Stylish shared spaces let you go to the movies without leaving home.

They say that your home should be your castle, but in the modern era, do you really have much need for a moat, battlements, or portcullis? Wouldn’t you be a lot better off if your home was a movie theater?

That’s the philosophy behind Films Wako, a stylish new apartment building in Saitama Prefecture’s Wako, a city directly bordering Tokyo.

Films Wako is property developer Global Agents’ latest “social apartment” venture, offering an attractive array of common areas within the 123-unit complex. For starters, there’s an open, inviting lounge designed to facilitate mingling with your fellow tenants or entertaining visiting friends.

But what really sets Films Wako apart is what’s on the other side of this door.

Located right off the lobby is a theater room with space for approximately 20 cinemaphiles. And if you’re expecting a slightly-larger-than-average TV mounted on a wall and a couple of sofas, think again.

The theater room has professional-spec seats, like those found in swanky cineplexes, arranged in stadium-style tiers. Images are thrown to the screen by a projector configured to easily hook up to electronic devices.

This awesome feature is bound to attract artistic and media-savvy types, so Films Wako has a number of other amenities to cater to them. There’s a working studio for work-at-home professionals and Internet-based freelancers…

…and a photo/film studio if your ambitions include making videos of your own.

There’s also an interior garden, if gazing at greenery helps get your creative juices flowing.

As for decorating your room itself, you’re on your own, but with a little effort you could have your private area looking as stylish as the common ones.

Films Wako is a nine-minute walk from Wakoshi Station, and while the Saitama address may not have much cachet to it, it’s just a 13-minute train ride to downtown Tokyo’s Ikebukuro, with trendy Shinjuku and even Shibuya only 11 minutes farther down the line. The building currently has studio apartment vacancies, with prices starting at 75,000 yen (US$660) a month, which includes utilities. Tenants who sign up for at least a one-year lease can even avoid having to pay any of Japan’s dreaded “key money” landlord gratuity.

Some might question the point of a dedicated theater room in an age where just about everyone has at least one, and sometimes multiple, devices they can watch movies on. But Films Wako’s designers say that with such easy access to so much content, there’s no way for one person to sift through it all. Having a theater room lets tenants share their favorite films with one another, enabling them to experience and enjoy things they never would have found on their own, and helping to make the “social apartment” a little more socially connected.

Related: Films Wako official website
Source: Films Wako via Jin
Top image: Films Wako
Insert images: Films Wako (1, 2)

Follow Casey on Twitter, where his home theater is currently in the middle of a Slayers film festival.