LINDON — The son of conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch has reportedly invested some $20 million in Utah virtual reality company The Void.
In news that first surfaced on Bloomberg's websiteover the weekend, former 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch, who left the company controlled by his father after Disney purchased most of the media conglomerate's holdings in a megadeal earlier this year, made the investment in The Void through Lupa Systems, an investment firm he recently founded.
Just four years after its launch, The Void has opened 11 locations around the world where fans can purchase a ticket and partake in an immersive, location-based virtual reality experience. The current themes include riffs on "Star Wars," "Ghostbusters" and animated film "Ralph Breaks the Internet." The company has also developed an adventure called Nicodemus that begins at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and heads down the rabbit hole of surrealism after "a tragic demonstration in the Electro-Spiritualism exhibit brought something terrible into our world."
In The Void's virtual reality adventure spaces, participants play in a real-world space built in warehouse-size venues that coincide with the computer-generated virtual imagery that they see via goggles. Players wear goggles and a haptic backpack and, depending on the adventure, may also carry tools or weapons. The experiences also include a host of other sensory titillations, like the ones featured in "Ghostbusters" that include feeling the wind in your face while hanging off the side of a virtual building, the rumble of a rickety elevator ride and even the smell of toasted marshmallows, if you're successful at vanquishing the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
In 2017, after developing a handful of experience venues, including one at their Lindon headquarters that has since been shuttered, The Void struck a deal with Disney to create two "Star Wars"-themed virtual reality play spaces, one at each of the company's parks in Orlando and Anaheim.
Void co-founder Curtis Hickman, a Utah native and BYU graduate, and his creative team seem uniquely well-matched to a collaboration that included Disney, Lucasfilm (now a Disney subsidiary) and Industrial Light & Magic. Hickman worked for a decade as a professional magician and special effects consultant before joining the company, and former Void CEO Cliff Plumer had previously worked on special effects on some of the "Star Wars" films.
In a Deseret News profile of the company, Hickman said that creating virtual reality magic was an essential part of the experiences The Void is aiming for in its productions.
"I love magic," Hickman said, "and I think it’s a very important part of what The Void does. Thoughtful design based on magic theory. … I did that over a decade, and it turns out it was one of the more valuable things I was able to bring to the company."
Previous investors in The Void include Disney, Qualcomm Ventures and Fidelity Management. According to the company's website, The Void has plans in place to open four new virtual reality venues in the U.S.
The Void did not respond to requests for comment from the Deseret News. Attempts to reach a representative for James Murdoch or Lupa Systems for comment were unsuccessful.