Giant-Screen Biz Meets Themed Entertainment...And They Get Along Just Fine!
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First published February 2018 Giant-Screen Biz Meets Themed Entertainment...and They Get Along Just Fine! by Paul Fraser been made about which 4D system will be Mollet, managing director of visitor ser- selected, the new facility is slated to open vices for the Saint Louis Science Center, is here was a time when the only major in 2019. pleased with how the VR Transporter has T media-based experience at most mu- added to the center’s business, saying it seums or science centers was a film in a Motion simulators has “increased our overall sales and had a giant-screen theater. Today, most muse- Atlanta-based Pulseworks has been in positive impact on visitor satisfaction. As a ums, including those with GS theaters, the business of supplying motion simula- free-entry science center, we are always have embraced lots of media throughout tors to museums, science centers, and looking for incremental ways to diversify their buildings. And GS filmmakers, in aquariums for 20 years. The company’s revenues and increase per-cap, and the VR their quest for revenue to help pay for business model is based on supplying turn- has done that for us.” Pulseworks’ CEO their productions, and to extend their key systems on a revenue-share basis, with Raj Deshpande adds, “this upsell also stories, have re-purposed and licensed no upfront cost to the venue. In 2016 it works for institutions with a paid admis- their content for a myriad of non-GS the- deployed its first VR-enhanced simulator, sion.” atrical uses. branded the “VR Transporter,” at the The system comes with VR content My visit to the enormous trade show of National Museum of the U.S. Air Force produced by Pulseworks. The first two the International Association of Amuse- in Dayton, OH, which also has a GS thea- educational shows, each with running ment Parks and Attractions in Orlando ter. times of about six minutes, are Spacewalk last November got me thinking about Pulseworks has since supplied VR and Dive in Prehistoric Seas. More VR what the GS industry can take away from Transporters to the Smithsonian’s Na- content on natural history and physical the latest developments in media-based tional Air and Space Museum, the Den- science subjects is in the pipeline. The attractions found in the themed entertain- ver Museum of Nature and Science, and four-seat VR Transporter occupies a small ment industry, and about what the GS the Saint Louis Science Center. Jackie footprint of about 15 feet (4.6 meters) industry has already learned. Museums with giant screens have not been standing still. Several have recently added other media experienc- es, and in my consulting practice I’ve even heard a few museum CEOs won- der aloud, “What new ideas for media- based attractions could potentially replace our GS theater?” At least one U.S. museum is poised to do just that. As LF Examiner report- ed last year (see Shorts, November 2017), Connecticut’s Maritime Aquar- ium at Norwalk is planning to build a 4D theater that would replace its 30- February 2018, Vol. 21, No. 2 year-old IMAX theater. The IMAX will be razed late this year so that the Con- necticut Department of Transporta- Pulseworks tion can replace an old but very active railway bridge next to the building. Although no announcement has yet (see MEDIA on page 2) Pulseworks’ VR Transporter combines a motion base with VR head-mounted displays. square, and requires clear height of no more than California site was later converted to digital projec- 10 feet (3 meters). (Additional space may be needed tion.) This version of a ride-film theater combines a Founded 1997 as MaxImage! for ticketing and queuing). The first few units were seating system that stacks moving seats in gondola enclosed cabins, but Pulseworks has concluded the configurations (so that guests’ legs can dangle) with February 2018 Vol. 21, No. 2 enclosure is not actually necessary, and has deployed a film projected onto on a giant vertical dome, en- “enclosure-less” systems, too. hanced with 4D effects like wind and scents. Disney Could some or all of a GS theater’s seats be con- has since opened Soarin’ attractions at EPCOT in Editor/Publisher James Hyder verted to support a VR Transporter experience? Orlando, FL, and the Shanghai Disneyland Park in Deshpande admits “it could be done,” and his com- China, with a new film Soarin’ Around the World. Associate Editor pany is “exploring some ideas, [but] the technology The Soarin’ rides were developed by Disney using William Hyder is not there yet. We are scaling to 8, 16, 20, and proprietary technologies that are not available to Circulation Manager larger seat deployments, but a full GS theater would other venues. Thomas Jacobs need something