The original Star Wars is coming to Cosm's immersive domes in March, just ahead of the film's 50th anniversary in May, the company announced Thursday as part of a multiyear, multifilm partnership with The Walt Disney Co., CNBC reported. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We are thrilled to add the Disney partnership," Alexis Scalice, head of Cosm Studios, told CNBC. "We do look for those opportunities of these like anniversary and commemorative moments." The screening will be Cosm's sixth theatrical collaboration with Hollywood, after Warner Bros. presentations of The Matrix, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and It. Immersive screenings of Universal's Shrek are set for December.
Each Cosm dome has stadium-style seating with booths and tables on each level. The curved screen fills much of a viewer's peripheral vision. For Star Wars, the film will be shown in a large rectangle at the center of the dome while the background is transformed into Tatooine, Yavin IV and the Death Star. Audiences will also see effects meant to suggest lightspeed travel and the trash-compactor scene. Cosm is working with Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic and creative studio MakeMake on the visuals and sound mix. "We look for those moments where sound, music ... listening to Darth Vader's breath for the first time ... you feel those moments differently in an 87-foot diameter dome and 12k resolution," Scalice said. The company says the presentation is meant to enhance, not rewrite, the film.
As with its Harry Potter screenings, which included shepherd's pie, pretzel wands and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, the Star Wars shows will be paired with a themed menu. Cosm also telecasts live sports into the same rooms using proprietary arena cameras and is trying to build "communities built on fandom," Scalice said. The Star Wars franchise remains one of the top-ranking pieces of intellectual property across film, television and retail each year, CNBC reported, and Disney is preparing a broader 50th-anniversary campaign that includes merchandise launches and theatrical re-releases. Ticket times and prices were not included in Thursday's announcement.