At the Oculus Connect developer summit, Oculus revealed that it is teaming up with two major studios in Hollywood to bring popular content into virtual reality through the Oculus Rift headset.
The first partnership is with Walt Disney Studios for the creation of VR experiences that will feature some of the most popular Disney characters. The content that will be brought to life by the Oculus Rift includes movies, among other materials.
"We are incredibly pleased to announce a collaboration with Walt Disney Studios, one of the most recognizable names in storytelling," said Yelena Rachitsky, content producer for Oculus, in a presentation at the conference.
Rachitsky added that with Disney content coming to the Oculus Rift, it would be setting a "higher bar" for VR. What she means by that is largely unknown, as the exact details of the partnership between Oculus and Disney have not yet been revealed. However, given the rich history of Disney and the new capabilities for storytelling that virtual reality and the Oculus Rift presents, anything that will be the product of the partnership will surely be something to look forward to.
The futuristic capabilities of virtual reality will also be featured in the second Hollywood partnership announced at Oculus Connect, which is an Oculus VR project that will be linked with the upcoming sequel to classic science fiction movie Blade Runner.
The film, which has been revealed to bear the title Blade Runner 2049, will be released on Oct. 6, 2017. The movie is set decades from the end of the first Blade Runner, which was set in 2019, and will feature Ryan Gosling alongside Harrison Ford, who will be reviving his role of Rick Deckard. Ridley Scott, the director of Blade Runner, will produce Blade Runner 2049.
The virtual reality project for Blade Runner 2049 will be launched before the movie is released, to further build up the anticipation for the long-awaited sequel.
Virtual reality has largely been linked with video games, but the technology has also drawn interest from several other industries, such as retail, travel, education, medicine, and as seen in the partnerships with Disney and Warner Bros., entertainment.
One example of an entertainment product that has been released for Oculus Rift is the animated short virtual reality film Henry. The movie, which features a lonely hedgehog, was created by the Oculus Story Studio and has won an Emmy award. With the announcements, Disney characters and the cast of Blade Runner 2049 could soon be joining Henry in virtual reality.
