Featured with immersive experience, Dome theater is a multi-purposefacility for science education and has been becoming the main type theaters in the science museums in China. Through summarizing the origin and development of the dome theater, it is obvious that digital dome theater embodies the dual function of films releasing and science education on astronomy. The data of dome theaters in science museums between China and the United States are comparatively studied in the paper, including quantities, sizes, shows, educational activities and amount of audiences. The findings in the research reveal that albeit the scale of big dome theaters in China is largely the same as that of the U.S., the amount of audiences and popularity are less and lower. The main reasons contain three aspects. Firstly, the function and orientation of Chinese dome theater is oversimplified which results in lacking educational activities. Secondly, the production of films and shows is insufficient and the price of rent is high. Thirdly, the formats of dome system are not standardized which brings about the difficulty in film releasing on different dome theaters. In order to have the current situation changed, it calls for three aspects to be promoted accordingly. The advice to dome manager is that astronomy education and the real-time show is the key point for dome activity and film production. The suggestion to the related department is to formulate standardized guidance.