AR and VR on the Lot at Paramount Studios had some big names walking around, including companies seeking to create stories in both virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) that are equivalent of Hollywood standards. VRFocus sat down with Guy Primus, the CEO of the Virtual Reality Company, a studio trying to do just that with VR experience Raising a Rukus in partnership with IMAX, for it and the Samsung Gear VR. As well as their AR app Follow Me Dragon.
The Virtual Reality Company is co-founded by Robert Stromberg, who has created the world of Avatar (2009) and Alice in Wonderland (2010) as well as directed Maleficent (2014) and Guy Primus, a heavyweight in the advertising industry and previous Chief Operating Officer for Overbrook Entertainment, a film and television production company founded by Will Smith and producer James Lassiter. The 28-person team are on a mission to bring people “face to face with imagination” through immersive technologies.
Their mission has led them to creating Raising A Rukus, a VR experience about twins who follow a little dog named Rukus underground on an adventure that involve dinosaur skeletons coming to life on a wild adventure. The VR experience debuted at IMAX VR cinemas with the D-box chairs, which help further immerse viewers into the experience. Primus says that the feedback so far has been fantastic with people asking, “you can do a Pixar movie in VR?”
It’s not only VR that the Virtual Reality Company are looking into. They’ve most recently released Follow Me Dragon on iOS devices. The moment Apple announced ARKit, the team managed to get the Follow Me Dragon out and ready 10 weeks later. Primus hopes that the little dragon called Drake in Follow Me Dragon will be a mascot, like Mickey Mouse to Disney. They plan to iterate, add six brothers and sisters to the experience and have them overlap into VR. In other words, your dragon companion in Follow Me Dragon would develop its own personality as you travel with it and this would lead to various experiences in VR. No dates have been announced just yet, but it Primus hints at some very exciting projects that will be announced in the next few weeks. Watch this space.
To find out more watch the video below.