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Now comes an immersive experience that gets its
U.S. launch in Los Angeles next week. It features laser
projection and giant LED panels that line each side of the
auditorium and fill a moviegoer's peripheral vision.
The panels extract colors from the screen and project them
around the audience.
"It gives you a feeling of being immersed in the film," said
Shelby Russell, senior vice president of marketing at AEG and
the LA Live entertainment district in downtown Los Angeles.
"It makes you more engaged in the film in a very immersive way
so it sets the mood throughout the entire auditorium," Russell
told Reuters Television.
The Immersive Cinema Experience (ICE), first launched in France
two years ago by movie chain CGR Cinemas, will make its U.S.
debut on Dec. 12 at a single venue in Los Angeles for adventure
movie "Jumanji: The Next Level," starring Dwayne Johnson, Jack
Black and Kevin Hart.
Moviegoers will be charged an additional $6 for the experience,
which CGR Cinemas plans to expand to other theaters around the
United States.
It takes a swift three weeks to convert a feature film into an
immersive experience, with action films working best.
"The films on ICE must be the films that have action, color and
movement," said Jocelyn Bouyssy, managing director of CGR
Cinemas. "It really needs movement of the camera - 'Mission:
Impossible,' 'Jumanji,' films like that."
The technology is coming to the United States as movie theaters
face increasing competition for audiences from streaming
platforms like Netflix and Disney+.
"We do believe that providing unique experiences is a way to
draw moviegoers to movie theaters, and ICE is a great example of
that, and this is an experience you can't get at home," said
Shelby.
(Reporting by Rollo Ross; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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