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‘Star Wars’ Partnership Formed By Magic Leap And Lucas Films Offers Secretive Content On New Platform

By Jinger Jarrett
Published on: 05:52 PST, Jun 16, 2016

Magic Leap partnered with Lucas Films to create what they call “experiential story moments.” The partnership will allow the two companies to work together in further developing mixed reality technology. Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz announced the partnership with Lucas Films at the Wired Business Conference, and one of the latest videos made with the technology features Star Wars characters.

The Verge reported that Magic Leap is getting into the movie business, and this is the second partnership they have formed with a filmmaker. With more than a year in development, this will give Magic Leap and Lucas Films a lab where Magic Leap developers can work with filmmakers in further developing this technology.

Magic Leap also announced a new mixed reality video that includes Star Wars characters C-3PO and R2-D2. As with their previous videos, the characters have been seamlessly integrated into the video, although it is unclear the exact technology that was used in the video nor the source of the images that were used.

Although there will be an additional demands for details of the partnership and the technology, LucasFilm’s Rob Bredow said that there will be a lot of experimentation to determine how the technology can be used in the future.

“We’ve been testing these experiential story moments, trying to make mixed reality not a novelty but something filmmakers can actually use.”

As previously reported in Inquisitr, Disney’s partnership with Lucas Films hit a snag because the latest Star Wars movie, Rogue One requires major reshoots in order to make the story more gritty. Stunt Coordinator Simon Crane has been called in to help with the reshoots. Lucas Films defended them while saying it will only take about one month to complete them, which won’t interfere with the December release date.

International Business Times reported that Magic Leap acquired hundreds of millions of dollars in funding without showing a single piece of software. The new mixed reality technology could actually become a part of real life. Everyone who has experienced the demo has become a convert, and LucasFilm is the second company to partner with Magic Leap, with the other company being ILMxLab.

It was revealed that the Star Wars clip featuring C-3PO and R2-D2 was shot with a digital camera and the secretive Magic Leap technology. It features the two droids as they walk around the office and includes the droids interacting with the room.

The mixed reality technology goes beyond virtual reality because it allows users to actually interact with the environment they are in. With the Star Wars technology, users could potentially have C-3PO as a butler. With his command of thousands of languages, he could act as a translator.

Magic Leap is a company shrouded in mystery, so it hasn’t been revealed exactly how they plan to deploy their technology in the Star Wars universe. They are building a Space-X style factory to further develop the technology and deploy it in the future. Their first devices will be released some time during the summer, and the CEO said that they would be used as “pilots” for further development of the new devices.

No word has been given yet how Lucas Films plans to use the technology and how it will be used in any Star Wars films. The latest demo showed a robot superimposed on the company’s office, so the technology may be used to add objects seamlessly to the films without having to go back and reshoot.

[Photo by Handout/Getty Images]

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