Whitefish, MT / September 26, 2014 / Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, published in 1932, foresaw many developments of the Industrial Revolution. Though products like sex-hormone chewing gum have not yet come to pass, one of the central features of the book is currently coming to fruition. 4D cinema is the modern-day realization of Huxley's "feelies," movies that provide an immersive, multi-sensory experience beyond simple audio and video. Emerging technologies are stimulating the senses like never before and there are a few ways that people can invest in this trend toward a more immersive viewing experience.
This summer, Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC) launched their first U.S.-based 4DX system with a showing of Captain America: The Winter Soldier at the company's L.A. Live Stadium 14 in Los Angeles. The theater offers 3D movies with extra sensory effects like motion, wind, rain and even scent. In order to achieve and deliver these effects, the movie was mastered in the 4DX format and the cinema was outfitted by the Korean 4D company CJ 4DX. For now, the number of movies offered in the format, as well as the number of U.S. cinemas outfitted to handle them, is extremely limited. However, Variety reported very positive numbers from this summer's 4D movies there as the theater significantly outperformed more traditional theaters. Despite a terrible season at the box office, this trend bears watching.
Along these lines, AMC Entertainment Holdings (NYSE: AMC) has been rolling out their AMC Prime theatres across the country. Currently in seven locations with more planned, the Prime concept includes adjustable recliners that reverberate, premium and immersive sound and state-of-the-art video technology. These theatres don't rain on you, but they do immerse you in the movies more than the typical cinema. Movies do not have to be specially encoded to deliver the experience. Rather, AMC is utilizing audio, video and tactile technology to enhance the film as it is originally produced, offering consumers more viewing choices.
One company at the heart of AMC's immersive cinema experience is Dolby Laboratories (NYSE: DLB). Long a pioneer in audio technology, the company introduced its Dolby Atmos system to the cinema market in 2012, offering multidimensional sound that places the viewer right in the middle of the action and makes the sound more location-specific. For example, a helicopter flying in creates a variety of sounds (engine, top rotor, tail rotor) that are each treated as a separate sound object. As the image moves on the screen, the sounds transfer to the appropriate speakers in the theater, moving the sound overhead and off the screen to match the video. Many cinemas now offer the sound system and the technology is used widely in the production of the movies themselves.
Another technology that separates the AMC Prime experience from traditional theaters is the Buttkicker seat transducer produced by The Guitammer Company (OTC: GTMM). These seat-movers allow viewers to feel explosions, impacts and rumbles as they happen in the film, adding to the immersive experience and complementing the surround sound produced by Dolby. The technology was recently discussed in a Film Journal overview of cinematic tactile enhancements. As one viewer put it in an online forum, "The Guitammer seat transducers were dialed in most excellently, and really added a nice, yet not overwhelming, tactile flair to the material onscreen!" The company's transducers are currently installed in over 100 cinemas worldwide.
These trends in the cinema market mirror those in other sectors of our society. From the virtual reality offered by Oculus and Google Glass to immersive multiplayer gaming, consumers are gravitating toward and spending money on technologies that put them comfortably in another world separate from their real lives. Aldous Huxley saw it coming more than 80 years ago, and smart investors would be wise to pay attention now in the industry's infancy.
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SOURCE: Emerging Growth LLC