Anybody can be movie buffs but not everybody takes their penchant for the silver screen to the next level. Not willing to join the smelly proletariat in the moviehouses, some movie buffs have literally taken the silver screen to their houses.
But theirs are no cookie-cutter home cinemas. They are less those than spacecrafts, portals to other dimensions, submarines, and ocean liners.
Not convinced? Don’t say we didn’t warn you:
- Stargate
This home cinema is truly not of this earth. It has a Stargate, of all things! Instead of leading you through a wormhole, however, this Stargate sends you to the fantastic worlds of cinema. Of course, the owner, Jacob Yarmuth, is a Stargate fanatic—and a loaded one at that. With $70,000, he built this secret military installation, as it were, complete with a 1080p HD projector and THX speakers. The Stargate itself serves as the screen, measuring 10 feet in diameter – enough room for a person to go through. (Don’t ruin the screen though!) As if these weren’t cool enough, this cinema boasts of airlock doors with motion sensor. The entire look is accentuated by a starry fibre-optic display on the ceiling: a dome that’s an aperture to the galaxies itself.
- Star Wars
If a Stargate fan can, there’s no reason a Star Wars fan could not. Two ex-presidents of the official Star Wars Fan Club tapped no less than The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones set designer Doug Chiang to install the Death Star in this domicile. No one knows if the purported cost of the home cinema—a cool $500,000 to a million—went mostly to the designer fees or the spot-on rendition of Darth Vader’s planet-zapping ship. In any case, you’d feel like you could blast everything to smithereens, with credit to the DLP projector and its extraordinarily bright lamp. Doors here are motion-activated, as if you wield the Force. A ‘frozen’ Han Solo statue even holds the DVDs.
- Star Trek
No mention of ‘star’ is complete without ‘trek’ appending it. Representing the rabid Star Trek fanbase well, this home theatre is made to resemble a Starfleet bridge from The Next Generation. Pneumatic doors with motion sensor demarcate the viewing area from the bar. Because Star Trek fans are cool like that, this room glows red when you press ‘red alert’ on the deck.
- Nautilus
From the stars, let’s go down to the bottom of the sea—20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, to be exact. This $1 million private cinema evokes the Nautilus as it is described in the Jules Verne novel and the Disney adaptation. The overhead projector is artfully encased in a ceiling hatch while the screen has a hand-sculpted surround. Both blend well with the ‘rusted’ interior, punctuated by velvet walls that hide speakers. There is even a replica of a Victorian diving suit to add an air of verity to this time warp. The beating heart under all of these is a custom-made AMX control system, ensuring this theatre is as steampunk as can be.
- Pirates of the Caribbean
By now, you will have understood that there are as many fanatics of seafarers as spacefarers. In this case, this private theatre takes inspiration from Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean. True to form, the arched walls of the theatre have murals of scenes from the eponymous rides and movies. Be further mesmerised by the 10,000-foot fibre-optic star field coruscating on the ceiling. The entire project cost? Just $30,000. Owner Paul Konold did it largely by himself. In a move that would make drunken sailors proud, Paul made sure to include a full bar at the back of this ship.
- Titanic
Of course, there is no greater book-ender than the mother of all ships, space or otherwise: RMS Titanic.
A Tennessee couple—understandably not Jack and Rose—made their home its permanent port-of-call. Their 20×14-foot house theatre channels the unsinkable vessel, specifically its famous lobby, with an ornate dome dappled with 1,230 strands of fibre optic light. Viewers just drown in audiovisual pleasure, thanks to the Cinemascope projector and Tru Audio surround-sound speakers concealed in the ceiling and columns, respectively. The focal point of it all is the customised 120-inch screen, although a touch not to be missed is the motorised bookcase, which secretly swings open to a pub. It’s just unfortunate there’s no iceberg here to cool the drinks though.