Canadian cinema company Cineplex recently teamed with IMAX to open Canada’s first virtual reality (VR) centre at Cineplex’s Scotiabank Theatre in Ottawa. Immersive entertainment hardware company D-BOX are also working with Cineplex to present a VR animated film at the centre.
D-Box have provided ten VR motion seats, which will first be used to enhance the presentation of animated VR experience Raising A Rukus, which has been created by The Virtual Reality Company (VRC). Raising A Rukus has previously been presented at the IMAX VR centre in Los Angeles where audiences praised the story, which brings to viewer on an adventure with twins Jonas and Amy, and their mischievous dog Rukus. Created as an interactive experience, Raising A Rukus lets the audience decide what path the story follows, with state-of-the-art motion technology to further immerse audiences in the story.
“We are extremely proud of this new venture and can’t wait for people to see just how immersive the D-BOX VR Cinematic Experience is,” states Claude Mc Master, President and CEO of D-BOX. “By adding our proven motion technology to an amazing story like Raising A Rukus, we’ve created a ground-breaking attraction the whole family can enjoy.”
“As one of Canada’s leading entertainment destinations, we work really hard to offer exceptional experiences to our guests of all ages,” said Daniel Seguin, Vice President of Operations for Eastern Canada, Cineplex. “The D-BOX VR Cinematic Experience is a great example of this. We are pleased to continue our long-standing relationship with D-BOX on this exciting launch.”
The Scotiabank Centre was created as a joint project between IMAX and Cineplex, and was opened to the public last month, aiming to present a combination of VR movie experiences and immersive videogames, offering facilities such as a Player’s Lounge to let visitors get to know one another before taking each other on in an VR videogame. The ten room-scale VR pods offer user mobility and interaction and can be modified to suit various different types of VR content.
Further information on the Scotiabank Centre can be found on the Cineplex website.
VRFocus will bring you further new on IMAX VR projects as it becomes available.
The Virtual Reality Company is co-founded by Robert Stromberg, who has created the world of Avatar (2009) and Alice in Wonderland (2010) as well as directed Maleficent (2014) and Guy Primus, a heavyweight in the advertising industry and previous Chief Operating Officer for Overbrook Entertainment, a film and television production company founded by Will Smith and producer James Lassiter. The 28-person team are on a mission to bring people “face to face with imagination” through immersive technologies.
