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Live-Action 'Museum' Launches Japan's 1st Film VR Website
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
The live-action film adaptation of Ryōsuke Tomoe's Museum (Museum: The Serial Killer is Laughing in the Rain) manga will open in Japan on November 12. Fans can get a sneak peek into the world of the film by checking out its virtual-reality (VR) website that launched on Wednesday. The site is Japan's first VR website for a film.
The VR website is separate from the film's main website, and users must access it via smartphone. The basic version of the site without virtual reality functionality is available through most recent smartphones, but the VR version may require users to have a Japanese smartphone with service from the provider au.
On the virtual reality website, people travel through a dim alley to uncover information about the film's story and main characters, including the antagonist serial killer in a frog mask. The goal is to reach the end of the alley, and people can look at posters to gather more information and view promotional videos along the way.
The film held its Japan premiere at Tokyo's Roppongi Hills Arena on October 13. Fans can experience the event through a 360-degree VR video that will debut in the beginning of November.
From the end of October, all Parco department stores throughout Japan will hold a special Museum panel exhibit. The exhibit's augmented-reality photo panels will let visitors using KDDI's Sach Viewer app see the film's frog man standing next to them.
The film's live-action drama prequel titled Museum - Joshō (Museum - Prequel) aired for free on WOWOW Cinema on Thursday, and the series will stream on GyaO! on Friday. The series launched for WOWOW Members on Demand on October 1. The drama portrays a punishment game constructed by the film's serial killer before the events of the film, and centers on journalist Jin Kudō, whose daughter the serial killer kidnaps.
Shun Oguri (live-action Hana Yori Dango, Terraformars, Space Brothers, Lupin III, Crows Zero) stars in the film as the protagonist Hisashi Sawamura, a detective in the Metropolitan Police Department's Homicide Section 1. Keishi Ōtomo (live-action Rurouni Kenshin films) is directing the movie, and ONE OK ROCK (Rurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins) is performing the film's theme song "Taking Off."
Tomoe's original suspense horror manga centers on a series of bizarre murders by a man wearing a frog mask. The man calls himself a vigilante and performs the murders based on themes such as "dogfood punishment," or "punishment of knowing a mother's pain." Detective Sawamura is leading the investigation, but becomes aware that his wife is one of the killer's targets.
Sources: CinemaCafe.net, animeanime.jp
