The Meg: VR Experience

VFX Online May 13, 2020, 1:05 pm 1.5k Views

The Meg: VR Experience

August 15, 2018 – DNEG partners with Practical Magic to give audiences a ‘submersive’ experience.

There’s something lurking in the deep this summer – it’s a massive 75-foot prehistoric Megalodon shark aka The Meg.

The Meg, which goes on release on 10 August, sees expert diver and former Naval Captain, Jonas Taylor (played by Jason Statham), go head-to-head with his nautical nemesis The Meg – the largest marine predator that ever existed!

Now, thanks to The Meg: Submersive VR Experience, fans of Warner Bros.’ latest movie can get uncomfortably close to this frightful fish.

We’ve once again (see Dunkirk VR experience) teamed up with VR production company Practical Magic to give audiences a chance to spend three suspense-filled minutes with the super-sized shark.

The Meg: Submersive VR Experience is a sensory, physical ride, that is currently touring North America to promote the movie.

Participants stand inside bespoke one-person pods and through the action on their VR headsets they’re ‘transported’ into the ocean’s murky depths, close to the futuristic Mana One underwater observation platform, one of the locations in the movie.

As the VR story unfolds, The Meg becomes more aggressive and the physical experience becomes more visceral with the pods taking on water and vibrating in time with the action being watched on the headset.

All the look and feel of the movie

All the VR footage used in the ride uses the actual 3D models, textures, lighting, and other VFX assets that we used in the VFX we contributed to this movie. We also supplemented these assets with bespoke animation of The Meg and it was then topped off with an atmospheric stereo soundtrack. All of which makes for a truly immersive, but increasingly terrifying, three-minute encounter with Jaw’s Jurassic cousin.

Experience it for yourself

Even if you can’t get to any of the locations to enjoy the pod-based submersive experience, then you can still enjoy the experience via a VR viewer (such as a Samsung 8 or Gear VR). For the best results use a VR headset and download from Samsung Gear VR (powered by Oculus) or Discovery VR.