Despite springing a major leak back in 2014 with big budget films hitting the internet before the box offices, Sony Pictures Entertainment continues to be a major Hollywood force in theaters. The Hollywood Reporter divulged that Sony Pictures will be teaming with Madison Wells’ Reality One production group to create VR experiences based on Sony properties, a move that could further solidify their position in the film industry.
Back in June, Sony appointed Jake Zim as Senior VP of Virtual Reality for Sony Pictures so the company seems to be attacking the VR technology from multiple fronts. Zim, before taking the new position, collaborated with The Void to bring the Ghostbusters to the VR company and we could see similar brand partnerships popping up. Reality One has some pedigree of its own, previously teaming up with Wevr for interactive fantasy Goblins & Gnomes which had film director Jon Favreau (Iron Man, The Jungle Book) at the helm.
Virtual reality is a logical step forward for any company involved in entertainment and Zim says as much in a statement on the deal:
“Sony Pictures will expand our efforts to develop new audiences and new revenue from our studio’s content, leverage longstanding relationships with some of the best creative minds in the business and explore exciting opportunities for high-quality, interactive storytelling in this new medium.”
“Angry Birds”, “James Bond”, “Goosebumps”, “Chappie”; Sony has a lot of inspiration to draw from in their past and future projects. Hopefully we won’t just get quick 360° videos to market upcoming films. With hope, we’ll get fully involved VR experiences that take pre-movie hype to a new level. Reality One co-founder Gigi Pritzker shares a similar sentiment, saying the partnership will take advantage of “Sony’s wealth of intellectual property, relationships with established storytellers and willingness to experiment with new technologies.” Gear up readers. We may have our chance to swing around New York as Spider-Man soon.
