Action Theater first opened in 1993 at Carowinds and Kings Dominion, operating as a motion simulator themed to the Paramount film Days of Thunder.

[1][2] The following year, the attraction was installed at California's Great America, Canada's Wonderland, and Kings Island.

[3] In 1998, Action Theater was renamed "Paramount Action F/X Theater", and a new James Bond-feature debuted at each location called "James Bond 007: License to Thrill" – a play on the title of an older Bond film called Licence to Kill.

In 2001, the theme parks presented The 7th Portal (based on the web comic by Stan Lee) as a three-dimensional ride in which the riders help the Data Raiders fight the Nullifiers.

[6] In 2015, California's Great America announced that a 4D holographic attraction themed to BioWare's Mass Effect video game (titled Mass Effect: New Earth) would debut in a newly renovated Action Theater for the 2016 season.