Imagine for a moment that all the movies in the world are in one giant database which you can browse by genre, and you have the ability to select a movie, choose a comfortable and yet ‘proper’ theater in which to view it, and you can invite your friends and family along for the occasion. Does that sound appealing?

Well if it does, that’s kind of where OurScreen would like to end up, we suspect. At the moment the web based service only offers a handful of movie theater venues (in the UK) and a smattering of films, but who knows, all things are possible if it gets popular.

Right now the deal is you select a movie (I see Captain Phillips is one of the listings at the moment), then choose your venue, which at the moment look to be bijou indie cinemas scattered around the country, and then book and invite your friends along too. If the necessary number of attendees (typically around 40 to 100 or so) also sign up, then the movie goes ahead on the day and date requested.

And that’s it. Ticket prices appear to be very reasonable compared to mainstream theaters, and the whole thing has the kind of modern web app feel about it, which should appeal to the more hip types. The only thing missing is some sort of integrated mobile option. It would be cool if you could set up a viewing on your smartphone on the spur of the moment (impractical with larger venues, but maybe not with smaller ones and the right kind of BlueRay licensing?).

Anyway it’s an interesting idea.