A few years from now our neighbourhood cinema will have pods instead of seats and instead of cinema we will have e-cinema (experience cinema). Imagine a future Gravity with you point-of-view shifting from within the frame, sometime's that of Sandra, sometimes facing her, sometimes right behind her. And being buffeted as the debris fly by or hit the spacecraft. Maybe even experience fleetingly weightlessness or even extreme cold. Now imagine a Bollywood potboiler in e-cinema. Would the Prevention of Torture Act apply?
But seriously they will have to reimagine both the technology and grammar of cinema if e-cinema is to happen and flourish. Once when Avatar released I thought it will happen with 3D cinema but it has not happened but because the technology and grammar did not move beyond the rudimentary.
From what I saw at the Universal Studio theme park yesterday I think e-cinema stands a much higher chance. I was visiting Universal after a gap of 17 years and the difference was mind-blowing. The Fast and Furious and the King Kong ride wrapped you in a 270 degree screen with resolutions that withstood you being only 20 feet or so from the screen and 3D that caused no dimming of the screen and kept the proportions across depth flawlessly. And boy did one sweat out the action. The Simpsons and Minions ride accomplished more or less the same effect with a 180 degree screen and a pod.
E-cinema is already a reality at Universal albeit in 10-20 minute clips with a stupendous amount of expense.
Will the cinema industry invest enough to make feature length e-cinema films common and as critically invest the humongous amount of money that would be involved in creating a network of e-cinema theatres. With home theatre technology improving by the minute and prices falling at a rate that will have every mildly affluent home install a good one, neighbourhood parlours and bars outbidding pricey multiplexes and TV series leaping in quality to provide the emotional resonance that once cinema solely provided what choice will the industry have?
If they want to continue getting millions to buy pricey tickets for 90 minutes or so of entertainment I don't think 3D and IMAX will be enough. Perhaps e-cinema is the answer.
