A new kind of cinema screen is popping up around the USA, courtesy of immersive technology company Cosm.
The venue uses a curved screen to create a partial hemisphere, which makes it feel completely immersive to the audiences who will experience the best of live and digital experiences mixed together.
This gives it the feel of a virtual reality headset, but without the need for viewers to wear anything on their faces in order to feel the immersive effects.
It’s not just the technology that differentiates Cosm venues from ordinary cinema screens, but the content too. The immersive format lends itself to travel and events experiences, and plans for future films include live concert footage, digital art and live footage from sporting events.
Cosm currently has one venue in Salt Lake City in Utah, which is not open to the public, but the new planned venues in Los Angeles and Texas will be available to anyone who wants to visit.
In LA the Cosm venue is planned for Hollywood Park, the largest mixed-use urban mega development currently under construction in the Western United States. LA’s Cosm venue will be the first of its kind in the world, with curved LED screens allowing audiences on two levels to be placed into all kinds of exhilarating experiences.
The Cosm dome in Hollywood Park will be designed by HKS, and feature a 26.6m diameter LED dome in a 65,000 square foot venue which will be able to accommodate 1,700 people.
“We’re redefining the way the world experiences content and up-leveling fandom by opening our first Cosm venue in the center of the entertainment capital of the world,” said Jeb Terry, Cosm’s CEO and President.
“For decades, we’ve powered some of the most iconic and entertaining experiences for our partners around the globe. Now, we’re powering our own. Cosm isn’t just a place, it’s a feeling. It’s the energy of the crowd, the exhilaration of sitting courtside at the biggest sporting events, the thrill of standing front row at your dream concert, the intensity of being enveloped in immersive environments that you have to experience to believe. Cosm is bringing that to life – first in Los Angeles, then around the world.”
A second Cosm venue, also designed by HKS, will later open in The Colony, Texas. This second venue will be at Grandscape, a mixed- use real estate development covering 400 acres and featuring retail, entertainment, residential, dining and unique attractions.
“Cosm is leveraging its technology to create a new category of immersive entertainment called ‘shared reality’ , working with partners globally to stream live content to physical venues and to virtual worlds alike,” said Steve Winn, Mirasol Capital’s CEO and majority owner of Cosm.
“We are just getting started and have plans to open venues around the world.” “Cosm is providing an immersive and interactive canvas for partners and creators to showcase new and existing content in a way the world has never seen,” continued Devin Poolman, Cosm’s Chief Product and “Technology Officer.
“From our live 8K immersive production to real-time technology that leverages gaming engines like Unreal, to the architectural and interior designs and engineered build of our physical venues, our vertically integrated platform seamlessly intersects the digital and physical worlds. Cosm is a portal that can transport you anywhere, anytime, real or imagined, and it is completely reinventing entertainment as we know it.”