Tom Cruise might be the biggest action star on the planet, known for huge stunts that probably cost millions of dollars to pull off. His latest trick has been filmed in VR, too.
Cruise will feature in a new zero gravity VR experience, presented by IMAX in partnership with Universal, in promotion for the upcoming reboot of The Mummy franchise. In the film’s debut teaser trailer (seen below), he and co-star Annabelle Wallis are caught up in a huge plane crash that sees them tumbling through the sky. The VR experience is set inside that sequence as the pair try to escape certain death.
To simulate zero gravity, the experience will be on display at the 2017 South by Southwest festival this week with the Voyager full-motion chair from Positron. First seen at Sundance earlier this year, the chair features motorized rotation and pitch to move you through cinematic VR experiences, and haptic feedback to help you feel them. Twenty units will be on display at the festival from March 10th – 14th, and you can sign up to see it through an official website. You can also just turn up on the day, though expect a queue.
This isn’t actually the first VR experience to involve Cruise; back when Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation released in 2015 a VR experience accompanied the movie. Funnily enough this time you were hanging onto the outside of a plane (it had a rather elaborate setup), where gravity was very much working against you. Earlier today a full Mission: Impossible VR game was announced, though it’s not yet clear if Cruise will feature in it.
IMAX is closely aligning itself with VR experiences like this right now, and is even creating its own cameras to shoot this type of content as well as funding it. The company sees location-based VR experiences forming a big part of the industry, which is why it’s opened up its own cinematic VR arcade of sorts in Los Angeles.
