Actor Tom Hanks says viewers are in for a realistic "wartime experience" when the new film he produced, "Beyond All Boundaries," opens at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans on Friday.

The film incorporates vintage film footage, animation and sensory effects so audiences can feel the rumbling of tank treads and booming of anti-aircraft fire.

"This is not just a widescreen movie," said Hanks, who narrates the 35-minute film, as well as an introductory video that will be shown as viewers wait to enter the theater. "There's actual things that pop up, actual elements that come into it that put you in the environment."

Victory Theater has been a highly anticipated attraction at the museum. The theater was built specifically for "Beyond All Boundaries" as part of a $300 million museum expansion that is expected to continue through 2015. Federal and state funds, along with private donations, have so far generated about $90 million for the project.

Two other additions -- a canteen that will showcase musical revues inspired by USO-style productions and a restaurant called The American Sector that will be overseen by chef John Besh -- are also opening Friday.

"We think of it as a World War II museum history park with a variety of things to engage visitors," said Gordon "Nick" Mueller, the museum's president and chief executive officer. "It's going to be very special."

Hanks, the star of "Saving Private Ryan" and an executive producer on the World War II miniseries "Band of Brothers" and the upcoming follow-up called "The Pacific," said the planning and making of "Beyond All Boundaries" took about five years. He said one of the toughest aspects of the project was trying to decide what elements of World War II would be represented in such a short film.

What had to be captured, "without question," Hanks said, were the economic and human costs and the war's roots in the civil rights and women's rights movements.