Star Wars / Disney
AR & Immersive 360° Web Experience
Epic Story, Epic Expectations
It's the franchise that changed movie marketing forever, with a huge cultural footprint and a richly detailed world that welcomes more new fans every year.
Expectations were high for the Digital and Blu-ray releases of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but the Disney digital marketing team wanted to create something special. The question was, how do you further excite fans about the final chapter of a saga that they've been following since a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away?
Expectations were high for the Digital and Blu-ray releases of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but the Disney digital marketing team wanted to create something special. The question was, how do you further excite fans about the final chapter of a saga that they've been following since a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away?
We let them enter the film.
The Jump to Hyperspace
We proposed a mobile phone-based XR experience, incorporating VR and AR elements, along with advanced Image Recognition, to transport fans into the Star Wars galaxy—specifically, into the biggest set piece of the film: the Battle of Exegol, a climactic space battle from the film’s final conflict.
Promoted by the Disney team, fans were clued in through official Star Wars channels and influencers. To access the experience, fans were instructed to scan product art at digital retailers or on the Blu-ray & 4K packaging at stores to unlock the experience using the mobile site. Once unlocked, a hyperspace jump executed in Augmented Reality kicked off the experience with a lightspeed flash and some camera warping effects before depositing them in the skies over Exegol.
Bringing it to Life
Using imagery taken directly from the film, we hand-composited a 360° panosphere that placed fans at the center of the action, with an incoming Resistance fleet one side, and the fearsome Star Destroyers of the Final Order on the other.
Then we brought the recreation further to life by adding circling X-wing and TIE fighters, sporadic lightning flashes in Exegol’s atmosphere, rebel ships continuing to arrive from hyperspace, and scores of laser beams that streak back and forth between the opposing forces and all around the user.
Custom shaders brought special effects like lightning and on-ship fires to life, and the entire experience was presented as if viewed through a head's up display, with subtle scan lines and a unique 16-slice UI design that allowed the experience to adapt to form factors from mobile phones to tablets without sacrificing the retro-futuristic detailing.
Custom shaders brought special effects like lightning and on-ship fires to life, and the entire experience was presented as if viewed through a head's up display, with subtle scan lines and a unique 16-slice UI design that allowed the experience to adapt to form factors from mobile phones to tablets without sacrificing the retro-futuristic detailing.
For the Fans
Anticipation for the digital and Blu-ray release was furthered through hidden Easter eggs that unlocked exclusive content. Frequent refreshes with additional content kept fans coming back in the lead up to the release, with Disney teams promoting the weekly updates and content drops.
These strategic releases of never-before-seen content were easily accessible from hotspots placed throughout the battle. Whether photo galleries, behind-the-scenes trivia, or downloadable character cards, there was something new to explore wherever audiences pointed their phone.
Ultimately, tens of thousands of fans explored the site during the release window, with a significant portion clicking through to retailers, helping to drive conversation and sales for what would go on to be one of the top selling home entertainment releases of 2020.