Toronto is getting its first virtual reality cinema
Toronto's heading back to the future this summer thanks to a new virtual reality (VR) cinema that's slated to open up in July.
Unlike traditional movie theatres, this one - called Vivid VR - will hold only 20 people. And instead of sitting in the dark and watching a movie all together, each audience member will get their own Samsung Gear VR headset to enjoy the show.
Co-founder Gary Tam, a movie lover who works in marketing, was impressed with VR technology after he tried it out - it provided an all encompassing sensory experience that he wasn't getting through (now) commonplace 3D films.
"I was just so mesmerized by how immersive it is," he says of VR. "And the idea of bringing that to life through a cinema and getting that to audiences, and the potential that it has to like kind of create a brand new experiences is just so exciting to me."
Each Vivid VR session will cost $20 and will include an intro to virtual reality as well as three five to ten minute-long VR programs, including titles like Jet Lag and the horror flick Sonar. You can start buying tickets on June 20.
This newfangled cinema will run out of the Milk Glass Co. art gallery as a two month pop-up from July to September. If all goes well, Tam and his two co-founders hope to open a permanent location later this year.
