Universal Pictures: Bride of Frankenstein holoride

Overview

Brand
Universal Pictures

Technology
Virtual Reality
holoride SDK

Platform
Oculus/Meta Rift

Industry
Entertainment

Release Date
2019

Introduction

We were engaged by Universal Pictures to develop content for an in-car entertainment experience of the future, built on German tech startup, holoride’s, technology.

The combination of cinematic VR, interactivity, and real-life motion from a moving vehicle has opened up a new world of possibilities for immersive entertainment on the move.

— Greg Reed, VP, Technology Partnerships, Universal Pictures

The brief

The entertainment experience for most drivers is largely unchanged from when the first dashboard radio was installed in 1930. When a driver no longer needs to keep her eyes on the road and hands on the wheel, the in-car experience can be transformed. The actualization of a ‘moving living room’ will change the way we consume entertainment on the go.

Universal Pictures wanted to give people a glimpse into the future, so we teamed up with holoride and Ford Motor Company to create a pioneering in-car virtual reality experience.

holoride technology takes virtual reality content and matches it with data points from the vehicle in real-time, creating an extremely immersive experience. These data points include GPS travel route and time, along with driving data from a car, such as steering, acceleration, and braking.

holoride’s technology introduces a new paradigm in storytelling—Elastic Content—highly adaptive narratives and worlds that always match the rider’s journey. Magnopus was one of the first selected agencies working with holoride’s Software Development Kit.

The solution

With the technology from holoride, set inside new 2020 Ford Explorer vehicles, riders were transported to the mysterious re-imagined world of The Bride of Frankenstein. Working closely with Universal Monsters, we reimagined the iconic monster for a modern-day audience, while developing a unique and gripping narrative.

Once inside the vehicle, riders buckled their seatbelts, put on their VR headset, and were joined by the Bride of Frankenstein on a special mission. Along the way, riders encountered interactive monsters and obstacles in a fully immersive, “elastic” VR experience, complete with sound effects and visuals that reacted and adapted to every twist and turn of the journey and every nuance of the car’s movement.

The impact

The complimentary experience was offered to the public for a limited time between 14th October and 9th November 2019 at Universal CityWalk Hollywood. This marked holoride’s first offering to the general public following its successful debut at CES.

The feedback received from over 3,000 riders was overwhelmingly positive, with many saying this was one of the most impressive VR experiences they have ever tried.