IMAX enters the virtual reality experience center, with more than 20,000 visitors in three months after opening

The company, which has long focused on film technology, now plans to open up a new field beyond traditional film screens: virtual reality.

Original title: IMAX has also begun to experiment with virtual reality but still hopes that you will go into theaters more often

."It would be irresponsible to not follow the trend and push content to more new platforms." Rob Lister, IMAX's chief business development officer, said in a recent interview with the media in Los Angeles.

The company, which has long focused on film technology, now plans to open up a new field beyond traditional film screens: virtual reality.

When it comes to IMAX, most people's first impression is its large screen and stunning sound effects, but perhaps few people know that this unique company in the film industry has existed for half a century. From its inception to the present, this company has experienced film, high-definition, large-screen, three-dimensional, digital, and laser projection eras, but it has always adhered to the same philosophy: to bring a better movie-viewing experience to the audience.

In the era of mobile Internet, IMAX hopes to continue to implement its philosophy.

"Today, people, especially the younger generation, are faced with various 'screens'. In addition to TV screens and movie screens, there are also mobile phone screens, tablet screens, computer screens, etc." "So we want to bring content to these new platforms, integrate our existing resources well, and let the business find new ways to grow," Lister said.

In January this year, IMAX's first virtual reality (VR) experience center opened in Los Angeles. The experience center currently has a total of 14 experience cabins and provides 8 VR content experiences. Everything is covered from roller coasters, high-altitude tightrope walking, to virtual shooting games. The experience center specially hires designers who have served Apple and Tesla to carry out interior design, making the entire experience environment full of a sense of future and technology. "The actual situation exceeded our previous expectations, and the number of people who came to experience it far exceeded the most optimistic estimates." Liszt said in an interview.

In its recently released first-quarter 2017 financial report, IMAX disclosed some information about this new business: three months after its opening, the total number of visitors to the VR Experience Center has exceeded 20,000. From the perspective of revenue, it is possible to earn approximately $15,000 per week.

However, compared to IMAX's traditional business income, the income of this new business is still negligible. Liszt further explained that the purpose of the experience center is actually more of a trial experiment for IMAX., to test the market's response.

At present, the concept of virtual reality is still unfamiliar and attractive to most Americans. IMAX hopes to meet the needs of some people trying to experience VR for the first time. The VR content experience in the IMAX VR Center is completely positioned at the high-end, mainly used. The equipment is Starbreeze's Star VR helmet and the HTC Vive, which is currently on the market for US$799. Each experiencer only needs to spend US$7 -10 to experience VR content that lasts about 10-15 minutes.

Liszt said that IMAX believes that the experience time of 10 to 15 minutes is more appropriate. In the future, IMAX also plans to set up a VR experience area in theaters with IMAX halls, so that audiences can experience VR while waiting to watch the movie. experience.

Speaking of the progress of the overall VR industry, Liszt believes that this is a typical question of "chicken laying eggs or egg laying chickens". The platform side expects more VR content to appear, and the VR content side also hopes that the platform side will be formed.

Based on years of deep cultivation in the film industry, IMAX has established extensive and profound cooperative relationships with film producers and theaters. After entering the VR field, IMAX still hopes to make full use of the resource advantages it has accumulated before to promote content production and distribution in VR.

At the end of last year, IMAX completed the first phase of raising a US$50 million VR fund, mainly used to provide financial support for at least 25 interactive VR content in the next three years.

From a VR technology perspective, IMAX also reached a cooperation with technology giant Google last year. The two sides will conduct technical cooperation in the production of VR content. Liszt revealed to Tencent Technology that IMAX will mainly carry out the research and development of cinema-level VR cameras, while Google mainly provides technical support for generating 360-degree images.

However, limited by the hardware performance limitations of current VR equipment and the lack of content, no one still dares to assert that VR will become the mainstream in the future. In this regard, Liszt also admitted that the current experience of VR is indeed not perfect. Compared to sitting in an IMAX theater, viewers may not be willing to watch a two-hour movie with a helmet on. But it emphasizes more interactivity than movies. IMAX believes that VR may be a new way to attract more people to the cinema to watch movies.

Liszt suggested that in the future, for example, when VR content related to movie content will be launched, people may increase their interest in watching movies after experiencing it. In the short term, IMAX's goal is still to hope that more people, especially young people, will come to the movie theater.

"We hope that this generation of young people can come to the cinema more often like the previous generation of young people." said Liszt.

In recent years, the film industry has entered a downturn, and theater attendance and box office revenue in North America have continued to decline, which has directly affected the operating performance of IMAX, which uses sharing accounts with theaters as its main model.

According to IMAX's 2016 financial report released at the beginning of the year, with the addition of 166 IMAX theaters, a year-on-year increase of 22%, the annual revenue was US$377 million, only a slight increase from US$373 million in 2015. Among them, revenue from the division of accounts with theater box office was US$91.41 million in 2016, a significant decrease from US$99.12 million in 2015. Profit in 2016 decreased significantly to US$28.8 million from US$55.8 million in 2015.

In this regard, Greg Foster, CEO of IMAX Entertainment, told Tencent Technology that the development of the industry will definitely have ups and downs. This is a reality that cannot be changed. The important thing is how to seize future trends.

He pointed out that many people in the Hollywood industry have only paid attention to the industry itself all year round and are completely indifferent to what is happening in the outside world, resulting in many backward thinking styles. But fortunately, many people have begun to realize this problem and proactively began to seek change.

"In the future, cinemas will not only be positioned as a place to watch movies. In the future, we hope that cinemas will become a place for people to entertain, relax, and socialize. Therefore, entertainment methods other than movies, including VR, new entertainment equipment, etc., can actually become a new business." Foster said.

He pointed out that IMAX's VR business is a positive attempt by the company in new business. If the pilot is successful, it is expected to become a key strategic direction in the future.

"We don't want to compete with mobile phones or computer screens. It's not such a relationship," Foster said."When people walk into IMAX theaters to experience a wonderful movie, they will naturally understand what I said. IMAX can provide a movie viewing experience that is far better than other forms, so for IMAX, we still hope that more people will enter the theater."

Editor: Nancy