Theater chain makes virtual-reality push

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., the biggest cinema chain in the U.S., is investing at least $20 million in virtual-reality arcades and productions as growth stagnates for traditional moviegoing.

The exhibitor, which has lost half its market value this year after a poor summer box office, will be the lead investor in a $20 million series B financing round, committing $10 million to virtual reality entertainment company Dreamscape Immersive. Another $10 million will be invested in a content fund, and the chain will finance the rollout of six virtual-reality centers in North America and the U.K. over the next 18 months.

AMC, which in June unveiled an Imax virtual-reality center at one of its multiplexes in New York City, could use the technology to attract more young people to theaters and rekindle their interest in movies. While Imax Corp.’s virtual-reality centers allow players as a group or individually to participate in various virtual-reality games and experiences, Dreamscape Immersive lets up to six people walk around a virtual world as an avatar, untethered to a computer and using their entire body as they would in the real world.

While analysts had predicted a bonanza from virtual reality for technology firms, mass adoption has been slow. Sales of virtual-reality hardware have fallen 40 percent behind forecasts, CCS Insight, a research group, said in a February report. Arcades offer consumers a chance to check out the technology without buying headsets and other gadgets.