After virtual reality hardware took its leap into the mainstream last year, 2017 is going to be the year we see an increase in the amount and breadth of content available to us on the headsets.
One company contributing to this is Jaunt, a cinematic VR company, which RoadtoVR reports has announced has five different projects slated to go into production this year.
Out of the five projects, the one that’s likely to strike a chord with most VR fans is The Lawnmower Man. That’s right, Jaunt is re-imagining that 90s VR-centric sci-fi cult classic and bringing it to VR headsets as a scripted multi-episode series.
Evergreen
If you’re unfamiliar with the original film, it revolved around scientist Dr. Lawrence Angelo who used a mix of experimental pills and virtual reality to try and increase the intelligence of an intellectually disabled gardener.
Jaunt will work with the film’s rights holders, Jim Howell and Rupert Harvey, to make the project happen, though we imagine it’ll have significantly better SFX than the original. At least we hope it will. Unfortunately it’s not likely that Pierce Brosnan or Jeff Fahey have any intention of reprising their roles.
Rights holder Jim Howell said “Together with Jaunt we look forward to a contemporary team bringing to life a whole new world of VR; a world of immersive entertainment and communication. We are very excited to be working with Jaunt to create a VR realization of the film.”
Aside from The Lawnmower Man, Jaunt is also working on three other multi-episode sci-fi series called Miss Gloria, Luna, and The Enlightened Ones as well as a stoner comedy series called Bad Trip.
