Dreamscape Immersive is an American entertainment and technology company. It creates story-based full-roam virtual reality (VR) experiences which allow up to six people to simultaneously explore a virtual 3D environment, seeing fully rendered avatars of one another. Using real-time motion capture technology, full body mapping, virtual reality headsets, and real-life room-scale stage sets, it enables users to move untethered in a virtual environment and interact with physical objects. The technology was created by Caecilia Charbonnier and Sylvain Chagué, and developed by engineers at Artanim, a Swiss research center specialized in motion-capture technologies.[1][2]
 | |
| Industry | Virtual reality |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2016 |
| Founders | Kevin Wall (co-founder and co-chairman) Walter Parkes (co-founder and co-chairman) Caecilia Charbonnier (co-founder and CIO) Sylvain Chagué (co-founder and CTO) Ronald Menzel (co-founder and CSO) |
| Headquarters | California, Culver City , United States |
Key people |
|
| Products | Free roam multi user virtual reality installations |
| Members | 100 |
| Website | www |
History
editDreamscape Immersive was co-founded by Walter Parkes, a film producer; Kevin Wall, a global live events producer, investor, and entrepreneur; Caecilia Charbonnier and Sylvain Chagué, co-founders of Artanim; and Ronald Menzel, an entrepreneur.[3][4]
The company was launched in mid-2016, whereupon Bruce Vaughn, the former head of Disney's Imagineering, was appointed CEO and Aaron Grosky, former president of Control Room, was appointed COO. It operated in stealth mode until February of the following year.[4] Based in Culver City, California, its first investors included IMAX, Westfield Malls, three film studios, and Steven Spielberg.[5][6] AMC Theatres, Nickelodeon, and Majid Al Futtaim later invested in the company.[7]
Dreamscape Immersive's first VR installation, Alien Zoo, opened at the Atrium in the Westfield Century City Mall in Los Angeles in February 2018.[8] It was followed by The Blu: Deep Rescue, developed in partnership with TheBlu, and Curse of the Lost Pearl: A Magic Projector Adventure.[9] DreamWorks' Dragons Flight Academy VR was released in December 2019. A Men in Black VR experience was announced in June 2019 and released in 2021.[10]
After opening its flagship store in Los Angeles, Dreamscape Immersive opened its second permanent location August 2019 in Dallas's Northpark Mall. This location closed January 2023.[11] Dreamscape Immersive then partnered with Majid Al Futtaim, opening its first international location January 2020 at Mall of the Emirates in Dubai. It quietly closed June 2023. [12] Its third US location, in Columbus, Ohio, opened in February 2020 and closed in May 2023.[13] In July 2021, Dreamscape Immersive partnered with Warner Media to open two experiences within the Harry Potter New York Storefront in New York City’s Flatiron District. After 18 months, both attractions had closed. A fourth US location was opened in Garden State Plaza in Paramus, NJ. That location opened in December 2021 and closed in May 2023. [14] Dreamscape Immersive opens its first European location in Confédération Centre in Geneva, Switzerland, in July 2022.[15] September 2022 they once again partnered with Majid Al Futtaim to open a location in Riyadh Park Mall, Saudi Arabia.[16] On March 11, 2024, the Los Angeles location closed. Dreamscape Immersive currently operates one location in Saudi Arabia and one in Switzerland each.[17]
References
edit- ^ Zeitchik, Steven (2017-09-26). "Hoping to bring VR to the multiplex, AMC joins Spielberg in backing Culver City startup". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
- ^ Fritz, Ben (2017-09-26). "Virtual Reality Installations to Start Arriving at AMC Movie Theaters Next Year". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2018-01-12.
- ^ Roettgers, Janko (2017-02-13). "Dreamscape Immersive Wants to Bring Virtual Reality Multiplex to Los Angeles". Variety. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
- ^ a b Fink, Charlie. "Dreamscape's Big Dreams for Immersive VR". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
- ^ Fritz, Ben (2017-02-13). "Startup Backed by Spielberg and Studios Seeks to Create VR Experiences for Malls". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
- ^ Barnes, Brooks (2017-09-26). "Coming Soon to AMC Theaters: Virtual Reality Experiences". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
- ^ Busch, Anita (2017-12-13). "Dreamscape Gets New Financial Commitments From Nickelodeon, Middle Eastern Investors". Deadline. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
- ^ Bishop, Bryan (2018-02-23). "Dreamscape Immersive's Alien Zoo takes guests to an interstellar Jurassic Park". The Verge. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
- ^ "Dreamscape Offers A Destination Virtual Reality Experience You'll Want To See Again And Again". TheGamer. 2019-09-09. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
- ^ Roettgers, Janko (2019-06-10). "'Men in Black' VR Experience Coming to Dreamscape (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
- ^ "Dreamscape Brings VR Experiences to NorthPark Center". D Magazine. 2019-08-15. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
- ^ "Dreamscape opens outside US in Dubai's Mall of the Emirates". Digital Studio. 2020-01-06. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
- ^ "The Virtual Reality Experience At Dreamscape Is The Coolest Thing You Can Do In Columbus Right Now". Columbus Navigator. 2020-02-28. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
- ^ "Dreamscape and AMC are teaming up once again to bring back location-based VR". CNET. 2021-11-19. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
- ^ "Un temple de la réalité virtuelle ouvre à Genève". Le Temps (in French). 2022-06-23. Retrieved 2023-07-08.
- ^ "Majid Al Futtaim opens first Dreamscape VR experience in Saudi Arabia". BoopLoop. 2022-09-22. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
- ^ "Find us". Retrieved 2021-12-27.