Microsoft Japan Helps Godzilla Invade Real World Tokyo via HoloLens

The company behind Japan's beloved Gozilla, Japan's Toho Studios, has for years tried to give fans the sense of what a giant, nuclear-powered lizard invading Tokyo might feel like. Until now, those attempts have been limited to the movie theater, but now, with the help of the Microsoft HoloLens, Godzilla is finally getting its chance to invade the actual city, with terrified fans looking on from a safe distance.

A new immersive experience called "Godzilla Nights" will allow select fans to put on the HoloLens and watch as a massive, building-sized Godzilla makes its way through real world buildings while issuing its trademark roar and stomping toward viewers situated on an outside viewing platform.

Godzilla_St/Twitter

To enhance the experience, the producers even included a couple of actors dressed in military garb (and equipped with their own HoloLens devices), ready to yell out in fear when augmented reality Godzilla first makes its appearance from behind one of the buildings.

There's also a separate component of the experience that allows HoloLens users to view a tabletop-sized version of Godzilla, as well as a map of where the creature is traveling in Tokyo.

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The new experience is one of the first parts of Toho's efforts to create a "Godzilla Cinematic Universe" in much the same way that Marvel has leveraged its super heroes into a seemingly never-ending stream of box office hits.

Windows Japan/Twitter

The next Godzilla movie, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, stars Stranger Things actor Millie Bobby Brown, Vera Farmiga (The Departed, The Conjuring), Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights), and Ken Watanabe (Inception, Godzilla, The Last Samurai), and hits theaters in 2019.

Alas, the immersive experience is (for now) only available in Tokyo and will only be available to fans who have already entered a lottery to attend the series of demonstrations that will last from Thursday until May 29.

But if you're not among the lucky few who will get to attend, you can get a taste of the HoloLens experience in the video below.

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Cover image via Microsoft Japan