different,” probably an array of However, Taiwan-based Brogent Technologies Published 9 times a year by many small motion platforms. supplies similar flying-theater systems, branded “i- Cinergetics, LLC, and distributed What about the cross-media opportunity: working Ride,” and expects to have 20 locations operating by first class mail. with a GS producer to capture content that can be around the world by the end of 2018. Like the Printed in the USA. used in a Pulseworks attraction? “Absolutely,” was Soarin’ rides, the i-Ride projection screen is a large ISSN 1532-5504 Deshpande’s quick response. He added, “it would hemispherical dome perpendicular to the floor, be great for [the GS producer’s] high-tech profile. which Brogent emphasizes is key to the sense of Subscriptions: US$397 Outside North America: US$447 We have talked to a number of producers.” But the immersion. All payments must be made in challenge for such cross-media collaborations is that The first i-Ride was FlyOver Canada in Vancou- US funds. VR demands high frame rates — 4K at 60 fps cap- ver, BC, which opened in 2013 in the building that Substantial discounts are available for multiple subscrip- ture at a minimum, but preferably 120 fps — and was formerly the IMAX Theatre at Canada Place, tions to the same address. close-ups. “Long shots have no relevance” in VR, the world’s first IMAX 3D theater (see Shorts, Sum- Deshpande explains. He’s encouraged that VR cam- mer 2013). Typical of most i-Ride attractions, Van- Editorial Offices 8713 Castle Hill Ave. era technology is getting better, as is image-stitching couver’s dome is 60 feet (18 meters) in diameter, Las Vegas, NV, 89129 USA software. and uses a single 4K projector running at 60 fps. Tel: 702-331-1843 Another former IMAX theater, in Australia’s [email protected] Flying theaters Dreamworld theme park, will be converted to a Fly © 2018 by Cinergetics, LLC The “flying theater” concept shares many of the Over Australia attraction later this year. The FlyO- All rights reserved. No portion characteristics of giant domes and flat screen thea- ver America attraction at the Mall of America in of this publication may be repro- duced by any means without ters, and has been gaining in popularity. Disney is Minneapolis, MN, opened in 2016. written permission of the copy- credited as the first creator of the flying theater, Each of the 13 current i-Ride venues has its own right holder. with the 2001 opening of its Soarin’ Over Califor- signature film. The films are about four to five Copyright Warning and Notice nia attraction at Disney California Adventure minutes in theme parks like the Voletarium i-Ride It is a violation of U.S. and theme park in Anaheim, CA. (The original film was at Europa-Park in Rust, Germany, and eight international copyright laws to shot and projected on 15/70 film at 48 fps, but the minutes long at standalone attractions like Vancou- reproduce all or part of this publication or its contents by ver and Minneapolis. Ticket any means. The U.S. Copyright prices at those two venues Act imposes liability of up to range from about US$12 to $150,000 per issue for such infringement. $22. Information concerning illicit Stefan Rothaug, senior mar- duplication will be gratefully keting specialist for Taiwan- received. based Brogent, is bullish on Individuals and organizations the prospects for converting wishing to reprint articles from LF more GS theaters, based on Examiner must obtain written permission from us in advance. the experience in Vancouver: FlyOver Canada reportedly The opinions of contributors are crossed the two-million-visitor not necessarily those of LF Examiner or its parent company, threshold part way through its Cinergetics, LLC. fifth year, and the trend is up, Technologies Brogent with attendance at 600,000 in Trademarks referred to in LF Examiner are the property of their 2017, comparable to the peak respective owners. years’ performance of the FlyOver Canada in Vancouver, BC, features technology from Brogent Technologies. IMAX 3D theater that operat- page 2 LF Examiner www.LFexaminer.com February 2018 and change the entire projection system, some theater operators may consider re- placing just some of the seats with motion- enhanced seats, such as those from Que- bec-based D-BOX Technologies. The company serves entertainment and indus- Brogent Technologies Technologies Brogent trial markets, but the 640 commercial multiplexes screens in 36 countries with D -BOX seats makes that segment one of its largest. D-BOX doesn’t actually manufacture the seats, it designs and installs the mo- tion platforms and systems that deliver motion and vibrations to compatible seats (including recliners and rockers), synced to the action in the movie. Typically, ex- Brogent’s i-Ride motion bases hold ten riders and can be stacked.