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."
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered,” European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday, adding that they will trigger toug
