Sony-Backed Cosm Bets $100 Million on Dome-Shaped Movie Theaters

Sony put $100 million into immersive theater operator Cosm in June, taking a minority stake and a board seat as the domed-screen company pushes premium moviegoing beyond live sports.

Cosm has opened four venues since 2024 — near Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta and Detroit — with a Cleveland hub set to open in 2027. The company programs 87-foot-diameter concave screens that wrap the viewer's periphery; Cleveland's dome will be even bigger at 100 feet. Los Angeles and Dallas hold roughly 350 seats each, while Atlanta and Detroit seat up to 500.

The name blends "cosmos" and "colosseum." Cosm started in planetarium programming, then pivoted to giant domes that mimic courtside seats at live sports events. Specialty cameras mounted inside arenas broadcast back to the dome, creating the illusion of standing on the field. Showings often sell out, according to the company.

How much does a ticket cost?

Tickets run from $18 for a matinee to around $70 for prime seats at in-demand showings, before concessions and themed menu add-ons. That sits well above industry averages. A standard movie ticket costs about $13, while premium large format tickets average more than $18, according to EntTelligence data.

Prices for Cosm's events fluctuate by showtime and venue, but on average it's "higher than I think anybody really would have thought," Jay Levine, chief strategy and business operations officer at Sony, told CNBC.

Which studios are signing on?

Cosm has struck deals with Hollywood studios to screen their catalogs inside the domes. Warner Bros. — now part of Skydance — brought "The Matrix," "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "It." A recent deal with Universal brings "Shrek" to the domes starting Dec. 16, Cosm's first animated title.

For theatrical features, the film plays in a large rectangle at the dome's center while the background extends each scene. In the "Harry Potter" presentation, when Hogwarts acceptance letters flood the fireplace, animated envelopes swarm the entire background.

Cosm built this pipeline with experiential production company Little Cinema and creative studio MakeMake. From storyboarding through post-production, adapting a film can take up to a year.

"We really work hard not to take away from the story, so the film remains the hero in the narrative," Alexis Scalice, head of Cosm Studios, told CNBC. "Working very closely with Warner Bros. and our creative partners to make sure that we're not detracting too much from the story, but we're enhancing those moments for more elevated emotional response."

With the exception of 2017's "It," the slate so far leans on decades-old films with established fan bases. Scalice calls it "that nostalgia factor" — "parents coming in that ... grew up on this, and they want to share it with their children." She added: "We can reinvigorate these legendary films."

Why did Sony write the check?

"Cosm is really early in its growth trajectory at the moment, and we saw an opportunity to partner with the company at, what I would say is at, a very important stage in its development," Levine said. "They have about five locations with the goal of a pretty significant rollout. And the real reason why we did it was it gave us a lot of exposure to a growing distribution and what we deem an experiential platform that we think has long-term potential."

Sony has made other theatrical plays: it bought Alamo Drafthouse in 2024 and signed a long-term lease in July to reopen and restore Los Angeles' Cinerama Dome. "Our experiences strategy is around tech, it's around fandom, and it's around new and innovative approaches to content distribution," Levine said. "For us, we're all about these differentiated experiences."

Cosm's other investors include chairman Steve Winn's Mirasol Capital; Marc Lasry's Avenue Sports Fund; Dan Gilbert's Rock; and David Blitzer, managing partner of the New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia 76ers, through Bolt Ventures. The privately held company doesn't disclose financials.

"The thing that's so incredible about it is everybody thought initially it's just going to be working for sports, and when you look at what they've done, a lot of the titles with 'Harry Potter,' with 'Shrek,' and some of the other ones, I mean, the fill rates are actually incredible," Levine said.

What does this say about the theatrical market?

Post-pandemic cinemas have fewer screens and fewer moviegoers, but higher ticket prices — especially for premium formats like Imax, Dolby Cinema, ScreenX and 4DX — have masked those declines. Those formats skew popular with Gen Z and millennial audiences.

Unlike its sports events, which offer cheaper viewing from hall and deck areas outside the dome, Cosm's theatrical presentations run only inside the dome.

"They have no problem selling these tickets because people want to experience these things, like an immersive format," said Mike Polydoros, CEO of cinema marketing firm PaperAirplane Media. "That is something they can't get at home."

With a fifth dome coming in 2017-targeted Cleveland and Universal's "Shrek" arriving Dec. 16, Cosm is betting that nostalgia plus immersion can keep filling 500-seat domes at $70 a head.