Category: jumanji: welcome to the jungle

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Sony and Survios Partnership to Bring Jumanji: The VR Adventure to VR Arcades

When Sony Pictures released Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle back in December the film also had a corresponding virtual reality (VR) experience created for it, Jumanji: The VR Adventure, co-produced by MWM Immersive (formerly Madison Wells Media’s Reality One) and Sony Pictures Virtual Reality (SPVR). Today, SPVR has announced a new distribution deal with Raw Data developer Survios, bring the title to new audiences in Asia and throughout the world.  

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Under the agreement, Survios will expand distribution of Jumanji: The VR Adventure to its global network of VR arcades reaching more than 36 countries on six continents. Audiences will enter a magical, fully interactive 3D jungle where they can control their favorite movie characters as they build a team and set out to lift the curse of Jumanji while outwitting evil henchmen and evading dangerous wildlife.

“SPVR is leading the way to build a new, multi-tiered distribution model for virtual reality. For the first time, with Jumanji: The VR Adventure, we are enabling audiences around the world to experience VR in locations and in-home on a variety of channels that are accessible to them,” said Jake Zim, senior vice president, virtual reality, Sony Pictures Entertainment in a statement.

Jumanji: The VR Adventure debuted at 50 VRX Networks VR kiosks in movie theaters and shopping malls across the United States and UK in December. This continues Sony Pictures Entertainment’s plan to develop VR experiences based off its motion pictures and franchises. These have included Passengers: Awakening VR Experience, THE VOID’s launch of Ghostbusters: Dimension, Can You Walk The Walk at IMAX VR locations and Spider-Man: Homecoming VR.

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“We’re thrilled the success of Jumanji is translating into more demand for the virtual reality experience around the world. We are in the business of taking great IP like Jumanji to attract more fans to immersive content and excited to expand the reach of our work to a wider audience and continue to grow the reach of this new storytelling medium,” said Executive Producer of MWM Immersive Ethan Stearns

It’s not just VR arcades that Jumanji: The VR Adventure will be coming to. Fans at home will be able to enjoy the experience with the title arriving today on Steam and Oculus Store this month, followed by PlayStation VR in February. For any further updates keep reading VRFocus.

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Oculus Showcases the Best of What React VR can do

Earlier this year, Oculus unveiled React VR, a new library that would enable developers to quickly build and ship virtual reality (VR) experiences across multiple channels. Today, the company has decided to showcase several pieces of content that use React VR, covering entertainment, education, travel and more.

First up is entertainment, with Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle 360-degree experience available to try today on PC, mobile devices, and VR headsets including Oculus Rift, and coming to the Oculus Browser on Gear VR on 21st November. A sort of VR scavenger hunt, the experience tasks you with finding hidden objects to unlock new content – including behind-the-scenes footage – as you explore the treehouse.

“Building an immersive experience for this movie was a goal from the start. It was important for us to give fans the opportunity to journey into the rich world of Jumanji. Interactive 360° video and the React VR platform was the perfect solution,” says Sony Pictures Executive Vice President, Digital Marketing Elias Plishner on the Oculus Blog. “We were blown away with the technology and the fact that it could be easily accessed on a platform people use every day.”

Moving onto education, the British Museum teamed up with Oculus to create an exclusive tour, letting users reach out and examine 3D models of their most popular exhibits, from the tomb-chapel of Nebamun to mummies, funerary art, and more.

“We’re hugely excited to offer people around the world access to this first-of-its-kind gallery tour,” says Hannah Boulton, Head of Press & Marketing. “The British Museum has always been open to everyone, but this kind of technology means we can make this a reality in an unprecedented way, allowing anyone across the world to immerse themselves in our Egyptian collections. We’re proud to have worked with Oculus on this important project.”

Additionally, Oculus also worked with the National Gallery to bring its Sainsbury Wing galleries into VR, including the Wilton Diptych, Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait, Botticelli’s Venus and Mars, and Leonardo da Vinci’s The Virgin of the Rocks. All of which will be available in December.

“The National Gallery believes immersive media like VR has the potential to change the way people create, consume, and distribute art,” says Digital Director Chris Michaels. “We want to explore the many different ways that will impact what we do and are delighted to work with Oculus, Vizor, and Matterport on this brilliant collaboration.”

Moving further afield, Oyster.com has used React VR to build an interactive experience that lets travelers try before they fly. “Our goal at Oyster is to let travelers know exactly what they’re going to get before they check in,” explains Senior Product Manager Tracy Drossman. “We’ve done this through undoctored photos and honest reviews from our in-person hotel and cruise ship visits. With Oyster on Oculus, travelers can now feel like they’ve come along on those visits.”

In addition to all these collaborations to create content using React VR, Oculus has also begun testing native React VR integration and experience playback within Facebook News Feed.

As further details are released, VRFocus will keep you updated.

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Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle Getting VR Experience in December

Due for release this December is the sequel to classic 90’s kids film Jumanji, bringing together Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan for Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. And as is usual these days, no new big theatrical release can happen without a bit of virtual reality (VR) promotion, with Sony Pictures Virtual Reality (SPVR) announcing an immersive experience will be released alongside the film.

The announcement is part of a bigger multi-picture agreement between SPVR, Madison Wells Media’s Reality One and VRX Networks to produce and distribute VR experiences for select Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) films, starting with Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

In Jumanji: The VR Adventure players will be able to control the movie characters, building a team to lift the curse of Jumanji whilst evading dangerous wildlife and evil henchmen. The VR experience will be available through VRX Networks’ VR kiosks in movie theaters and shopping centres, debuting at 50 locations across the US and UK. There are also plans to expand to South America, Asia and Australia prior to the release of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

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“When it comes to VR, we’ve found that, in addition to great in-home experiences, there’s a real opportunity for location-based entertainment. VRX Networks is a great partner for us to broaden out our distribution on this channel,” said Jake Zim, senior vice president, virtual reality, Sony Pictures Entertainment in a statement. “Our goal at SPVR is to develop the business of virtual reality. This partnership represents another way to monetize our content while offering audiences an exciting way to dive into our movie worlds.”

Jumanji: The VR Adventure continues SVPR’s commitment to creating fully immersive content on SPE’s intellectual property. Previous expereinces have included Passengers: Awakening VR Experience, Ghostbusters: Dimension, Can You Walk The Walk, and most recently Spider-Man: Homecoming VR. 

SPVR’s Jumanji: The VR Adventure will not only be available at VR locations it’ll also come to in-home headsets for PlayStation VR, Steam, Viveport and the Oculus Store, although now released date has yet been confirmed.

Additionally, Sony Pictures Animation’s Hotel Transylvania 3 will be getting the VR treatment for its release in 2018.

As SPVR release further details, VRFocus will keep you updated.