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I've watched the Harry Potter movies countless times, but never like this.
An 87-foot LED dome stretches overhead. At its center, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone plays, while surrounding 3D imagery expands the film's scenes to fill the display. It feels less like watching a movie and more like being inside the magical world.
During the opening scene on Privet Drive, more beige homes and glowing streetlamps extend in each direction, instantly pulling me into the film. As Harry enters Diagon Alley, the towering shops rise around me, and I share in his sense of wonder. In the Hogwarts Great Hall, hundreds of flickering candles seem to float overhead, making it feel like I'm walking with the first-year students toward the Sorting Hat.
The experience is captivating, enveloping and transportive. It's part of a viewing format called Shared Reality at Cosm Los Angeles, an entertainment venue that also has locations in Dallas and Atlanta. The massive dome display combines traditional movie-watching with computer-generated visuals, surrounding audiences with the scenes unfolding on screen -- no headset needed. Other films that have received the Shared Reality treatment so far include The Matrix and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
I attended a press preview for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in Shared Reality last week, ahead of its public opening on May 7.
Virtual and mixed reality headsets also let viewers feel pulled into their favorite films and TV shows. But headsets can be disorienting, isolating and uncomfortable after long periods of time. There's no opportunity for communal viewing, which is my favorite part of going to a movie theater. I like laughing with other audience members and reacting to shocking or emotional moments together.
Shared Reality strikes a balance between the two experiences. I can feel immersed in the wizarding world without a headset that shuts out my surroundings. I can react with delight alongside other audience members as we seemingly soar over the Quidditch pitch or walk along Platform 9 ¾. We can gawk in unison at the intense wizard's chess scene -- which is even more visually striking in Shared Reality as giant smashing chess pieces loom overhead.
"That communal aspect, that shared element, is really critical to what distinguishes Cosm in this market," Devin Poolman, Cosm's chief product and technology officer, told me. "We want to make you feel like you're there and really transport you as part of the experience."
Looking around, you'd think you were at King's Cross Station, too.
Abrar Al-Heeti/CNETAdapting Harry Potter for Cosm's giant dome screen
This being my first time at Cosm, I wasn't sure what to expect. Would the formatting be similar to The Sphere, where movies like The Wizard of Oz stretch to fill the whole dome display? I was surprised when, instead, a smaller window appeared and played Harry Potter in the standard format I'd seen many times before, surrounded by added 3D visuals.
When CNET shared a clip of my experience on Instagram, many commenters were disappointed that the film's scenes didn't extend across Cosm's dome. I had the same concern at first -- would this really feel immersive if the movie were merely framed by those 3D surroundings? But it ended up striking the right balance, preserving the film as it was made while still pulling me deeper into the on-screen world.
It also helps that not every scene is dynamic; some are designed to make you feel like you're in an environment like the Gryffindor common room or Potions classroom, with glowing lamps or bubbling cauldrons. Too much movement throughout the film would be distracting and visually exhausting. Instead, those more dynamic scenes like walking along Diagon Alley or riding the Hogwarts Express are sprinkled in for greater effect.
"The film is the hero; we want to be additive," Poolman said. "But if you do too much, it starts to take away from the movie. We recognize the fans' attention really is on the film. … We also want you to be surprised and delighted by everything else that's going on."
Poolman says the team followed traditional 3D visual effects workflows to create the experience. A team of dozens of artists, creatives and technical engineers worked out how each scene should look, going from shot lists and storyboards to building those worlds using three-dimensional tools. The scenes are then rendered at 12K resolution so they look sharp on the vast display.
It took about a year to go from concept to completion. Cosm's internal team led the overall effort, working alongside Little Cinema to nail the visual choices and pacing, as well as MakeMake Entertainment to handle the finer technical and artistic details of building these 3D worlds. Partnering with Warner Bros., the studio that produced and released all eight Harry Potter films, helped the teams gauge the best way to present and build upon the iconic scenes in the movie.
"We're trying to accentuate a moment and not override what the film is trying to accomplish," Kirk Shintani, creative director at MakeMake, told the audience during a post-screening Q&A. "There's going to be a ton of people coming in and seeing [Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone] for the first time. So we want to make sure that they get the intent of the film. What we're doing is we're trying to put you guys in that moment so you can feel it a little bit more and experience it a little bit more."
Some backgrounds simply expand the setting of a scene, rather than creating movement.
Abrar Al-Heeti/CNETThere's no denying the passion of the Harry Potter fan base, which is a big reason why Cosm chose Sorcerer's Stone as its third Shared Reality movie. It also helps that the franchise offers such a visually rich environment.
"The film -- and the whole canon -- really lends itself well to the transporting nature of what Cosm does," Poolman said.
Whether that means more Harry Potter films will be adapted for this experience isn't clear. But a glance into the Mirror of Erised would reveal that's one of my deepest desires.
