Disney invests $65m in virtual reality start-up company: Is VR the future of cinema?

Jaunt hope to 'completely changing the way we enjoy media'

The term “virtual reality” was first coined in the 1980s (Getty) (Getty)

Cinema hasn’t changed drastically since the advent of colour pictures in the 1930’s. Sure, digital has taken over, 3D has been implemented and the wide screen made mainstream, but the actual experience has yet to be transformed completely.

Now, imagine going to the cinema but this time, instead of sitting down in front of one enormous screen, your’re handed a tiny one to strap to your face - a virtual reality headset.

Picture it: 200 people, all sitting in a room, with little screens attached to their faces, watching the same movie. That’s what cinema could become.

(Getty)

Well, not exactly, but something along those lines is getting closer and closer by the day as film studios begin to take virtual-reality a lot more seriously.

Jaunt, a start-up company based in California, are leaders in the field of cinematic virtual reality. Since their inception they've worked on bringing virtual reality films to the mainstream in the hope of "completely changing the way we enjoy media."

That's a massive goal, but one they might just have the right backers to achieve. The Walt Disney Company - the ones who make, along with making childhood classics, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel films - just invested $65 million into them. Add this to backing from other companies in Europe and China and Jaunt has raising an incredible $100 million.

The company hope the investment will allow them to greatly advance their hardware and increase production.

If you’re curious about a VR film could be like then you can have a go right now: all you need is either an Oculus Rift or Google Cardboard like set-up (much cheaper).

Head over to their site and download one of their mini movies to explore what the future of film really could be like.

The film industry isn’t the only one investing in VR: many huge tech companies have put millions into bringing these headsets to your homes including Sony, Microsoft, Google and Samsung.