Barco debuts its new ultra-wide, multi-screen movie format, Barco Escape, on the new Samsung Gear VR powered by Oculus device. Escape uses multiple projectors and screens to create a panoramic viewing experience.
The Escape content running on the Samsung Gear VR simulates what moviegoers will experience when they go to the cinema to see a feature in Barco Escape format. It allows the user to look around during certain scenes of the movie and see what it feels like to view not just what’s on the main screen, but peripheral visual content on the side screens that further immerse the user into the movie.
“The Samsung Gear VR is a powerful tool to introduce Barco Escape to the world,’ explains Ted Schilowitz, CinemaVangelist for Barco and 20th Century Fox’s resident Futurist. “Barco Escape is all about the future of the cinema experience, so what better way to show what we are working on as we roll out this immersive movie going experience for worldwide audiences than to introduce it along with Oculus and Samsung on their latest Samsung Gear VR headset. We are thrilled Oculus and Samsung asked us to be a key part of the launch content on the Samsung Gear VR.’
Barco worked with 20th Century Fox and director Wes Ball to re-envision his short movie Ruin, which is currently in development with the studio to become a feature film, into Escape format as one of the featured content pieces for the Samsung Gear VR release. While Barco Escape is still in its early stages of deployment, the technology company saw the strong connection points between the “all around you’ visual wonderland it is creating in theatres and the virtual reality experience Oculus offers.
Ball’s upcoming movie with 20th Century Fox, The Maze Runner, will be the first feature film released in Barco Escape format in select theatres on 19 September 2014. “We are breaking new ground by combining the latest Barco Digital Cinema projection technology and advanced visual storytelling. Every day, we learn something new as we experiment with this new format,’ says Schilowitz. “It’s a tremendous amount of fun to collaborate with such forward thinking teams to make this first movie in the Escape format possible.’
