Cosm extends golden ticket to moviegoers

L.A.'s multisensory 'Willy Wonka' takes viewers into the chocolate factory.

- BY TODD MARTENS

Photographs from Cosm

COSM is pairing modern CGI animation with 1971's "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" in Inglewood.

We are at the dawn of the era of "experimental cinema."

At least that is the pitch by entrepreneurs such as Jeb Terry of Cosm and James Dolan of Sphere, whose domed venues have embraced the idea of reviving older films to augment them with new technologies. Terry used the phrase in his introduction to a resuscitation of 1971's "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," which debuted last month at Inglewood's Cosm with modern CGI animation, aiming to emphasize the whimsy and childlike wonder of the Gene Wilder picture.

"Wonka" is the sophomore attempt by Cosm to redefine the moviegoing experience "The Matrix" got the Cosm treatment last summer, and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" will follow next year. Seeing a film in what the venue calls "shared reality" can be all-encompassing and yet intimate as well as communal and, if everything works out, somewhat thoughtful. The 87-foot-diameter spherical screen wraps above, below and behind us, but an emphasis on couch seating invites a cooperative environment. And guests are encouraged, for instance, to pull out their phones and capture and share the moment.

It's good fun, if you don't take it too seriously, as experiential, in the case of "Wonka," means a film dedicated to the power of imagination sometimes leaves a little less to it. Spirited and bright, Cosm's approach to "Wonka," a collaboration with experiential firm Little Cinema and visual effects house MakeMake, is to ensure audiences are never not surrounded by eye candy. The result is alternately charming and clashing why, I wondered, isn't the animation done in a 1970s style to better complement the film?