'' would set IMAX as a leading film format over Cinerama and 3D.<ref name=":3" /> In 1995, the [[Library of Congress]] deemed ''To Fly!'' a pioneer of the format, thus culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant for the [[National Film Registry]], an American film preservation effort,<ref name=":33">{{Cite web |title=Brief Descriptions and Expanded Essays of National Film Registry Titles |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/descriptions-and-essays/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180101025858/https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/descriptions-and-essays/ |archive-date=January 1, 2018 |access-date=November 28, 2021 |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |at=Section "To Fly! (1976)" and "Complete National Film Registry Listing"}}</ref> which archived its [[reduction print]]s.<ref name=":32" /> Voters at the Giant Screen Theater Association included it in the IMAX Hall of Fame on September 24, 2001, a decision praised by IMAX's then-co-chief executive officers [[Richard Gelfond]] and Bradley J. Wechsler, stating the film deserves such recognition.<ref>{{Cite news|date=September 24, 2001|title=IMAX Announces Recipients of Founders Award at Chicago GSTA Conference|publisher=[[PR Newswire]]|location=[[Chicago]]}}</ref>

In 1980, the NASM requested another IMAX film,<ref name=":39" /> prompting Moore to collaborate with MacGillivray on ''[[Flyers (film)|Flyers]]'' (1982), which Conoco funded and became a box-office success too. MFF continued making IMAX documentaries, two of which were nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject]]: ''[[The Living Sea]]'' (1995), also inducted into the IMAX Hall of Fame; and ''[[Dolphins (2000 film)|Dolphins]]'', which was the highest-grossing documentary of 2000.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |date=July 2020 |title=MacGillivray Freeman Films Filmography (1963 through 2020) |url=http://macgillivrayfreeman.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/MFF_Filmography_2020_2.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210725080649/https://macgillivrayfreeman.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/MFF_Filmography_2020_2.pdf |archive-date=July 25, 2021 |access-date=November 30, 2021 |publisher=[[MacGillivray Freeman Films]]}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=3, 26, 31}} Still active, the company is regarded one of the most influential IMAX figures with over $1&nbsp;billion of box-office earnings.<ref name=":1" /> In 1996, MacGillivray released ''[[The Magic of Flight]]'', a film about the Blue Angels which serves as the [[spiritual sequel]] of ''To Fly!''{{'s}} scene featuring the squadron.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Robbins|first=Gary|date=March 18, 1996|title=Taking a camera to the max|page=86|work=[[Orange County Register]]|publisher=[[Freedom Communications]]|location=[[Anaheim, California]]|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/santa-ana-orange-county-register-mar-18-1996-p-86/|url-status=live|url-access=subscription|access-date=November 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120115022/https://newspaperarchive.com/santa-ana-orange-county-register-mar-18-1996-p-86/|archive-date=November 20, 2021|via=[[NewspaperArchive]]}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Film|Aviation|United States}}
<!-- ALPHABETICAL -->
* [[Denver & Rio Grande Railroad]], whose [[Tender (rail)|tender]] is used for the train scene
* [[Sonnet 18]], whose concluding [[couplet]] is recited by one of the film's characters
* [[Travel Air 4000]], flown in the barnstorming scene <!-- https://web.archive.org/web/20230121231453/http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_N9.html -->

== Notes ==
{{Notelist-la}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb title}}
* {{Letterboxd title}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes}}

{{Greg MacGillivray}}
{{Robert M. Young}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1976 films]]
[[Category:American short documentary films]]
[[Category:Documentary films about aviation]]
[[Category:Short films directed by Greg MacGillivray]]
[[Category:IMAX short films]]
[[Category:United States National Film Registry films]]
[[Category:1976 short documentary films]]
[[Category:MacGillivray Freeman Films films]]
[[Category:IMAX documentary films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Bernardo Segall]]
[[Category:American docudrama films]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:1970s English-language films]]
[[Category:1970s American films]]
[[Category:English-language short films]]