A Beautiful Planet

A Beautiful Planet is an IMAX documentary that presents Earth as seen from orbit. Filmed in cooperation with NASA, it uses footage captured by astronauts aboard the International Space Station, offering a view of the planet that has largely been reserved for those who travel into space. The film looks at the beauty of the blue planet and at the marks humanity has left on it over time, considering both the changes to the environment and what people can achieve through cooperation.

Toni Myers directed, wrote and produced the film, the third in a run of space documentaries she made following Space Station 3D in 2002 and IMAX Hubble in 2010. Jennifer Lawrence provides the narration, while astronauts including Samantha Cristoforetti, Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren appear as themselves. The film runs 45 minutes and was released in April 2016.

Made by IMAX, it drew a worldwide box office of about 26 million dollars, a strong result for a short documentary. Audiences have responded favourably: on IMDb it holds a rating of 7.3 from roughly 1,600 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7.1 from a much smaller base of 84 votes. The two scores sit close together, suggesting a consistent reception across both audiences.