Muenzinger Auditorium’s Sundance-Ready Renovation: New Sound, Screen, and Accessible Seating
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CU Boulder’s Muenzinger Auditorium, one of four campus venues on Sundance 2027’s official list, has completed a renovation adding a new screen, an immersive sound system, a new masking system, curtains, and expanded accessible seating. The upgrades were shown to the public for the first time on August 31, 2026, at a free International Film Series screening of Whiplash, with Sundance’s own accessibility manager on hand.
Last verified: September 17, 2026
What changed inside the 400-seat auditorium
| Upgrade | Status |
|---|---|
| New screen with speakers installed behind it, replacing a curved wall coated in screen paint | Confirmed |
| New immersive sound system with wall-mounted speaker arrays, replacing speakers previously wheeled in for screenings | Confirmed |
| New expanded accessible seating, developed with input from Sundance’s accessibility team | Confirmed |
| New masking system described by the International Film Series director as among the first installations of its kind | Reported, not yet confirmed |
| Exact renovation cost or number of new accessible seats | Pending |
The improvements got their first public test on August 31, 2026, when CU Boulder’s International Film Series opened its fall season with a free screening of Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash. IFS director Jason Phelps told the audience the new sound system would be immediately noticeable, and singled out the masking system, which adjusts the visible screen area for different film formats, for particular praise. The screening itself showed the tradeoffs of the upgrade: reporting from the event described the new sound as crisp and enveloping, though noticeably louder than a typical multiplex during some sequences.
Why Sundance is involved in a CU Boulder classroom building
Muenzinger has run CU’s International Film Series continuously since 1941, making it one of the longest-running campus film venues in the country, and it needed comparatively less work than some other Sundance venues because it already functions as a regular film space. Sundance accessibility manager Laura Benge attended the reveal screening and noted that most of the audience, based on an informal show of hands, had never attended Sundance before. She described Boulder’s arrival as effectively introducing the festival to a new audience. Muenzinger is one of four CU Boulder venues on Sundance’s official 2027 list, alongside Macky Auditorium, Roe Green Theatre, and Old Main, all within roughly a ten-minute walk of each other, as detailed in our roundup of Sundance’s other official venues.
Why it matters for your trip
If you’re mapping out a walkable day of screenings, Muenzinger now joins Macky Auditorium and the Boulder Theater as venues with recently completed, purpose-built upgrades rather than temporary festival fit-outs, a distinction covered across our full Sundance 2027 Boulder venues guide. The accessible seating upgrades are also worth knowing about if accessibility is a factor in your planning; see our dedicated accessibility guide for what else has been confirmed across festival venues.
What we’re watching
Neither CU Boulder nor Sundance Institute has yet confirmed which specific festival sections or film blocks will screen at Muenzinger in January 2027. We’ll update this post once that programming detail is announced.
