AMC Entertainment and Imax are shifting the focus of their virtual reality strategies from in-theater centers to standalone Dreamscape Immersive locations, the first of which opened this month.

Imax and AMC, who are investors in VR developer Dreamscape, moved earlier this year to close three non-Dreamscape in-theater locations they had opened in New York, Shanghai and Los Angeles, with Imax CEO Richard Gelfond calling the economics “not attractive enough.”

Meanwhile, Dreamscape last week opened a standalone location in the Westfield Century Center mall in Los Angeles and plans to add them in the New York and Dallas markets as well as Columbus, Ohio. In another change, instead of the Star Wars- and John Wick-related content Imax featured in the in-theater centers, Dreamscape has three multi-player non-licensed titles: “Alien Zoo”, “The Blu: Deep Rescue” and “Magic Projector: The Lost Pearl”.

AMC, which initially invested $10 million in Dreamscape in 2017, added another $9 million in the nine-month period ended Sept.30, it said in an SEC filing. Dreamscape’s investors also include Warner Bros.

Contact:

AMC Entertainment, Adam Aron, CEO, 913-213-2000, aaron@amctheatres.com

Dreamscape Immersive, Bruce Vaughn, CEO, 310-581-5903

Imax, Denny Tu, EVP Global Brand and Creative, 310-255-5000, dtu@imax.com