When IMAX announced its plans to create virtual reality (VR) experience centers all over the world, the future of increasingly immersive movie-viewing experiences began to take shape. Now that IMAX has opened the first of those dedicated VR experience centers in Los Angeles, that future has become a reality.

Image credit: IMAX VR

For its first film undertaking, IMAX is partnering with Warner Bros. to give movie-goers a super-sized cinematic experience using several upcoming superhero flicks as the catalyst. “It’s fitting that with Imax and Warner Bros.’ shared history of launching Hollywood movies in Imax theaters, today we’re entering into our first studio deal to bring VR to the multiplex,” IMAX Corp CEO Richard L. Gelfond told The Drum. The deal includes the highly anticipated "Justice League" and "Aquaman" superhero franchise films.

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“This type of premium content will introduce audiences to virtual reality in standalone and multiplex-based Imax VR centers as well as other platforms," Gelfond added. While details are still sparse, we know that the IMAX VR Experience Center utilizes both the HTC Vive and the Starbreeze 210 degree StarVR hardware.

The coming of VR movies is just one of the ways this technology is transforming how we see the world and how we tell stories — a film created for VR even got an Oscar nomination this year. Clearly, VR has moved beyond just video games to now change how we all, gamers and non-gamers alike, can experience reality.


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