LOS ANGELES, Sept. 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- AMC
Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) the largest theatrical motion picture
exhibitor in the world, and Dreamscape Immersive, the
location-based VR startup backed by some of Hollywood's biggest players, today
announced a wide ranging strategic partnership that
will rapidly scale the development and expansion of Dreamscape
Immersive. The announcement was made jointly by Walter Parkes and Kevin
Wall, co-chairmen of Dreamscape Immersive and Adam Aron, CEO and President of AMC.
"Dreamscape Immersive ushers in an exciting new world in virtual
reality and reminds us through its trailblazing all-enveloping
technology that we really are living in the 21st century. A
dazzling future is now at hand," said Adam
Aron, CEO and President of AMC Entertainment. "What makes
Dreamscape Immersive and AMC Theatres a perfect fit together is the
vast and impressive experience of Dreamscape's founders in
cinematic storytelling that is sure to resonate with AMC's
moviegoers."
As part of the three-pronged partnership, AMC will be the lead
investor in a $20M Series B financing
round. AMC will commit $10M in equity
investment into Dreamscape Immersive and will finance up to six
Dreamscape Immersive VR centers within AMC cinemas and standalone
locations in North America and the
U.K. over the next 18 months. These locations are in addition to
Dreamscape Immersive's flagship location at Westfield Century City
Mall in Los Angeles, slated to
open to the public in Q1 2018. In addition to the round, AMC will
also invest $10M into a content
fund.
Walter Parkes, Dreamscape
Immersive co-chairman notes, "While Dreamscape's immersive
technologies represent the cutting edge of the digital world, its
heart and soul rests firmly in the shared language of film – so
it's tremendously exciting that our first major commercial
partnership is with the world's largest cinema exhibitor."
Dreamscape Immersive CEO Bruce
Vaughn adds, "We look forward to working with AMC to offer
audiences the opportunity to actually step into and experience
imaginative worlds previously only available through watching
movies."
The company, spearheaded by Parkes, Wall, CEO and former Disney
Imagineering chief Bruce Vaughn, and
COO Aaron Grosky, utilizes unique
body-mapping technologies, developed by the Swiss research
foundation Artanim, which give participants full body presence as
rendered avatars inside of extraordinary virtual worlds. Unlike
other VR platforms, Dreamscape Immersive offers a social experience
in which participants explore and interact with up to six people
simultaneously, untethered from a computer, with full use of their
senses – just as they would in the real world.
Dreamscape Immersive has green-lit its first piece of original
content and is currently in licensing conversations with several
major studios and IP-holders. The company completed its Series A
funding in January 2017, with a
roster of initial investors including Bold Capital Partners, Warner
Bros., 21st Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), IMAX
Corporation, Westfield Corporation, and Steven Spielberg. It has also attracted an
A-list group of advisors including Yves
Behar, renowned industrial designer, as Brand and Design
Advisor; Hans Zimmer, Music Advisor;
Dan Fellman, Past President,
Domestic Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures, as Distribution
Advisor; Rick Carter, Academy Award
winning production designer, as Production Advisor; Tom Staggs, former COO of the Walt Disney
Company, as Corporate Strategy Advisor; and Gore Verbinski, Academy
Award winning filmmaker, as Creative Advisor.
About Dreamscape Immersive
Dreamscape Immersive is a
location-based VR entertainment company that was founded in
January, 2017. Led by co-chairmen Walter Parkes, Kevin
Wall, CEO Bruce Vaughn and
COO Aaron Grosky, with technology
created by Swiss research institute Artanim, Dreamscape offers
untethered VR experiences with body-mapping technology that allows
participants to enter into, explore, and interact within cinematic
worlds in a way they never dreamed possible. The Dreamscape
Immersive team is made up of a dynamic group of cinematic
storytellers, music trailblazers, theme park attractions-experts,
gaming executives, technologists and medical researchers, who all
share one thing in common: a collective commitment to bringing an
entirely new entertainment experience to a mass audience.
Dreamscape Immersive is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
About AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc.
AMC (NYSE: AMC) is the largest movie exhibition company in the
U.S., in Europe and throughout the
world with approximately 1,000 theatres and 11,000 screens across
the globe. AMC has propelled innovation in the exhibition industry
by: deploying more plush power-recliner seats; delivering enhanced
food and beverage choices; generating greater guest engagement
through its loyalty program, web site and smart phone apps;
offering premium large format experiences and playing a wide
variety of content including the latest Hollywood releases and independent
programming. AMC operates among the most productive theatres in
the United States' top markets,
having the #1 or #2 market share positions in 22 of the 25 largest
metropolitan areas of the United
States, including the top three markets (NY, LA,
Chicago). Through its Odeon
subsidiary AMC operates in 14 European countries and is the # 1
theatre chain in Estonia,
Finland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Spain, Sweden
and UK & Ireland. For more
information, go to www.amcteatres.com.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Sunshine
Sachs, 323-822-9300
dreamscape@sunshinesachs.com
Ryan Noonan, (913) 213-2183
rnoonan@amctheatres.com
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SOURCE Dreamscape Immersive