A new interactive exhibit set in a movie theater is coming to KCK. Here’s what to know

A room inside Kansas City-based industrial design company Dimensional Innovations’ office space has a doomsday clock of sorts. The clock, now under 300 days, counts down to zero.

When it hits zero, CEO Tucker Trotter and executive creative director Randall Statler hope to take Kansas Citians to a brand new world based around a movie theater.

On top of creating new signage for CPKC Stadium and a LEGO Ferrari for Legoland in Florida, the team has been hard at work crafting Atlas9, a narrative-driven immersive art experience coming to the Legends in the summer of 2025. Before it opens, Trotter and Statler said First Friday visitors can get a glimpse Sept. 6 of what to expect when it opens.

It’s a joint venture between the design company and Homefield, a youth sports development company who recently opened a youth sports arena in the same area earlier this year. They also have help from KC-based interactive entertainment group Swell Spark and local performance art organization Quixotic.

The Atlas9 team drew inspiration from other interactive art exhibits around the world, including The Rabbit hOle, City Museum in St. Louis and teamLab in Tokyo. They’ve helped create interactive pieces at the Amelia Earhart Museum in Atchison and the University of Kansas’ welcome center and decided it was time to develop one of their creations in their hometown.

“We’re doing all of these incredible experiences, why not do one for ourselves and be the client for the one in our city?” Trotter said. “The fact that we’ll have two immersive art experiences is really incredible.”

What is Atlas9?

Atlas9’s narrative follows a struggling movie theater looking to draw in customers by using new holographic projection technology to provide moviegoers with a fully immersive and interactive viewing experience. During its first demonstration, the system overloads and causes a power surge, and, as a result of the surge, brings the characters and settings from the movies into the real world.

Trotter and Statler decided on a movie theater since one of Dimensional Innovations’ first major clients was Leawood-based AMC Theatres and felt it was natural to put a cinema spin on their story. The name Atlas9 also derives from old movie theater names.

When it opens, it’ll be a nonlinear experience, meaning visitors can visit all of the rooms and unpack the story at their leisure. They could visit the 240-seat movie theater first and then go through the manager’s office or walk straight into a movie standee and take a look inside the movie’s setting. Using radio frequency identification wristbands, guests can scan kiosks placed around the exhibit and see themselves placed inside movie posters.

Some places inside the 48,796-square-foot building that’s currently being built will be left empty when it opens, Trotter said. The creators want the freedom to add more exhibits to expand the narrative after the opening.

“We’re creating this world and the back end system we’re developing will allow us to do permutations, create sequels, create plot twists and do those things that can evolve the narrative to keep it fresh,” Statler said.

Trotter and Statler say the movie theater will used for other events, such as live performances hosted by Quixotic. They hope to see local film festivals or private parties using the venue.

What can I see on First Friday?

Atlas9’s narrative kicks off before the planned opening. September’s First Friday visitors will get the first look at what’s coming to Kansas City next summer at Mean Mule Distilling Co. in the Crossroads.

Within the story, federal agents were deployed to the movie theater after the power surge to examine the effects. Agents live on the site of the theater inside a van that resembles an ‘80s-style van. The van and “agents” will be at Mean Mule as the first activation of the exhibit.

Visitors will be able to interact with the van and agents and try to figure out what’s happening. Statler said this is the first of many teasers coming to the city until it opens.

“We’re leaning on the narrative world we’re building and our movie theater background,” Statler said. “We’re leaning on story a lot in this way, on the screen and in how all the things tie together.”