Academy Award®-winning composer, Hans Zimmer and Bleeding Fingers Music, scores the film that takes audiences into a hidden world of beauty and grandeur
December 11, 2018, British Columbia, Canada – Byron Horner, Executive Producer and
President of Spirit Bear Entertainment and distributor MacGillivray Freeman Films announced
today that Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds has signed on to narrate Great Bear Rainforest set in
one of the planet’s most exquisite and secluded wildernesses.
Hidden from the outside world, Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest is home to an immense array of
wildlife, including the fabled all-white spirit bear—the rarest bear on earth—and the indigenous
First Nations, who have provided stewardship of the forest for millennia. Great Bear Rainforest
is the first time this wildlife-rich world will be experienced in IMAX and giant screen theaters
when it is released globally on February 15, 2019.
“We can’t think of a more perfect fit for this project than Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds,” says
Director Ian McAllister, who is also Canadian and has lived and worked in the Great Bear
Rainforest for 30 years. “Ryan is a wonderful representative for the ongoing conservation of
this globally significant rainforest which is part of his Canadian heritage and we are thrilled he
will be our narrator.”“I want my children to know there is still an area in this world that has remained wild, and will
remain that way, because of the long history of stewardship shown by indigenous people” says
Ryan Reynolds. “I hope this film inspires the younger generation that there is hope for the
future if we all work together and take care of our planet’s remaining wild places.”
The main title theme for the film will be composed by the legendary Academy Award-winning
composer, Hans Zimmer with the score being composed by Anže Rozman for Bleeding Fingers
Music, produced by Russell Emanuel.
“When I saw the footage that Ian McAllister and Byron Horner showed me of their film I could
not help but be swept away by the spellbinding imagery of this truly remarkable place,” said
Zimmer. “I was so moved by the beauty and grandness of this environment that I felt compelled
to be involved on a deeper level and I am excited to be a part of the team.”“Featuring three First Nations’ youth sharing in their own voices their intergenerational
conservation efforts, the Great Bear Rainforest represents two firsts. This is the first giant
screen film for IMAX theaters shot exclusively in British Columbia and the first to feature
Indigenous Peoples in Canada,” shares Executive Producer Byron Horner.
Director Ian McAllister and Producer Jeff Turner and their crews spent three years filming
throughout the remote reaches of the Great Bear Rainforest. From the underwater ocean
world, through the salmon river valleys to the ice-capped peaks of the Coast Mountains, their
unprecedented close-up footage of the spirit bear, along with stunning shots of the forest’s
coastal wolves, grizzlies, sea otters, humpback whales, sea lions, salmon and the annual herring
spawn will thrill audiences who may not even know that such a world exists.
Premiering in Vancouver, British Columbia on February 12th , the film will be available to the
public in four Canadian markets on February 15 – Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto and Sudbury.
Additional theatres across the country will screen the film throughout 2019.
“When we first saw some initial footage of Great Bear Rainforest, we were absolutely
captivated by the visuals and knew this was a story that must be told on the giant
screen,” added Shaun MacGillivray, president of MacGillivray Freeman Films. “There is no more
powerful format for showcasing the extraordinary beauty of this ancient rainforest.”
Ryan Reynolds is the star and producer of Fox’s hit Deadpool franchise. He is currently shooting
Michael Bay’s 6 Underground for Netflix and will soon be heard as the voice of ‘Detective
Pikachu’ in Legendary/Warner Bros Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. He is currently working on a
slate of films as a producer through his company Maximum Effort.
