La Rochelle, France - Meeting growing demand from moviegoers for captivating and engaging cinema experiences, ICE THEATERS®, a CGR CINEMAS company, created a premium screen concept that blends exceptional design, excellence in sound and image technologies, and revolutionary visual effects. With 39 ICE THEATERS® already in France and one in Los Angeles, CGR CINEMAS exported the innovative concept to two locations in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh and, most recently, Jeddah, with plans to open similar theaters in various locations around the world.
An acronym for Immersive Cinema Experience, ICE THEATERS® integrates the latest technologies in immersive sound using a Dolby Atmos solution at the highest definition possible, projection, seating, and lighting to provide a visually immersive experience for moviegoers. Just as sound can originate from anywhere in the theater, so too can light, immersing people in the content and story, without disrupting the movie director’s original intent. That is the augmented experience of a blockbuster released in ICE Immersive.
The ICE THEATERS® auditorium integrates a comprehensive Color Kinetics and Vari-Light fixtures solution into ICE Immersive technologies to provide visual immersion. The immersion starts from the entrance, with Color Kinetics Luminous Textile lighting panels (5) and soon, with the small pitch version. The auditorium also includes Luminous Textile lighting panels (10-14 large format panels) mounted on the walls inside each theater to activate the moviegoer's peripheral vision. A light chain of Color Kinetics PureStyle Intelligent Color Powercore, RGBA luminaires (2) is used for theater backlighting. Vari-Lite VL800 PROPAR (14) and Vari-Lite VL800 EVENTWASH (4) fixtures deliver spot and wash effects inside the theater to reinforce the audio immersive experience and audio special effects in the scenes. In the booth, a Color Kinetics Data Enabler Pro is linked to the ICE Immersive server to provide the synched data to the light chain.
ICE THEATERS® developed a global services solution around ICE Immersive technologies to launch this new format within the cinema industry, from post-production and content distribution to premium auditorium design. With the strong Box-Office in France, American studios and producers have already released over 65 blockbusters in ICE Immersive, and the main titles of 2021 will be in the line up.
The ICE THEATERS® concept, with Color Kinetics and Vari-Lite lighting, is delivering remarkable results. With a customer-satisfaction rate of 90%, ICE THEATERS® generate double the seat occupancy rate compared to standard, similar-capacity auditoriums. Moreover, cinema owners can upcharge 50% as a premium fee on the tickets in their ICE THEATERS®.
Now, moviegoers can enjoy the ultimate immersive experience.