In bringing esports to the big screen, IMAX President Megan Colligan said the company is trying to find new ways to make the most of movie theaters at times when ticket sales generally lag. The idea is to bring people together in "hyperlocal" ways, she told Cheddar at CES in Las Vegas Friday.
IMAX and Vindex Studios announced a partnership to bring live streaming esports events and experiences to theaters around the world. The esports infrastructure startup will create those experiences, which IMAX will exclusively stream and host for global viewers.
"As much as movies drive an incredible business for us, there are times when our theaters aren't as utilized as they should be," she said. Before esports, IMAX, which experienced its biggest year at the box office in 2019, had been experimenting with music content, creating a 'Jesus is King' exclusive film to coincide with the release of Kanye West's October 2019 album. The film features West performing at the remote "Roden Crater," a James Turell exhibit in a dormant volcano that would not be easily accessible to many people.
Despite the buzz, Colligan called the moment "fleeting" due to the film's intentionally short run..
"We didn't have 20 shows a day of it," everyday Colligan said. "It was a needle drop that came out with his album."
The experience was just an example of what she calls the "super-intimate, super-realized experience," that IMAX offers, which makes a viewer feel like they're in the same room as their favorite artist or watching a game in a new way.
She said IMAX is trying to bridge the experience of attending an event live and giving instant access to events online.
"People want to be part of an event and they want to be in the room when something happens. It doesn't need to exist all the time, everywhere," Colligan said. "It ruins the specialness of things when accessibility of something is available to you on your phone and it's not an event you were a part of."
About 780,000 pressure washers sold at retailers like Home Depot are being recalled across the U.S. and Canada, due to a projectile hazard that has resulted in fractures and other injuries among some consumers.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
Ford is recalling more than 355,000 of its pickup trucks across the U.S. because of an instrument panel display failure that’s resulted in critical information, like warning lights and vehicle speed, not showing up on the dashboard.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
