The Future of Cinema

Director, John Morgan, was asked to speak at the Emerging Cinema Markets (ECM) conference last week in Istanbul, Turkey. The conference was held over three days focussing on the future of cinema in Turkey, Middle East, Central Asia, Balkans & Africa.

Cinema today is a global industry, with growing annual box office returns of $40 billion. The ECM conference looked at the rapid development of the technology, experience and integration of cinema around the world. With 40 speakers over 3 days the event was a hub of activity with some of the best innovators in the industry all in one place.

During the first day of the event John Morgan attended a tour of some of the latest cinema screens led by Patrick von Sychowski editor of Celluloid Junkie. The tour including checking out technologies such as ScreenX which boasts a 270-degree viewing experience via the use of multiple projectors around the space. Following this the tour stopped off at the multi-sensory 4DX cinema which puts your right in the middle of the action using motion, light, scent, wind, water and even snow to make the experience as immersive as possible. To round of the tour a visit to the very relaxing Tempur cinema experience was a vast contrast to the prior experience with double beds replacing all of the seats.

Fast forward to the following day and John Morgan took to the stage opening the afternoon sessions with ‘Creating a Destination: The Theatre of Change’. Touching on Leonard Designs international leisure work, John showcased how a leisure development can reinvigorate a community. With the integration of residential, commercial, retail, and food & beverage Leonard Design have repeatedly seen the success of mixed-use developments within sometimes dying areas of cities.

John Morgan also shared the stage with Jordi Wientjes, Heather Blair of Extended Cinema & Kareem Attiyat of Revo.