Atlantic launches virtual reality prodco

UK producer Atlantic has set up Alchemy VR, a virtual reality studio with its visual effects studio Zoo, which will make immersive content for platforms including Oculus Rift and Sony Morpheus virtual reality systems.

The new prodco will make factual content and is already working on its first virtual reality show, an unnamed project fronted by Sir David Attenborough about the first creatures that inhabited the Cambrian period 550 million years ago.

Atlantic has been in the vanguard of 3D production, making several shows for BSkyB in the UK, several of which have been fronted by natural history broadcaster Attenborough, and creating a joint venture 3D prodco Colossus. Its projects include David Attenborough’s Natural History Museum Adventure and upcoming two-parter Conquest of the Skies.

The prodco has a large amount of CGI footage that it hopes to augment for VR platforms. The new VR show will launch on the Oculus Rift and Sony Morpheus headsets later this year.

The new prodco is keen to involve the VR community on future projects as it works out its next projects and how to make content for the new immersive platforms.

Atlantic boss Anthony Geffen will head up Alchemy VR. He said: “This venture is a natural progression for us, harnessing the unique and talented team we have built to create content for a revolutionary platform which finally becoming viable for a consumer audience.”

James Prosser, who will head up the studio, added: “We are incredibly excited about our upcoming projects and the future of VR. For anyone who experienced VR in the 80’s and saw its potential it has been a very long wait to get to where we are now where we have the hardware platforms with capabilities to deliver these truly immersive experiences. We will look back at this time as being the dawn of a new era in how we view, experience, and interact with content.”