In light of the ongoing global pandemic, an upcoming action thriller movie, ‘The Ascent’, will host its premiere entirely in VR using Altspace.
The premiere is thought to be the first to take place entirely in VR and will be part of an AltspaceVR event called “The VR Film Festival”. There will also be a Q&A with the film’s director, Tom Paton, and the cinematographer, George Burt.
“The VR Film Festival was launched to give feature films a virtual platform to premiere in a copyright-safe environment,” said Burt, speaking to Variety. “Due to COVID-19 we’ve been looking into tech and found AltspaceVR which can host the event with up to 100 people attending.”
If you don’t have a VR headset, you will also have the option to watch the movie on a new VOD service called Birdbox.Film, which is being launched by the film’s production studio, Goldfinch.
The Ascent stars Shayne Ward, who won the second series of the X-Factor in UK in 2005 (how’s that for a career change). Joining him are Toby Osmond (who played an unnamed prince from House Martell in the series finale of Game of Thrones), Sophie Austin, Alana Wallace and more.
While The Ascent might be the first film to host a film premiere in VR, virtual cinemas have been around for quite a while now. In particular, Bigscreen has been pioneering efforts to recreate the cinema experience in VR, with their VOD service that allows you to watch movies on demand inside one of Bigscreen’s virtual cinemas for a small price.
The VR premiere for The Ascent takes place in AltspaceVR this Friday at 11am PT. You can view more details and RSVP here.
