Industrial Light & Magic, the visual effects company founded by George Lucas, have announced a new project group called ILMxLAB, an internal research group that focuses on “all manner of immersive entertainment.”
ILMvLAB aims to develop a number of immersive media projects, including VR, AR, real-time cinema, theme park entertainment and narrative-based experiences. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company Lucasfilm has also collaborated in the past with the Imagineering division to create Star Wars and Indiana Jones theme park attractions
The group draws on talent and content from previous stealth projects hailing from Industrial Light & Magic, Skywalker Sound, ILM’s R&D group, Lucasfilm’s Story Group, and some key former LucasArts talent. With direct access to the Star Wars IP, the group has also said that they will be announcing some exclusive Star Wars universe experiences later in the year.
Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy comments, “We are currently exploring the fictional universes of Star Wars, and I think a lot of people would like to be immersed in them. The challenge of ILMxLAB will be to find out what storytelling looks like in this new space.”
In the promo video we see a number of systems including an iPad with a curious depth-sensing camera, a CAVE system with optically-tracked 3D shutter glasses, and the HTC Vive.
Industrial Light and Magic, this year celebrating its 40th anniversary, was formed by filmmaker George Lucas to deliver the groundbreaking visual effects for the Star Wars movie series.