Sound passes through the screen, aligning with every moment on-screen
At Melbourne Central, HOYTS has unveiled a cinema auditorium that quietly marks the end of an era — the projection beam, cinema's defining instrument for over a century, has been replaced by a curved wall of 17 million self-illuminating pixels. The HOYTS APEX format is less an upgrade than a reimagining of what a cinema can be: a precision environment where light, colour, and sound are no longer mediated by lens and reflective surface, but emerge directly from the screen itself. In doing so, HOYTS is asking audiences to reconsider not just how films look, but what a cinema auditorium is for.
- A century-old projection standard is being displaced — HOYTS APEX embeds light directly into the screen, delivering contrast 30 times sharper than anything a projector can cast.
- The stakes are high: Melbourne Central becomes only the second venue in the world to carry this format, following a debut at HOYTS Karrinyup that drew strongly positive audience response.
- Sound and image are now physically unified — micro-perforated LED panels let audio pass straight through the screen, locking dialogue and effects to the action with uncanny precision.
- A slate of major releases — including Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu and Mortal Kombat II — will serve as live tests of whether blockbuster cinema translates powerfully onto this new canvas.
- HOYTS is signalling that APEX is not just a better cinema screen but a platform for live events and premium experiences, repositioning the auditorium as a venue for any spectacle demanding scale and immersion.
HOYTS has opened HOYTS APEX at its Melbourne Central flagship — a cinema auditorium built not around a projector, but around a curved LED screen stretching 21 metres wide and standing 9 metres tall. Powered by more than 17 million individual pixels, the screen departs entirely from the projection technology that has defined moviegoing for over a century.
The difference is fundamental rather than cosmetic. Traditional projection casts light onto a reflective surface; APEX generates it directly from within the screen, achieving a contrast ratio of 600,000 to 1, true blacks, and full HDR colour across the DCI-P3 cinematic gamut. The screen curves gently to reduce edge distortion, and its image holds consistent quality across a 160-degree viewing angle — meaning no seat in the auditorium is a bad one.
Perhaps the most striking technical detail is acoustic transparency. The LED panels are micro-perforated, allowing sound to pass directly through rather than reflecting off a solid surface. Paired with Dolby Atmos surround sound, this creates a spatial audio environment where dialogue and effects are precisely anchored to the action on screen — a synchronisation that HOYTS CEO Damian Keogh described as a new benchmark for cinema.
Melbourne Central is the second APEX installation, following a well-received debut at HOYTS Karrinyup. The Melbourne screen has already been programmed with major releases across April and May, each film serving as a test of how contemporary blockbusters translate onto the format. But HOYTS is thinking beyond theatrical releases — the company has positioned APEX as a platform for live events and premium content, suggesting the auditorium's future extends well past the movies. Whether audiences follow them there will become clear in the months ahead.
HOYTS has opened HOYTS APEX at its Melbourne Central flagship, a cinema auditorium built around a curved LED screen stretching just over 21 metres wide. The screen is powered by more than 17 million individual pixels and sits at the centre of what the company is calling a world-leading moviegoing format—one that departs entirely from the projection technology that has defined cinema for decades.
The shift from projection to direct-view LED is not merely cosmetic. Where traditional cinema projectors cast light onto a reflective surface, HOYTS APEX uses LEDs embedded directly into the screen itself, delivering what the company claims is 30 times better contrast than conventional projection, along with deeper blacks and more vivid colour across the entire image. The screen measures 21.12 metres wide by 9 metres tall and curves slightly to reduce edge distortion and pull the viewer deeper into the frame. From any seat in the auditorium, the image remains consistent across a 160-degree viewing angle—a technical achievement that speaks to the precision required to build such a display.
One of the screen's defining features is its acoustic transparency. The LED panels are micro-perforated, allowing sound to pass directly through them rather than bouncing off a solid surface. This means dialogue, music, and effects align perfectly with the actors and action on screen, a level of synchronisation that Damian Keogh, CEO and President of HOYTS Group, described as setting a new benchmark for cinema. The auditorium pairs this visual technology with Dolby Atmos surround sound, creating what amounts to a fully immersive spatial audio environment.
The technical specifications underscore the ambition of the project. The contrast ratio reaches 600,000 to 1, delivering what the company describes as true blacks and genuine HDR performance. The LED panels themselves are remarkably thin—just 3 millimetres—yet capable of displaying the full DCI-P3 colour gamut, the standard for cinematic colour grading. Dr. Man Nang Chong, Chairman and CEO of GDC Technology, the company behind the LED system, noted that the screen offers millions more pixels than traditional projection, resulting in clarity and detail that Australian audiences have not encountered before in a cinema setting.
Melbourne Central is the second location to receive HOYTS APEX technology. The format debuted at HOYTS Karrinyup, where audience response was described as overwhelmingly positive. The company has already begun programming the Melbourne screen with major releases: Michael arrived on April 22, The Devil Wears Prada 2 on April 30, Mortal Kombat II on May 7, and Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu on May 21. Each film represents a test case for how contemporary blockbusters translate onto this new format.
What distinguishes HOYTS APEX from other premium cinema formats is its explicit design for expansion beyond traditional film exhibition. The company has positioned the technology as capable of hosting live events and premium content experiences, suggesting that the screen's future may extend well beyond theatrical releases. This positions HOYTS not simply as a cinema operator upgrading its projection technology, but as a company reimagining what a cinema auditorium can be—a venue for any large-scale visual experience that demands precision, scale, and immersion. The Melbourne Central installation represents the flagship of this vision, and the coming months will reveal whether audiences embrace this departure from the projection standard that has held for over a century.
Notable Quotes
HOYTS APEX represents a defining moment for HOYTS and for cinema more broadly, setting a new benchmark for what the big screen experience can be— Damian Keogh, CEO and President of HOYTS Group
The LED system offers 30 times better picture contrast and millions more pixels than traditional cinema projection, resulting in remarkable clarity and detail— Dr. Man Nang Chong, Chairman and CEO of GDC Technology
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why move away from projection at all? Projection has worked for cinema for a hundred years.
Projection bounces light off a screen. LED generates light directly from the surface itself. That means you get brightness and contrast that projection simply can't match—the blacks are actually black, not just dark grey. And the sound passes through the screen instead of bouncing off it, so dialogue stays locked to the actor's mouth.
But LED screens are everywhere now. What makes this one different?
Scale and precision. This screen is 21 metres wide with 17 million individual pixels. That's not a monitor or a billboard—it's built specifically for cinema, with acoustic transparency and colour grading that matches what filmmakers actually create in post-production. Every seat sees the same image across a 160-degree angle.
Is this the future of all cinemas, or is it a luxury format?
Right now it's positioned as flagship—Melbourne Central is only the second location. But the company is already talking about live events and premium content, not just films. That suggests they see it as a platform, not just a screen upgrade.
What do audiences actually think of it?
The first installation at Karrinyup got overwhelmingly positive response. But we're still in the early days. The real test is whether people will pay premium prices to see ordinary films on it, or whether it only works for blockbusters designed to showcase the technology.
And the films they're showing—are those chosen specifically for this screen?
Likely. Michael, The Devil Wears Prada 2, Mortal Kombat II, Star Wars—these are all high-budget productions with visual spectacle. They're the films that will look most striking on a screen this size with this much contrast and clarity.