Hans Zimmer has scored more than 150 projects across all mediums, which, combined, have
grossed more than $28 billion dollars at the worldwide box office. Zimmer has been honored
with an Academy Award®, two Golden Globes®, three Grammys®, an American Music Award,
and a Tony® Award. Zimmer most recently co-scored the critically acclaimed Blade Runner
2049 alongside Benjamin Wallfisch, which earned the pair BAFTA and Critics’ Choice
nominations for Best Score. Additionally, Zimmer created the score for Christopher
Nolan’s Dunkirk, for which he was nominated for multiple awards including an Academy Award,
Grammy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA Award, and Critics’ Choice Award. Other notable scores
of Zimmer’s include Gladiator, The Thin Red Line, As Good as It Gets, Rain Man, The Dark
Knight trilogy, Inception, Thelma and Louise, Black Hawk Down and The Last
Samurai. Upcoming projects include a live-action remake of The Lion King, which will be
released by Disney in 2019 and Widows, which will be released later this year and
reteams Zimmer with director Steve McQueen. Last summer, Zimmer completed a highly
successful, critically acclaimed tour across Europe and the U.S.
Great Bear Rainforest is a Spirit Bear Entertainment film presented by Seaspan and directed by
Ian McAllister, produced by Jeff Turner and executive produced by Kyle Washington and Byron
Horner. The film is distributed by MacGillivray Freeman Films. Great Bear Rainforest will be
released in select IMAX and giant screen theaters beginning February 15, 2019. The film will be
accompanied by a companion book written by Ian McAllister and Alex Van Tol and published by
Orca Book Publishers.
About Spirit Bear Entertainment
Based in Parksville, British Columbia, Spirit Bear Entertainment Inc. is a film production
company focused on natural history documentaries. As part of making the Great Bear
Rainforest, Spirit Bear Entertainment executed protocol agreements with Gitga’at, Kitasoo
Xai’xais and Heiltsuk First Nations in whose traditional territories we filmed the Great Bear
Rainforest.
About Seaspan
Seaspan is an association of Canadian Companies primarily involved in coastal marine
transportation, ship docking/ship escort, ship repair and shipbuilding services in Western North
America. In addition to the marine transportation services offered directly through Seaspan,
commercial ferry, shipyard and bunkering services are provided via affiliate companies: Marine
Petrobulk, Seaspan Ferries, Vancouver Drydock, Vancouver Shipyards and Victoria Shipyards.
Seaspan has a long tradition working with First Nations on the coast of British Columbia.
About MacGillivray Freeman Films
MacGillivray Freeman Films is the world’s foremost independent producer and distributor of
giant-screen 70mm films with 40 films for IMAX and giant-screen theatres to its credit.
Throughout the company’s 50-year history, its films have won numerous international awards
including two Academy Award ® nominations and three films inducted into the IMAX Hall of
Fame. MacGillivray Freeman’s films are known for their artistry and celebration of science and
the natural world. It is the first documentary film company to reach the one-billion-dollar
benchmark for worldwide box office.
About Bleeding Fingers Music
Emmy and BAFTA nominated Bleeding Fingers Music has assembled an exceptional, sonically
diverse composer roster, each selected for their unique and complementary skills to create
superlative original film and television score. We believe that collaboration breeds innovation
and working in an environment where the gifted are empowered to be adventurous,
experimental and creatively generous results in extraordinary music. Our twenty state-of-the-
art studios based on Hans Zimmer’s world-renowned campus and our best-in-class production
team allow us the ability to produce music at the very highest standard.
Bleeding Fingers has created original music for productions including: Blue Planet II (BBC),
Planet Earth II (BBC), The Simpsons (Fox), Superfly (Sony Pictures), Dope (Netflix), Challenger:
The Lost Tapes (Nat Geo), American Playboy (Amazon), Roman Empire (Netflix), Barbarians
Rising (History), The World Wars (History), Big Cats (BBC), Snatch (Crackle), The Making of the
Mob (AMC), Savage Kingdom (Nat Geo) and Intervention (A&E).
http://greatbearrainforestfilm.com
###
Media Contacts:
MacGillivray Freeman Films
Lori Rick
949-494-1055
lrick@macfreefilms.com
Spirit Bear Entertainment
Byron Horner
250-240-4049
byron@byronhorner.ca
KMPR
Kirsten Mihailides
604-618-3572
kirsten@kmpr.ca
Photo by Deirdre Leowinata
