Disney Animation Studios today released Myth: A Frozen Tale, its first publicly released VR short film, based on the Frozen franchise.
Myth: A Frozen Tale debuted with the release of Frozen 2 last year as Disney’s latest VR short film, but it’s just now becoming publicly available for the first time on Oculus Quest.
Myth is directed by Disney’s Jeff Gibson, who also directed Disney’s first VR short film, Cycles. In an Oculus blog post, Gibson explains what viewers can expect in Myth:
Audiences can expect to start in the world of Frozen with a family of Arendelle as they settle in for a bedtime story about the elemental spirits. You’re then transported into the enchanted forest where this particular Myth unfolds around you. This world is like a pop-up book, designed by Brittney Lee, who is well-versed in the design language of Frozen. You’ll see an intricate balance of CG, hand-drawn animation, and effects bring this unique world to life.
Myth is truly a short film, with a runtime of just eight minutes, and has an appropriately small price of $3. It includes the voicework of Evan Rachel Wood, who played Queen Iduna in Frozen 2 (and it’s recommend to have seen that film before you see Myth).
Though the film is only available on Quest today, it seems there might be hope for a Rift release too. Gibson revealed in the Oculus blog post that Myth debuted as a Rift experience, but the team crunched it down to work within the constraints of Quest’s lower power processing.
Myth is Disney Animation’s first publicly released VR short film, though not the company’s first foray into VR. Beyond the aforementioned Cycles, Disney released a handful of early 360 experiences bundled together in the Disney Movies VR app back in 2017, and the more ambitious Pixar Coco VR experience in 2018 (which even supported co-op with other players). In 2019 the company debuted another VR short film, A Kite’s Tale, directed by the studio’s Bruce Wright, though the latter hasn’t been publicly released.
