Sundance Sees First Huge VR Deal: Darren Aronofsky’s $1.4 Million Series ‘Spheres’

Sundance Film Festival is exploring new territory as a seven-figure deal is brokered between CityLights, a VR financing and distribution outfit, and Darren Aronofsky-produced VR series Spheres. The 3-part series, reported to have been acquired for an astonishing $1.4 million, the biggest VR deal ever to be reached at Sundance. The series premiered at the festival’s 2018 New Frontier section dedicated to ‘foster independent artists working at the convergence of film, art, media, live performance, music and technology.’

Spheres is a journey into the depths of outer space, with the first episode Songs of Spacetime, narrated by Jessica Chastain, allowing viewers to go to the heart of a black hole and experience the songs of the cosmos. According to director Eliza McNitt, in the interactive VR series, “the breakthrough discovery of gravitational waves transforms how we see the Universe.”

Speaking to VRScout about the deal, CityLights co-founder Joel Newton said, “We’re incredibly excited to work with Eliza and the entire team on Spheres. The ambition and generative nature of the vision for Spheres perfectly fits with our mission to bring content to broader audiences and showcase the types of experiences only VR can deliver.”

We have already reported on the huge waves virtual reality is making in everything from journalism to film, so it would seem that this nascent technology is going from strength to strength. Is this how we will be consuming all media in the future? 

Watch the trailer for the series below, debuting in 2018 on Oculus Rift: