Stars Wars to Partner With Top Secret Hologram Company

Lucasfilms enlists Magic Leap for augmented-reality project

June 16, 2016 9:00 am

May 25, 1977.

That’s the day Star Wars came out. It’s also the day most of us (or most of our fathers) were introduced to holograms (“Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re our only hope”).

Today, nearly 40 years later, Lucasfilms announced a partnership at the Wired Business Conference that could prove that scene prophetic.

As part of the new partnership, Lucasfilm’s ILM VIsual Effects workshop and newly-formed xLab division will be working with Magic Leap to create Star Wars-related content that will be distributed via the mixed-reality startup’s top-secret technology.

“I’ve spent 24 years at ILM, but I cannot recall anything that looks or feels like this,” says xLab chief exec Dobbs Beck. “I’ve never seen anything where we’ll be innovating on both a creative and technological level in such close proximity.”

While the companies did not reveal any specific programming ideas during the conference, they did release a video of two guys you might recognize that provides a glimpse into the type of galaxy-changing experience the new venture may produce.

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