In the past decade, it is no secret that with the convenience of online movie services like Netflix, the movie theater industry has taken quite a hit thanks to more and more people staying at home. In today’s world of disruptive innovation, the only way for theater companies to combat this loss of profits is to offer new, exciting experiences to draw the crowds back inside. Their next big idea? Virtual reality arcades.
A recent Dreamscape Immersive demo in Sweden
According to a recent New York Times article, movie theater giant AMC Entertainment is teaming up with VR start-up Dreamscape Immersive to bring this idea to life. This fascinating technology, which relies on a variety of camera, sensors, and head-mounted displays (HMDs) stationed in an open area, “allows up to six people to explore a virtual-reality environment at once, seeing fully rendered avatars of one another,” and “participants can handle objects and — as avatars — even pass them between one another” (Barnes). AMC’s CEO Adam Aron is very excited about this endeavor and the experiences it can provide, stating that “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” (Barnes). Personally, I agree and think this would be a really fun application of this growing field of technology and would love to give it a try. This new business partnership is said to allow for around six new Dreamscape locations to open in the U.S. within the next year and a half, and ticket prices are intended to start at $15 (Barnes).
Was this a good move by AMC and would you personally want to visit one of these attractions? Leave a comment below.
Barnes, Brooks. “Coming Soon to AMC Theaters: Virtual Reality Experiences.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Sept. 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/26/business/media/amc-theaters-virtual-reality.html
Image: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C_iWj67XgAA2_7g.jpg
While I don’t see this form of media consumption replacing traditional movies anytime soon or even at all in the future, I do think virtual reality will be a niche market for consumers who want a more interactive movie and content experience. The reason I don’t think this will take off in the short-term is because of the technology’s current limitations. I’ve had the opportunity to experience this type of virtual reality and while it is like nothing I’ve ever seen before, I don’t think I, like many other people, would be able to watch an entire 2 hour movie in this format because of the motion sickness and eye-strained caused by these devices. While those problems may be fixed with improving technologies, I still don’t see it benefiting the movie theater industry since it will take away revenue from their traditional movie strategy. Overall, I believe virtual reality will have it’s own place in entertainment in the future, just not the theater or for long experiences in the near future.
I think that is a good move by AMC and I would definitely want to visit one of these attractions. However, there are simultaneously advantages and disadvantages. There are many beneficial things as article states that entertainment in movie theater will increase. If people can enjoy virtual reality arcades in movie theater, more people would come to experience these entertaining things. This is because, people want to interact with their families and friends instead of just sitting and watching movies. As they enjoy and interact each other by doing virtual reality arcades, they can relieve their stress and get better relationship. Therefore, it satisfies customers’ wants and it will positively affect customers in a future. On the other hand, there are some disadvantages. Virtual reality arcades cannot accommodate a large number of people at a time. Mostly, movies theater accommodate a lot of people at once to show movie, but these large number of people cannot experience at same time. This is because there are limited space and people can get hurt by doing large movements. Thus, AMC should consider what advantages and disadvantages about virtual reality arcades as they develop what they do.
https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/26/16365352/amc-theaters-deamscape-immersive-virtual-reality-steven-spielberg
I think that is a good move by AMC and I would definitely want to visit one of these attractions. However, there are simultaneously advantages and disadvantages. There are many beneficial things as article states that entertainment in movie theater will increase. If people can enjoy virtual reality arcades in movie theater, more people would come to experience these entertaining things. This is because, people want to interact with their families and friends instead of just sitting and watching movies. As they enjoy and interact each other by doing virtual reality arcades, they can relieve their stress and get better relationship. Therefore, it satisfies customers’ wants and it will positively affect customers in a future. On the other hand, there are some disadvantages. Virtual reality arcades cannot accommodate a large number of people at a time. Mostly, movies theater accommodate a lot of people at once to show movie, but these large number of people cannot experience at same time. This is because there are limited space and people can get hurt by doing large movements. Thus, AMC should consider what advantages and disadvantages about virtual reality arcades as they develop what they do.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/26/business/media/amc-theaters-virtual-reality.html?mcubz=0
I do think that is this a good move by AMC and I don’t think this will be the last we see of virtual reality in movies theaters, as it soon may become the new standard in film. The common acceptance of 3-D technologies in movies began in the late 90’s and really took off in the early 2000’s. It became common place for my friends and I to go to the movies with our families on the weekends to see our favorite superhero flying towards us from the screen when we put on these “special glasses”. It was a great way for parents to get their kids out of the house as we all couldn’t wait to see another exciting film in 3-D. Now with virtual reality becoming more common place with mass production and now cheaper and cheaper headsets the movie industry may begin to adjust and produce more movies in virtual reality in order to create a more immersive and in depth films, to bring people back to the theaters. Since the advent of Netflix and the ease of watching movies from the comfort of your homes, the movie industry as taken a slight hit. Like all good entertainment businesses they need to find a unique gimmick to bring the people back into big screen and away from the small screen at home. Virtual reality may just be the solution to that problem as kids and adults would enjoy being immersed into the world of any movie as it is something that they would have never experienced before in their lives.
http://www.newsweek.com/virtual-reality-future-film-461829