Cosm Is Enhancing Our Moviegoing Experience To Exciting, New Heights

Cosm presentation of the 1971 film “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”

Cosm

In a world where video streaming is readily available on-demand from our phones or from the comfort of our own home, it has become more and more of an uphill climb to motivate people to make the effort to head to theaters. As the communal moviegoing experience feels like somewhat a pastime activity to some, Cosm looks to the future, providing audiences with a larger-than-life visual and audio experience that you have to see (and hear) to believe.

With currently two Cosm locations located in Los Angeles and Dallas, and more on the way, it is a rather incomparable immersive experience, whether you seek to watch a film favorite on a far grander scale or your favorite sports team live as if you are there in-person with the best seats in the house.

“Cosm is known one hundred percent for fandom and what we call Shared Reality,” Alexis Scalice said, Vice President of Business Development and Entertainment at Cosm. “We’re literally reinvigorating how people are watching sports and movies. We always say we want to transport you into another world – and so, with sports, we literally can feel like you are courtside. With The Matrix, we ask them to step back inside the matrix with us and feel like you’re part of the story. It’s really an experience of a lifetime.”

Jay Rinsky, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Little Cinema, says of his company’s collaboration with Cosm, “I think what has been unique about Shared Reality is it’s almost a true reimagination of the format. So, you’re immersed in visuals that enhance the story and motion of the scene. It’s not just the bigger picture – it’s a whole other second narrative that just puts you into that center of the film and really enhances key storytelling techniques that make you feel inside the story.”

As for the communal moviegoing experience within our modern times, Scalice says that her Cosm creative team is banking on audience emotion, by utilizing its state-of-the-art 87-foot diameter 12K+ LED domes and proprietary full-dome filmmaking technology. With Warner Bros. Pictures’ The Matrix having a very popular run at Cosm over the past few months, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory gets the Cosm treatment in pure imagination, with public screenings starting November 21. Plus, just announced is that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone will be coming in Q2 of 2026 to Cosm locations, with added locations opening in Atlanta and Detroit.

Scalice said of Cosm, “We work in very close collaboration with our studio partners, as well as Little Cinema and MakeMake Entertainment. It all comes down to – What emotion do we want the fans to feel together? With Wonka, it’s really pulling out your inner-child, you know? Kind of going back into that cozy moment.”

Rinsky added: “The Cosm design, the venue is meant for communal gatherings. You’re seated with friends in much more of a comfortable setting. You have food and drinks that come during it. Also, the LED dome – what it does from a technical and creative standpoint – it shines light in a different way on the audience. That lets you see the people around you. It’s a new technology that creates a new medium that has been designed by Cosm for shared experience, whether that’s in sports or entertainment.”

As for the growing international interest in Cosm, Scalice said, “We want the cinephiles to know that we are respecting these legacy films. We know that people love watching movies. These brands are part of their life. We have had people fly in from Korea that were major Matrix fans. We’ve had someone fly in from Brazil.”

For Rinsky, one specific Matrix Cosm guest experience has really stayed with him. “I kind of still have a little bit of shivers about this, but at the end of the first premiere, we got called up by the Warner Bros. executives at Cosm to come meet someone that wanted to speak with us – and that was Joel Silver that produced the [Matrix] film. He showed up with his kids and he was shaken to almost tears with his kids, and just so thankful for having the chance to show this to his kids in what he said is the same way that he felt the first time he saw it himself.”

When it comes to this Shared Reality concept from Cosm, it is only naturally within our society today to wonder how it compares to the popular visual experience of the Sphere in Las Vegas. However, instead of seeing one another as rivals, Scalice believes that there is plenty of room for welcomed innovation in our world for the both of them.

“We love what Sphere is doing,” Scalice said. “It’s so good for the industry. I think the difference is we’re scaling a little bit differently. We’re keeping the film as the hero and we’re not touching the film when we’re building around it. I think there’s differences as far as our production timelines, but we love that we’re both in this industry and really kind of building a new community for classics.”

Looking ahead with Cosm, Scalice says their team is busy, with the two new venues coming next year and their fifth Cosm location in Cleveland recently announced, as well as venues around the world planning to open soon enough.

Rinsky said while reflecting on Cosm’s success so far, “Creating The Matrix with Cosm has opened up a fascination with what this medium and format can be. We’re humbled that we’re having such a great momentum and being able to dive so quickly. I really just kind of hope this momentum continues. There’s just so many different film styles and creative approaches, that for us, it’s about never being complacent. Never going for those low-hanging fruits and constantly trying to create something new with every experience we do.”

Scalice added: “I think we just scratched the surface. The consumer gets more sophisticated every day, so we want to be ahead of that trend. The nice thing is that there are so many incredible legacy films. The portfolio is huge, so we really have a great platform. We’re honored with that.”

While concluding our discussion about the ever-expanding world of Cosm, I was curious what message these team leaders would like to say to film studio heads and other entertainment industry decision-makers about keeping this special Cosm approach top of mind as this new medium continues to grow.

Scalice said, “We invite them in – like join us! We’ve been really honored to have everyone come and experience this. Come build this world with us and that communal piece. I always say like – Do it for the fans, too.”

Rinsky concluded by saying, “You’re sitting on a library of masterpieces and great stories that can be seen in a brand new light to a contemporary audience in ways that can inspire new generations, new fandom and create new revenue streams. You’re also at the cutting edge of a new video-based storytelling format that can be used with filmmakers to release new films, and also new and exciting ways as more distribution and these mechanisms continue to develop. It’s a fascinating time – a hundred years into the love of filmmaking.”