'Star Wars' virtual reality experience to open near Disney parks this year
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Star Wars” lovers now have something else to get excited about this holiday season. In addition to “The Last Jedi” – the second installment in the final trilogy – slated to release December of this year, Disney will also be launching its hyper-realistic virtual reality experience near both of its parks – Downtown Disney in Anaheim and Disney Springs in Florida.
The experience, titled “Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire,” is a joint venture with Lucasfilm, ILMxLab, and The Void – a company who is pioneering “whole-body, fully immersive VR experience.”
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The collaboration is aiming to bring a new kind of storytelling to the beloved franchise by creating “immersive social experiences that take visitors to new worlds.”
Disney has not released a lot of details beyond a general timeline for the upcoming interactive “Secrets of the Empire,” but The Void’s new CEO, Cliff Plumer told Business Insider that:
“[The Lucasfilm story team] spent time with us understanding our process and looking at how we go about creating our experiences, and they had a storyline in mind. It’s been a great collaboration since day one.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Void has described its virtual reality as “full of surprises” and “one second you’re standing on solid ground, the next you’re stepping deep into darkness, looking at unimaginable beauty – or fending off danger in another realm.”
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The Void has created other fully immersive experiences before. Its previous work including a “Ghostbusters Dimension” where people would wear virtual reality headsets and then walk around an area that was set up with tables and walls – reflecting the layout of the area the users were experiencing in the game. Those who visited the “Dimension” said The Void used fans to recreate wind experienced in the game.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Though there is limited information about the new offering from Disney, The Void and Disney promise to create a “first-of-its-kind experience” for the park.