Here’s Johnny! On Oct. 23, the National Geographic Museum of Exploration is screening The Shining, Stanley Kubrick’s slow-burn psychological horror film based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name. Beyond paying homage to the greats, you may be wondering why the National Geographic Society, which just reopened its doors this summer, chose to screen this film.
For starters, the museum’s team wanted to make good use of what they call the Hero Wall in its pavilion. “When we first were opening the museum, we felt like it was such an opportunity to use that enormous screen to screen feature films, and wanted to think of ways to get movie buffs and film lovers to come enjoy that piece of technology in the museum,” Jane Raleigh, Director of Museum Programming at the National Geographic Society, told Dread Central.
This screening of The Shining is the second in a trilogy of 2026 screenings in National Geographic’s Big Screen Adventures series. “The tie that pulls them all together is that all of the films we’re showing have a connection to national parks,” Raleigh said. “So even though it’s really like a perfect thriller for Halloween, which was really why we chose The Shining, there’s actually multiple connections to national parks.”
Look closely at the opening scene: There, you’ll see Going-to-the-Sun Road, located in Montana’s Glacier National Park. “There’s also lore that the interior sets of the hotel throughout the movie are partially based on a hotel called the Ahwahnee Hotel that’s in Yosemite National Park in California.” The Ahwahnee’s warm cabin-core accents and sprawling halls are a dead ringer for Kubrick’s Overlook Hotel.
Prior to The Shining, the National Geographic Museum screened Thelma and Louise in September, “which was super fun,” Raleigh said, adding that the infamous cliff dive in that movie was filmed in Arches National Park.
One of Raleigh’s biggest takeaways was that she’s excited to use the adventure series as a way to connect with film lovers in the Washington, D.C. region, especially by partnering with DC Movie Club. The National Geographic team is excited that DC Movie Club “can bring some of their audience who travel all over the DMV to see films together, to come experience one at the Museum of Exploration.”
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