One company runs the most expensive room ever built in Las Vegas and the cable channel that carries the Knicks. Here is how Sphere Entertainment turned a glowing orb into a business.
IMAX does not own the multiplex. It owns the format, tunes the room, remasters the movie and takes a cut when the seats fill - a 59-year-old Canadian invention recast as a global entertainment platform.
Bigscreen VR is a California-based virtual reality company that started in 2014 as a social app for watching movies, gaming, and hanging out in shared virtual rooms, then pivoted into hardware with the Bigscreen Beyond - marketed as the world's smallest VR headset. Built for enthusiasts, the Beyond uses high-resolution micro-OLED displays, custom pancake optics, and a face cushion molded to each customer's face. The company sells direct to PC VR users who want maximum visual clarity and comfort without the bulk of mainstream headsets.
Alexander Patterson is the founder and CEO of BEAT THE BOMB, the immersive social video game where teams in hazmat suits race through networked game rooms and either disarm a bomb or get blasted with paint, slime, or foam. A former tax lawyer turned Tough Mudder marketing chief, he built BEAT THE BOMB into a multi-city experiential entertainment brand that has hosted corporate teams from Google, Citi, Bloomberg, and Amazon, raising $22 million to expand across the United States.