Dreamscape Immersive announced it will open its doors in LA’s Westfield Century City Westfield mall on December 14th. The company, which creates unique free roam VR experiences, is founded by Hollywood’s top producers, and three movie studios. Dreamscape’s largest shareholder is AMC Theatres, which will be rolling out the next four Dreamscape locations in 2019. AMC has identified a series of key markets, including Dallas/Ft. Worth, Columbus Ohio, and the New York/New Jersey metro area, for these new Dreamscape venues.
Dreamscape introduced its first VR experience, “Alien Zoo,” in a pop-up location at Westfields in February. This is the kind of experience you'd find in a Disney theme park. I absolutely loved it. No player in all of free roam VR - and there are some spectacular experiences out there - comes even close to what Dreamscape achieves in art, storytelling, immersion, and presence. And it’s cinematic. Like you’re inside the movie.
The Dreamscape waiting room or lobby is themed to suggest a departure lounge for intergalactic (or interdimensional) travelers. Visitors are encouraged to take a moment after the adventure. It really is unsettling and a little surprising to find yourself back in the material world.
Not surprisingly, Bruce Vaughn, the Imagineering Creative Chief behind Shanghai Disneyland, is the company's CEO, whose founders include Walter Parkes, the nerd famous writer of the movie War Games, and the Producer of Men in Black, Kevin Wall, the producer of the Live Aid concerts (and an early Facebook investor), and investors which include Steven Spielberg, three of the movie studios, AMC movie theatres, and Westfield, one of the largest mall developers in the world.
Visitors to Dreamscape Immersive locations wear backpack PCs and HMDs that allow them to roam freely inside the experience. They suit up and enter a stage with a motion floor, which whisks them into a giant alien spaceship which is, literally, an Alien Zoo. An incorporeal A.I. who sounds suspiciously like David Ogden Stiers (the actor who voiced the stuffy English clock in Beauty and the Beast) is the guide and controls the hovercar tour of intergalactic life.
You're free to move around in the open-air hovercar. The floor is glass. You can see the earth through the massive transparent dome that encloses the vast habitat. The use of scale is breathtaking. You have an opportunity to reach out and touch the Elqui, horse-like creatures that roam the savannah environment. As we sweep away into the canopy of the nearby rainforest, we feel mist. Encounter playful Murai along the way to a dark cavern where the vicious Sicari resides. The music, by Oscar winner Hans Zimmer, makes us feel the sweep and majesty of this original science fiction adventure.
At launch, The new Westfield Century City location will feature “Alien Zoo” and two new original experiences, “Lavan’s Magic Projector: The Lost Pearl” and a co-production with WeVR studios,“TheBlu: Deep Rescue,” based on their popular PC VR experience. Dreamscape’s content is decidedly different than everything else the industry offers: there’s no shooting. The ambition of it is inspiring. VR experiences not differentiated enough. One VR rollercoaster or zombie wave shooter is like the rest.
I talked to Parkes and Vaughn yesterday as they were putting the finishing touches on their new location, which will feature five simulators or theaters capable of hosting six guests at a time. Parkes was fresh from a dentist’s chair and in a circumspect mood. “The two things we ask ourselves when we think about a new experience are wish fulfillment and play. We ask: would you like to do X in VR? Remember what it was like when you were a kid, and you played James Bond after seeing James Bond.”
“It’s exciting to see dreams become reality,” said Vaughn. “Our goal was always to open with varied types of experiences, sending people to impossible places in an epic theme park fashion.” The VOID, Dreamscape's main competitor, is backed by Disney. They recently released a VR experience based on the "Ralph Breaks The Internet" animated movie. Vaughn says Dreamscape will likewise begin working with varied IP and studios who want to develop titles for their platform.
Adam Aron, CEO, and President of AMC Entertainment, Dreamscape Immersive’s largest investor, is one of its biggest fans. “I’m confident consumers will be as mesmerized by Dreamscape as we are." He told me. "It's really superior to everything that has heretofore been done in VR. We really believe that. We try everything, and here's the truth, with people like Walter Parkes and Steven Spielberg, involved, you’re going to end up with the best product.”
Tickets are $20 per person. The small one stage pop-up sold out its limited run within hours, so online reservations (click here) are strongly recommended. Experiences are 9-12.5 minutes but with pre-and-post show fun, Dreamscape is hoping it will seem like a night on the town… or in the cosmos.
