WB helps finance Smithsonian theater

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Warner Bros. Entertainment has made a $5 million donation to help the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History establish a new theater.

The gift is intended to help the museum transform its 46-year-old Carmichael Auditorium into a modern theater with 3-D capability so the history of American film can be presented, the museum said Wednesday.

The auditorium will be renamed the Warner Bros. Theater when it opens next year. Leonard Carmichael, the seventh secretary of the Smithsonian, will be recognized with a plaque in the theater's lobby and in a small display about the history of the museum.

The new theater will also have equipment to showcase films still in their original 35mm reel format. The Warner Bros. Theater will be used for lectures, symposia, concerts and other programs and events, as well.

"For more than a century, American movies have provided a strong and enduring national cultural connection that crosses generations," Brent D. Glass, director of the museum, said in a statement. "It continues to shape how we perceive ourselves and how people around the world understand our country. American film deserves a special home at our museum and the Warner Bros. partnership expands our capacity to tell this unique story and allow museum visitors to explore the legacy of American cinema."