Friday, May 13, 2011

Marvel Super Heroes 4D Attraction



Here is the part two of my London report and this one is about a great Marvel Super-Heroes attraction! We are all wondering about where and when WDI will begin to build Marvel super heroes attraction in Disney theme park but this Marvel attraction which opened last summer inside London's Madame Tussaud's museum and is a real good one! Even better it's a 4D attraction with in-theatre effects!



What they did is that they've transformed the old Planetarium located at the end of the visit of the wax museum in a 4D theatre with lot of effects. Before guests enter the theatre they access the "Hall of Heroes" with interactive displays where you can see what you'd look like if you turned into The Hulk and hang out on the ceiling with Spider-Man. They are welcome by a huge Incredible Hulk...



...the Fantastic Four Invisible woman - Jessica Alba ...



...and Iron Man standing in a kind of Stark Industries decor. By the way, this reminds me the rumor of an Iron Man attraction envisioned for Disneyland's Tomorrowland with the Innoventions building transformed in a Stark Industries decor. I don't know if this rumor is right or not, but hopefully we'll know more in the future.



Let's come back to this Marvel 4D attraction. When guests enter inside the old Planetarium theatre - and once they took the 3D glasses - they sit in the brand new theatre chairs equipped with sensory special effects which include water, smoke and tremors that bring all the action right to your seat. The theatre floor is not moving like it does in Honey i schrunk the audience but all along the movie guests experience many effects like the Honey i schrunk the audience "mouse effect" (hitting your legs) or also like the effect in It's Tough to be a bug (hitting your back) or like the one with the dog at the end of Honey (when water is spray in your face), etc...

And what about the movie itself, you ask? Well, this ten minutes movie is really fun. It's not a live action movie but 3D CGI animation which is pretty good and, considering that the attraction budget was certainly not a "WDI budget", i think they did a pretty good job. It's non stop action all along the ten minutes with a lot of "pop up in your face" 3D effect. Obviously someone at Tussaud's asked the production to don't be afraid to put as much as possible 3D effects and they were right as the audience was constantly laughing and surprised by the effects and enjoyed the movie very much. And so did I.

The story itself is pretty simple: Spidey, Iron Man, Captain America, Wolverine and the Incredible Hulk try to save London which is under attack by Doctor Doom. What a casting! Doom has created huge robots and after a fight with the first of them near Buckingham Palace the threat is getting closer to Madame Tussaud's museum ( that is to say where guests are watching the movie ) up to the point when Dr Doom released big mechanical flying bugs that will invade the theatre. Not a bad plot, actually. I must add that the music score is very good too. Actually, and considering that the action doesn't stop all along the ten minutes, the whole movie is really enjoyable. For sure it would have been better if it has been filmed in live action instead of 3D animation but that shouldn't stop you to see this new London attraction during your next visit.

As i supposed you'd like to see some images from the movie itself, i found on youtube these videos.

The first one is a short video showing you the making-of of the pre-show area and a bit of the movie...




The second one is the official trailer of the attraction...




And now a big spoiler warning! If you intend to do the attraction anytime soon it's probably better to don't watch the next two videos! The first one will show you the first and a half minute of the movie, the very beginning...




...and this last one will show you the WHOLE movie, starting approximately where the above video ended. No need to say that it is in-theatre filming, so the quality is not perfect. That said it's in 3D and eventually if you have 3D glasses at home and watch the video full screen you may experience some of the 3D effects, but of course not the in-theatre effects. The kind of 3D glasses you need is the one they give you for "Honey" or "Captain EO".




Pictures: copyright Disney and more - Madame Tussaud's

Video: copyright Madame Tussaud's

7 comments:

Marco Antonio Garcia said...

Looks nice, thanks for posting!

Anonymous said...

They take Alba for the Invisible woman? What a lame.

Alain Littaye said...

They took Alba because she was playing the Invisible Woman in the FF movie. That make sense.

David said...

I'm surprised to see a Marvel/Disney production inside Merlin-owned Madame Toussauds. Considering the crappy Merlin-Attractions (like this awfully cheap looking Dungeons), this is really a big plus!

David Neubauer said...

Marvel/Disney inside Merlin? What a surprise - and good news for the visitors in London. Any information if Marvel is to cooperate with Merlin on other attractions?

Alain Littaye said...

No info about that but apparently the attraction is scheduled to stay at Madame Tussaud's only until 2012, although it needs to be confirmed.

Anonymous said...

Alan,

I wrote a piece on this last year when it opened. In my research, I was informed that the attraction is licenced for 5 years. so unless something has changed (which is of course possible), it is due to close in 2015. The plan is to actually add to this as Thor, Captain America and the Avengers are released.

Davewasbaloo