Immerse yourself in the world beyond the world of Wallace and Gromit like never before, in thrilling VR-O-Rama! Yes, stop-frame fans, a peek at Wallace & Gromit in The Grand Getaway has landed, from Aardman and immersive content studio Atlas V. The iconic animated duo’s first virtual reality experience revealed its key art, logo and teaser trailer during Saturday’s Future Games Show, as part of Summer Game Fest. The project was initially announced last year.
Wallace & Gromit in The Grand Getaway is an interactive, narrative-led VR experience for Meta Quest VR headsets which will take fans on a brand-new adventure with Wallace and Gromit. For the first time, users will be able to walk around, explore and get a hands-on (or paws on!) experience within the world, and truly be a part of the pair’s adventures.
In The Grand Getaway, holidays are in the offing for Wallace and Gromit. Everything is prepared to enjoy some sun, sand and the chance to test out their latest contraption, the Auto-Caddy. But Wallace has his dates mixed up and the pair have to be on the other side of the country in just half an hour. There’s only one solution … they’ll take the Rocket!
Under the guidance of BERYL, their beverage and employee-related logistics contraption, Wallace and Gromit pack and prepare for take-off. But shortly after launch, a mishap with the controls sends the team hurtling off course. This is going to be a holiday to remember!
Finbar Hawkins and Bram Ttwheam are co-directing the experience for Aardman with the support of Academy Award winner and creator of Wallace & Gromit, Nick Park, and Wallace & Gromit Creative Director Merlin Crossingham. Ben Whitehead will again voice Wallace, as he has done for previous projects, following in the footsteps of the late Peter Sallis.
The project is a co-production between Aardman and the award-winning creators of the VR experience Spheres and Gloomy Eyes at Atlas V, in association with No Ghost and Albyon, and published by immersive distributor and publisher Astrea, with Meta Quest team support.
Wallace & Gromit in The Grand Getaway will launch in 2023 for Meta Quest.
Wallace and Gromit first appeared in Nick Park’s Academy Award-winning Wallace & Gromit: A Grand Day Out (1989), and went on to star in three further half-hour specials (Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers [1993], Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave [1995] and Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf or Death [2008]) and an Oscar-winning feature-length film, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005). The duo have won over 100 awards at festivals, including three Academy Awards and five BAFTA Awards over the last 30-plus years.
Most recently, they featured in their first augmented reality story, The Big Fix Up (2021), and a new Wallace & Gromit film is in production for 2024, directed by Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham.
