'Star Wars' Companies To Make Films For Oculus Rift Virtual Reality Goggles

Industrial Light & Magic and Lucasfilm -- two companies founded by "Star Wars" creator George Lucas -- have jointly launched a new unit to create virtual reality movies for the “Star Wars” franchise. Meanwhile, details about the two spin-off movies have surfaced online.

The new unit, called the ILM Experience Lab, will create content that can be experienced using Oculus Rift virtual reality goggles as well as tablet computers. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the artists behind the forthcoming film “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” will work on this project.

The new content will reportedly include “virtual reality, augmented reality, real-time cinema, theme park entertainment and future platforms.” The new unit also will work on creating content for other Disney properties, such as Marvel and Pixar movies. One of the first projects will be a “Jurassic Park” experience, where the user will be able to virtually interact with dinosaurs.

The video in the report includes footage of a user looking at a scene involving the droids C-3PO and R2-D2, and another scene shows an action sequence involving Imperial AT-AT Walkers. Creative director John Gaeta says in the video that launching new “Star Wars” movies gives ILM an opportunity to expand the universe of the franchise.

At least two spin-off movies from the franchise have been announced already: “Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One” is slated to be released in 2016. According to a report by Joblo, the movie will be “darker and grittier” than the other movies in the franchise. The movie will reportedly feature new aliens and droids, and the vehicles in the movie include AT-ATs, X-Wings, Y-Wings and the AT-STs.

The name of the second spinoff movie hasn’t been revealed. According to ScreenRant, television director and producer Michelle MacLaren has met with executives of Lucasfilm to discuss the possibility of her directing the movie. MacLaren has directed popular TV shows like “Game of Thrones,” “The Walking Dead” and “Breaking Bad.”

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is slated to be released in December.