Oculus VR Releasing Four Movies Made For Oculus Rift In 2015

Oculus VR, the Facebook-owned company behind the Oculus Rift, announced Monday that it was developing films for the virtual reality headset. The first movie from its Oculus Story Studio is a short one called “Lost,” which stars a robot.

Oculus is exhibiting the film for attendees of this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Utah. “Lost” comes from Oculus and former Pixar animator Saschka Unseld, director of the 2013 photo-realistic short “The Blue Umbrella."

“Lost” is the first of four film to be released in 2015 by Oculus Story Studio, and is built for the Crescent Bay version of the Rift, an internal prototype that's lighter than the versions currently sold to developers and tracks a user’s movements. The film lasts between roughly four and 10 minutes, based on the viewer’s actions, Unseld told The Verge.

Oculus created its Story Studio, it says, to showcase the Oculus Rift to Hollywood executives, highlighting the headset’s possible uses in storytelling. The company plans to release a film depicting a bullfight, one about a hedgehog preoccupied with balloons and another from Unseld called “Dear Angelica.”

“Oculus is being cautious with "Lost," setting expectations quite low, and it’s very clear that these experiences are currently best done in short bursts; we’re far away from half-hour or movie-length virtual reality stories,” wrote Bryan Bishop, a reporter for The Verge who was given a demonstration of the film. “But the truth is 'Lost' is the most complete VR narrative that’s been created thus far.”