Cinema near Yosemite now home to first permanent VR theater in U.S. Here’s what’s playing

For a small-town theater, Yosemite Cinemas tends toward industry firsts.

The owners caught national attention in 2013, when they took over their hometown theater and implemented a community-based subscription model, in which viewers paid a monthly fee.

It was a rarity at the time — a niche idea mostly designed to save small, independent theaters from going under. The owners had to take meetings with the major movie studios just to convince them the idea could work.

Of course, subscription-service theaters have proven to be a viable business model, with versions picked up by major chains like Regal and AMC.

“In little Oakhurst, we’re usually on the cutting edge,” says Matt Sconce, Yosemite Cinemas cofounder and CCO.

First permanent VR theater in the U.S.

The theater’s latest offering feels significantly more sci-fi.

It is a partnership with entertainment technology company Positron and virtual reality creator CityLights and is the first of its kind in the United States: a permanently installed virtual reality theater.

In the lobby between two of the cinema’s traditional movie screens, in what used to be the concession area, are 16 egg-shaped pods. They are shiny black and move in unison like some silent, technological ballet.

The Positron Voyager VR pods swirl and dip while viewers (ensconced within under headphones and virtual reality goggles) are taken through a virtual tour through the Yosemite Valley.

Yosemite National Park in virtual reality

This stands in contrast to the rest of the room.

Projected on the walls is a series of immersive video murals.

It’s a forest at night.

An owl hoots in the distance. A family of bears peaks out from a cropping of trees. Smoke from a campfire wafts into the sky and becomes a series of constellations. The imagery evokes the location of the theater at the southern gate to Yosemite National Park, but also its premiere film and marquee attraction.

“Experience Yosemite,” was created by CityLights specifically for the theater. Narrated by Bryan Cranston, the 17-minute film takes viewers into a virtual world created by stitching together thousands of high-resolution images of inside the national park, from the historic Mariposa Grove (recently under threat from wildfire) to the sheer face of El Capitan and the so-called diving board, where photographer Ansel Adams took the iconic “Monolith, The Face of Half Dome” in 1927.

Eventually, the theater will open a gift shop with swag that capitalizes on the film. There will be T-shirts and hats, and also Ansel Adams prints and recreations of the woven baskets created by indigenous people in the area and featured in the movie. A giant five-paneled photograph of Yosemite will be hung on the wall. It is the highest resolution image of Yosemite in existence and taken by cinematographer Greg Downing for the movie.

The Positron difference

This isn’t the VR you’ll find down at the mall, Sconce says.

“Most virtual reality can’t tell a narrative story, because you can’t get the viewer to look where you want.”

Positron’s motion chairs change that by syncing visuals to the headset goggles. People who normally have issues with the motion sickness of virtual reality, don’t seem to have problems with the movie, Sconce says. The pods also offer haptic and scent options that create subtle nuances to enhance the experience to something beyond an amusement ride.

“We’re a long way from having ‘Mission Impossible’ in VR,” Sconce says.

There is other content being created for virtual experiences.

Yosemite Cinemas currently has two other options: “Everest VR” and a pair of animated shorts called “Asteroids” and “Invasion.”

Other films, typically anywhere from 15-40 minutes in length, will be switched in every few months. Already there are plans for ultra-scary, haunted-house Halloween programming.

“If you can watch it all without taking the googles off, you’ll win a prize,” Sconce says.

Yosemite VR is open 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

Adult tickets are $18.95 to $31.95 depending on the length of the film and available at www.yosemitecinema.com or at the theater. VR films are not included in the theater’s monthly membership, but tickets will be discounted.