The theatre will be housed at the company's Printworks multiplex in Manchester and could be the next big thing to hit cinemas. Opening at the end of the year, the theatre will run StarVR hardware from Starbreeze and Acer. We are not talking real movies yet, according to the press release the centre will offer 'an ongoing array of new, premium interactive content experiences that are expected to range between five and 15 minutes in length each'.

Imax chief executive Richard Gelfond said the agreement with Odeon marks an important milestone in its  continued effort to deliver differentiated entertainment experiences, now through location-based VR.

“We are extremely pleased with the significant progress we’ve made on this initiative in this short period of time and believe this commitment from such a significant European exhibitor is a testament to the interest and potential of this offering. Odeon is a long-time partner that shares our vision in delivering guests the ultimate in premium experiences and we look forward to ushering in the next evolution of immersive entertainment with this test centre,” he said.

Users will enter 'pods' which can be customised to suit single- or multi-user 'interactive content experiences' and particular content types. The opening follows the company's work with its first Imax VR centre in Los Angeles, with plans to open more in China, Japan, the US, the Middle East, and Western Europe in the coming months.

We are still a way away from truly interactive or 360 degree movies, but this sort of thing will probably encourage more theatres to open and then more movies to be made. Of course they tried all this in the 90s and it tanked big time.