Last Friday (5 Sept) saw the public debut of Barco Escape, a new ultra-wide, multi-screen movie format, on the new Oculus-powered Samsung Gear VR headset. Barco Escape uses multiple projectors and screens to create a panoramic viewing experience.
The Escape content running on the Samsung Gear VR simulates what moviegoers will experience when they go to the cinema to see a feature in Barco Escape format.
It allows the user to look around during certain scenes of the movie and see what it feels like to view not just what’s on the main screen, but peripheral visual content on the side screens to immerse the participant into the movie.
Samsung unveiled its Gear VR virtual-reality headset during IFA 2014 in Germany last week. It has been working with Oculus, the creator of the Oculus Rift VR headset, to create the Gear VR, and the Gear VR Innovator Edition will become available later this year.
No official pricing has been announec, but it is widely believed Gear VR will sell for around $199. For those wanting to buy Gear VR, it is worth noting however it will only work with a Samsung Galaxy Note 4.
"The Samsung Gear VR is a powerful tool to introduce Barco Escape to the world," said Ted Schilowitz, CinemaVangelist for Barco and 20th Century Fox’s resident Futurist.
Barco worked with 20th Century Fox and director Wes Ball to re-envision his short movie 'Ruin', which is currently in development with the studio to become a feature film, into Escape format as one of the featured content pieces for the Samsung Gear VR release.
Barco was keen to point out, Escape is still in its early stages of deployment.
Ball’s upcoming movie with 20th Century Fox, 'The Maze Runner', will be the first feature film released in Barco Escape format in select cinemas on September 19th.
'The Maze Runner' will be released in Auro 11.1 immersive sound by Barco.