AMC to Bring VR Experience to Theatres
AMC Entertainment, with the help of virtual reality startup Dreamscape Immersive, plans to introduce the VR experience to movie theatres by 2018.
With Dreamscape's motion-tracking technology, the company is able to bring in up to six people into a "virtual reality multiplex." The company will use a dozen or so cameras to produce a variety of environments. Participants will also have to put on VR goggles and gloves, while the small device will be clipped onto their shoes.
More importantly, Dreamscape's technology allows participants to see each other through fully-rendered avatars. In addition, this shared reality between consumers also permits them to interact with one another. For instance, through their avatars, they will be able to pick up items and pass them onto another.
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"We were mesmerized by what we saw," Adam Aron, chief executive of AMC Entertainment, admitted. "Their vision is to change what V.R. has been — away from just a heightened level of video game and toward cinematic storytelling — and we think it's what consumers have been waiting for."
AMC has to fund about six Dreamscape Immersive VR centers both in the U.S. and in the U.K. in the next 18 months. Apart from these locations, a Dreamscape Immersive launch a flagship location in Westfield Century City Mall in Los Angeles in the first quarter of 2018. Westfield is among the investors of the project.
Some of the AMC's existing theatres will be repurposed while other locations will be stand-alone centers.
Dreamscape is creating original content for the VR experience. They are also in conversations with several major studios as well as IP-holders so participants may eventually be able to enter the world of movie franchises.
According to Aron, the VR experience is not meant to replace films but to complement them. Ticket prices should be around $15 to $20.
