IMAX To Shutter Its Remaining VR Centers

Watching a movie in IMAX is a pretty amazing experience on its own, but several years ago the company tried to expand that experience by introducing virtual reality (VR). Unfortunately it looks like IMAX’s VR experiment is coming to an end, according to a report from Variety in which IMAX confirmed that they would be shutting down it remaining VR centers.

This was initially due to a discovery of an SEC filing where IMAX told its shareholders that they will be closing down its VR centers and write off some of their VR content investments. The company has since confirmed it in a statement to Variety that reads, “With the launch of the IMAX VR centre pilot program our intention was to test a variety of different concepts and locations to determine which approaches work well.”

“After a trial period with VR centres in multiplexes, we have decided to conclude the IMAX VR centre pilot program and close the remaining three locations in Q1 2019.” This move shouldn’t really come as a surprise because back in August, Google and IMAX revealed that they had put their VR camera project on hold, although many had interpreted it as it having been cancelled.

It is unclear why IMAX decided to cancel their VR efforts, but according to a report from UploadVR, it seems that other companies such as The VOID and Dreamscape Interactive will be filling the void with VR experience locations of their own.

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: Entertainment, imax, Movies, Virtual Reality (VR)