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HBO Max has finally found a solution for all the people who’ve longed to have an exotic dancer show up in the privacy of their home – well, virtually anyway.
The HBO-based streamer once again teamed up with creative studio and digital agency Little Cinema to create an interactive experience for fans, this time around the launch of new reality competition series, Finding Magic Mike. The show, which features 10 men working to be crowned the most Magic of the Mikes, is based on the movie starring Channing Tatum and executive produced by Steven Soderbergh.
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Due to a post(ish)-pandemic world that finds many things, such as menus, now available only via QR code, users won’t have a hard time figuring out what to do when they arrive at www.findingmagicmike-ar.com where just such a code awaits them. Once they scan the code into their phone, they can aim the device at whatever setting they want the virtual private dancer to appear. Once that’s done, they can sit back, relax and enjoy the bumping and grinding.
The experience features contestants from the show and if the viewer likes what they are seeing, they can reward the virtual dancer virtually by tapping “make it rain,” which will rain neon pink dollars on the dancer’s head, or “raise a glass,” which will do just that. Viewers can also record themselves enjoying the experience and then share that to social media if they are so inspired.
Little Cinema created and designed the experience’s overall concept and worked closely with HBO Max to capture volumetric footage of the show’s contestants that it then turned into high-quality holograms. It then partnered with creative studio Powster to build it out. The team used 8th Wall’s web-based augmented reality platform to host the experience.
“Augmented reality is an exciting and innovative way to bring our world-class programming into fans’ homes,” said JP Mallo, VP, originals marketing, HBO Max, in a statement. “Finding Magic Mike is a fun and charismatic show, so we saw it as the perfect opportunity to first utilize this AR technology and creative with Little Cinema. We feel we’ve hit the nail on the head with this one and we can’t wait to see how fans react.”
“Finding Magic Mike is the perfect opportunity to take the themes and heart of a series and reach fans through an interactive and dynamic AR experience,” said Chris Schuett, COO, Little Cinema, also in a statement. “HBO Max saw our vision and allowed us the access to show talent, choreography, and key assets that make this truly special, and will put you and your friends in the front row at the show. AR allows us to tell a story that is unique to Finding Magic Mike, and with the tools available via 8th Wall and the team at Powster, we feel we did just that.”
Finding Magic Mike premieres Dec. 16 on HBO Max.
Tags: augmented reality finding magic mike hbo max little cinema powster