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AMC is launching its own VR app with a 360-degree scene from The Walking Dead

AMC is launching its own VR app with a 360-degree scene from The Walking Dead

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Gene Page / AMC

Television networks and movie studios have been regularly leaning on virtual reality as a marketing tool, and today AMC announced that it has launched its own app dedicated to VR tie-in material. Simply named AMC VR, the app is available now for iOS devices, Android, the Gear VR, and Google Daydream featuring a collection of material tied to shows like The Walking Dead and Into the Badlands.

AMC will also be capitalizing on this weekend’s season premiere of The Walking Dead with an extended version of a scene from the episode that will be presented as 360-degree video. The scene in question will be an encounter between Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam), and was directed by the show’s Greg Nicotero, with VR filmmaker Kevin Cornish (Teen Wolf VR; Remember, Remember) co-directing.

Photo: AMC Networks

Already available in the app is a four-part series of Walking Dead experiences called “Attacked,” and a virtual reality “fight camp” featuring the stars of Into the Badlands. A catch-all screening room for 2D content is also included in the app, which features various trailers and a segment from the Norman Reedus open-road series Ride. New, original VR content is planned for future release in the app, and will be tied to The Walking Dead, Into the Badlands, and AMC’s upcoming anthology series The Terror.

While AMC VR may be the network’s first dedicated virtual reality app, some if its shows have already been quite active in exploring the medium on their own. Skybound Entertainment, the production company co-founded by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, has made a point of bringing the property to VR tie-ins, a lineup of new VR games, and is also exploring the medium with other projects like the immersive theater adaptation Delusion. As with many VR initiatives at this point, the AMC app will be an opportunity for new users to try out the medium by leveraging the popularity of the network’s various shows. Along with the expansion of location-based VR like The Void’s upcoming Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, we may finally be reaching a point where audiences of all kinds will have the opportunity to try out and explore virtual reality across the spectrum, from the simplest, promotion-based experiences, to room-scale adventures based on the biggest properties on the planet.