15 of the Best Home Movie Theaters
It’s not easy being rich. Deciding the theme for your multi-million dollar personal home theater is no easy task. Do you go with Batman, Star Trek, Star Wars, The Matrix, 300, or Pirates of the Caribbean? This is why I hate the line, “money can’t buy happiness.” Yes, it can. Do you really need more proof than this? I’ve rounded up some of the coolest and most elaborate home theaters out there for your viewing pleasure below. The Batcave may just be my favorite of the group. This ultimate man cave will only set you back $500,000+. The seats are around $5000 each.
[Images of Bat Cave, Art Deco, Roman, Pirates, and 300-themed theaters courtesy of Elite Home Theater Seating]
We have another new Bat Cave theater courtesy of Elite Home Theater Seating. This one has a steeper price tag of $2 million and is currently being built for a lucky family in Connecticut. “The structure includes a Batmobile, batsuits, 180” film screen, winged gargoyles, private cylindrical stainless steel elevator with a glowing bat symbol, a secret tunnel exit, bat computers, and race-car inspired home theater chairs. A real fingerprint scan is required to gain access to the Dark Knight home theater.” [via National Confidential]
Here is one of Elite’s newest theaters, which is under construction in Palm Beach, Florida. The Pirates of the Caribbean-themed ‘theater complex is completely indoors and consists of an Entrance Area/Ticketing Booth which opens to the Pirate Tavern/Lobby, which overlooks the unique screening room that is situated on the simulated deck of a Pirate ship. Check out their site for more images.
STAR TREK – THE NEXT GENERATION THEATER “Theater features motion-activated air-lock doors with series sound effect. You can also opt to press the “Red Alert” button on the Crestron TPMC-10 controller to turn all of the LEDs bright red and flashing. The system also features “one of the largest Kaleidescape hard-drive based storage systems” ever created, amassing eight servers with 3,816 DVDs. Completed in 2006, the three areas took a total of six months. The end result was a theater, bar and ready room, measuring a total of 70-by-22 feet.”
Here is another Star Trek-themed home theater. Sure, it’s not as great as the one above, but this will put other do-it-yourself theaters to shame. The owner of the house had this to say: “The theater took me two years to build, mostly working just weekends with a couple of evenings. That includes everything from studding the walls to final finish. Only the carpeting was handled by professionals (Home Depot).” Even more impressive is the fact that this theater only cost around $15,000.
The Matrix is one of my favorite films so I had to include this theater (sorry about the quality of the images). It lacks the Neo “whoa” factor but I’m sure it’s nicer in person. This theater had a price tag of almost $1 mill.
Here is the famous $6 million theater. “… a room that provides a far bigger and brighter picture than conventional television and home theater typically allows for; a truly IMAX large-screen; life-size movie & television pictures, along with realistic, monumental — “Earth Shattering”, “Spine Tingling” multi-channel surround sound.” Take a look at their website for all the wonderful tech specs.
Titanic-inspired Home Theater: “The dome in the theater has 1,230 fiber-optic light strands to give the effect of the night sky.” My favorite part of the theater: “Curved pocket doors in the back open at the press of a button, and a motorized bookcase swings open to allow entry into the adjoining pub room.”