Tucked away in a palatial Hawaiian home and packed with high-tech accouterments, I can’t imagine a better place to watch a film than this incredible Star Wars-inspired home theatre. Unless you were trying to watch a western or something.
The house itself is stunning. 930sqm of contemporary design; six flat panel HDTVs each with their own futuristic touchscreen remote from Creston (each with one button – “WATCH DVD” – that sets all the correct inputs and eliminates headaches). But I’m pretty sure I’d be spending all my time in the theatre.
It has life-size R2-D2 and C-3PO replicas that talk to the audience (I assume 3PO stays quiet during the actual screenings), a ceiling featuring a three-dimensional fibre optic scarscape, and a motorised pocket door that serves as the entrance, just like you’d find on a Corellian Cruiser.
The designers, Acoustic Innovations of Boca Raton, Florida, didn’t want the gear to break the intergalactic illusion, so they hid it: acoustic panels on the walls were designed to look like starship doors, equipment racks turn 180 degrees, so they can be concealed by a concave cabinet, and the Runco DLP projector that makes the magic happen is hidden inside a soffit in the rear of the room. The screen is a curved, anamorphic 107-inch display from Stewart Filmscreen, which is acoustically transparent to accomodate the five speakers behind it. The only problem with the whole space-age setup? The popcorn is freeze dried. [Electronic House]