Construction of a mega virtual reality (VR) cinema has begun in Beijing, as one Chinese entertainment company plans to elevate the capital’s cinematic experience.
Beijing-based film investor Er Dong Pictures, which currently operates two smaller VR cinemas, announced the launch of its flagship project on August 4. The ceremony was held at its Solana theatre, which is located inside one of Beijing’s shopping centres.
While no exact information has been shared about the size or location of the new mega cinema, the Solana theatre resembles the futuristic interior of a spacecraft and has 20 rotating chairs with built-in VR headsets and capability to produce other sensory effects.
Liu Bingjian, Vice President of Supersonic Film Technology Limited Company, which is working with Er Long Pictures, told Chinese broadcaster CCTV+ that the spinning seats allow the audience to turn around to see places that they could not see before.
“In traditional cinemas, there is one screen, and 200 to 500 audience members watch the same screen. Every seat has a different angle towards the screen. But in VR cinema, every viewer has one headset, and there is an LED screen inside the headset, which allows viewers to concentrate more while watching the movie and not be disturbed,” he adds.
The first-ever VR cinema opened in Amsterdam in March 2016 and, in June the following year, Chinese electronics company Gome opened the first one in China. This year the firm plans to open 100 VR cinemas across China, reports the International Business Times.
According to estimates from advisory group PricewaterhouseCoopers, 85 million VR headsets will be in use in China by 2021 and revenue from VR content will hit US$3.6bn.
