Latest immersive technology shakes up movie viewing experience

Global Business

It’s been more than a hundred years since the world’s first feature film was released on the silver screen, The Story of the Kelly Gang.

Since then, with the exception of IMAX and 3-D, not much has really changed when it comes to the movie theater experience so more and more would-be movie goers are staying at home and cozying up to Netflix and Amazon. But new technology hopes to change that.

CGTN’s May Lee looks at new immersive technology that is changing the way we watch movies at the theater.

Paul Kim helped develop ScreenX, the world’s first multi-projection system for theaters. The format from South Korean company CJ 4DPLEX, takes the movie beyond the single screen by using the side walls of the theater. The result is an immersive, panoramic, 270-degree experience.

ScreenX is just getting started in the U.S. A ticket in LA costs about $20. Right now, there are just three theaters, which all debuted in May with “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.” In Asia, however, ScreenX has already taken off.

Multiple projection is one form of immersion, but what about a total immersive experience?

Voyager, created by California–based company Positron, is a full motion chair that enhances the virtual reality experience. The plan is to create VR theaters equipped with Voyager pods.

“A lot of people don’t have high-end VR headsets at home ” Jeffrey Travis, CEO & Founder, Positron said. “And even if they did, it’s often a cumbersome set of wires and technology that not everybody can set up so to have theaters or destinations that are essentially a whole cinema of VR chairs like Voyager, I think is going to be a very appealing proposition.”

Positron is working with independent VR producers as well as big studios to develop content that synchronizes with Voyager. It’s been just a year since the chair debuted, but already demand is booming, especially from China and India. And to think, this is just the beginning.

Take a look at the 360 video of a making of one of the scenes from this summer’s “The Mummy” from Universal Pictures.