Reviews Are In: Madame Tussaud’s Ghostbusters Exhibit Is as Virtually Real as it Gets
Madame Tussaud’s partnered with OpenEye Global, Sony and various other third-party companies to bring the Ghostbusters cinematic experience to its New York location, offering guests an immersive and interactive ghostbusting experience that can’t be found anywhere else.
The entire exhibit takes up three floors of the museum, and keeps guests’ attentions every step of the way.
Guests enter the exhibit through a staged subway entrance, with a NEC V463 – 46-inch display portraying NBC’s Al Roker announcing a news piece regarding the apparent ghosts in town. Roker specially filmed the segment for the Ghostbusters Exhibit.
Guests then move through the subway corridor, passing a moving ghost that is projected onto the wall using a Casio XJ-UT310WN Ultra Short Throw Projector.
At the end of the first corridor is a haunted subway car, where “Sparky” the ghost appears to be inside. This visual is created using three NEC V423 displays, which appear to be the subway’s three back windows. Sparky moves across the three displays to give the effect of him moving within the car.
Photos: See images from Madame Tussaud’s Ghostbusters Experience
The exhibit continues onto a haunted corridor, with moving portraits hung on the wall. One of these portraits portrays Gertrude the ghost, who begins to move through a built in motion sensor. These portraits were created by a combination of NEC V423 displays (42-inch) and NEC V323-2 (32-inch) displays. OpenEye worked with Sony to film actors for these portraits to keep the content as authentic as possible.
Guests continue through a Chinese restaurant that is as close as can be to an exact replica of the movie set. In the next room over, guests can walk through the Ghostbusters’ lab and view the two “ghosts in a box,” where it appears that two ghosts are trapped within a large metal box. This effect is created by a Realfiction POP3 Hologram Display and a BrightSign HD 1022 Media Player.
Moving past the Pepper’s Ghost effect Slimer projection, guests are led to the exit, where a NEC NP-502H projector and fog screen are used to project a ghost flying through fog.
For a multi-million dollar project, there were certainly challenges along the way, but Fluet says that the museum’s close partnership with OpenEye and Sony helped keep these challenges at a minimum.
“It was a monster of a project for us. There were bound to be hiccups along the way, but the OpenEye Global team and Sony were fantastic to work with to overcome those challenges along the way. It was really about the synergies of the partnership and making sure we could get the assets from the filmmakers that we needed.”
“The relationship is key … it was a true partnership [with Sony] where we worked together to create this amazing experience where the consumer actually feels like they’re walking through the movie.”
Just in case taking a tour through the Ghostbusters replica set isn’t exciting (or scary) enough for museum visitors, the exhibit ends with a Ghostbusters Dimension virtual reality experience, giving guests an opportunity to capture ghosts themselves through a combination of virtual reality technology, real-time interactive effects and a physical set.
“This is the only Ghostbusters exhibit of its kind in the world,” says Bryan Meszaros, CEO of OpenEye. “Ghostbusters represents a unique sensory experience that helps connect the visitor to the story itself. This experience is a great example of digital integrating with physical design to tell a one-of-a-kind story.”
AlsoSee: Daktronics, Alpha Video Help T-Mobile Arena Create Unique Las Vegas Entertainment Venue
If you enjoyed this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our digital newsletters!
