Following a celebrated world premiere at Lighthouse ArtSpace Toronto in December 2022, and a subsequent rollout in select U.S. cities in 2023, Lighthouse Immersive’s highly anticipated Disney Animation: Immersive Experience will see its Dallas premiere at Lighthouse ArtSpace Dallas (507 S. Harwood St.) on April 20, 2023.
Developed in collaboration with Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney Animation: Immersive Experience was called “awe-inspiring… perfect for all ages” by the Toronto Guardian, “Disney like you’ve never seen it before” by MLive, with Elite Daily remarking, “you really feel like you’ve stepped inside your fave film.”
Tickets start at $29.99 and go on sale in for the Dallas presentation March 23 at lighthouseimmersive.com/disney.
“We’d like to thank Dallas audiences for their incredible enthusiasm towards our previous immersive offerings, including Immersive Van Gogh,” said Corey Ross, producer and founder, Lighthouse Immersive Studios. “We have opened Disney Animation: Immersive Experience in seven cities so far, and while we expected a positive reception, we have really been blown away by just how incredibly excited audiences are with this experience, a testament to the timeless legacy of Disney Animation’s worlds, stories and characters. It’s very gratifying, and as we thought about adding additional cities, Dallas was at the top of the list. We can’t wait to share this very special presentation with the residents of North Texas.”
The status for each city is as follows:
- Lighthouse ArtSpace TORONTO (1 Yonge St.) | NOW OPEN
- Lighthouse ArtSpace CLEVELAND (850 E. 72nd St.) | NOW OPEN
- Lighthouse ArtSpace NASHVILLE (4416 Ridgefield Way) | NOW OPEN
- Lighthouse ArtSpace DETROIT (267 E. Grand River Ave.) | NOW OPEN
- Lighthouse ArtSpace DENVER (3900 Elati St.) | NOW OPEN
- Lighthouse ArtSpace BOSTON (130 Columbus Ave.) | NOW OPEN
- Lighthouse ArtSpace SAN ANTONIO (221 Burleson St.) | NOW OPEN
- Lighthouse ArtSpace MINNEAPOLIS (1515 Central Ave. NE) | March 23, 2023
- Lighthouse ArtSpace LAS VEGAS (3720 S. Las Vegas Blvd.) | March 30, 2023
- Lighthouse ArtSpace COLUMBUS (940 Polaris Pkwy.) | April 6, 2023
- Lighthouse ArtSpace DALLAS (507 S. Harwood St.) | April 20, 2023
Creating iconic animated stories for all ages for nearly a century, Walt Disney Animation Studios has joined forces with North America’s top creator of experiential projection exhibitions (including The Original Immersive Van Gogh) to present the music and artistry within Disney Animation’s canon of films—from hits of today like Encanto, Zootopia and Frozen, to all of the classics including The Lion King, Peter Pan and Pinocchio. Audiences will feel like they’ve entered the incredible worlds of beloved Disney characters and become one with them.
“Like so many of us, I have a life-long love of Disney films,” said Lighthouse Immersive founder Corey Ross. “And it has been quite a nostalgic rush seeing those films come to life at Lighthouse ArtSpace venues across North America. I’ve grown up with these characters and worlds since childhood and so has my family. The work lends itself brilliantly to the immersive experience. Our team has created something truly special here, and we can’t wait to give American audiences the opportunity to experience it.”
The creative team for the Disney Animation: Immersive Experience is led by Oscar®-winning producer J. Miles Dale (Best Picture 2018 –The Shape of Water) who said, “As a filmmaker, I am always seeking out ideas that can engage an audience in new and interesting ways, and to show them something that they have never seen before. Using the new technology that the immersive experience offers is exciting, but it’s important that it not interfere with the emotional investment that Disney fans have in the characters and storylines that audiences have come to cherish. This groundbreaking approach that Lighthouse Immersive Studios has created does exactly that by giving the viewer the sensation that they are actively sharing the space with the characters they most love from the Disney Animation library. Most of our guests have seen these films multiple times, but they tell me that they feel as though they are seeing them in an entirely new way, and that was always our goal.”
Mexico City-based Cocolab worked with Dale and the Creative Legacy team at Walt Disney Animation Studios to develop the program for Lighthouse Immersive Studios. Special Projects Producer Dorothy McKim (Oscar-nominated, Get A Horse!) is spearheading the project for Disney Animation.
“Having been a part of Disney Animation for over 40 years, I truly consider this one of the great joys within my career, partnering with Lighthouse Immersive to bring our characters, stories and films to audiences in thrilling and new ways,” said McKim. “Watching the joy and delight the show brings to audiences is what dreams are made of.”
Beyond the unparalleled projection design that Lighthouse Immersive is known for, Disney Animation: Immersive Experience is further enhanced by expansive environmental design by Lighthouse Immersive’s Global Creative Director David Korins (Tony Award®-nominee whose credits include more than 20 Broadway shows including Hamilton, and an Emmy Award® for Grease Live).
Additional interactive features within the projection show include responsive floor projection design that moves with the audience and custom bracelets that light up in sync with the projections and based on the audiences’ movements through the galleries. In a particularly show-stopping moment, the Gazillion Bubbles special effects team fills the 500,000 cubic feet of galleries with bubbles.
Ross captures the excitement both Disney and Lighthouse Immersive feel for the project as he describes how it begins: “Just imagine journeying through Zootopia with Judy Hopps, diving to the ocean floor with Ariel, flying on a magic carpet with Aladdin, and stepping into Casita with Mirabel and the family Madrigal. This is where the Disney Animation: Immersive Experience takes you.”
Collaborating with Lighthouse Immersive is the Creative Legacy team of Walt Disney Animation Studios, helping bring their library of films to audiences in a manner never before experienced.
ABOUT WALT DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIOS:
Combining masterful artistry and storytelling with groundbreaking technology, Walt Disney Animation Studios is a filmmaker-driven animation studio responsible for creating some of the most beloved films ever made. WDAS continues to build on its rich legacy of innovation and creativity, from the first fully animated feature film, 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, to 2019’s Frozen 2, the biggest animated film of all time, to our 60th animated feature, the Academy Award®-winning Encanto. Among the studio’s timeless creations are Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Frozen, Big Hero 6 and Zootopia.
ABOUT LIGHTHOUSE IMMERSIVE:
Lighthouse Immersive creates, produces and distributes innovative digital immersive art experiences through its experiential multiplex digital art galleries, aiming to cultivate community and creativity through large-scale events and exhibitions of all art forms. Lighthouse Immersive has produced the world premieres of Immersive Van Gogh, Immersive Frida Kahlo, Immersive King Tut and Immersive Klimt: Revolution in more than 21 North American cities, including Toronto, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Boston and Denver, and is currently expanding into additional markets. To date, they have sold over 5 million tickets to Immersive Van Gogh across North America, with Artnet calling it “one of the largest coordinated art phenomena of all time.”