The celebrity hologram fad kicked off in 2012 with an incredible performance by the deceased singer Tupac Shakur at the Coachella Music Festival in Southern California. The show was so well received that the company that created the hologram was inundated with inquiries.
Two years later, outside the occasional performance, it does not seem like the hot trend that it was made out to be at the time. So why aren’t holograms more ubiquitous today?
Production Can Be Expensive
The company that made the Tupac Shakur hologram was driven by an interest in creating something that approached reality as much of possible. Because of this, they created one incredible hologram and some new processes and patents along the way. Unfortunately, the Tupac project came along at a bad time for the company financially. After a spat with a new investor, they went bankrupt. According to people close to the project, production costs and the financial turmoil were a large factor in Digital Domain’s inability to take the Tupac hologram publicity and turn it into a profit.
Bankruptcies Can Take Time
Once Digital Domain went into bankruptcy, it took a while for people that wanted holograms to actually access the supplier. That process has now been completed and so the marketing hype for celebrity holograms, which was big in 2012, will start over this year and next. Already, other concerts and speeches have showcased live stars on the same stage via hologram. So the promise of hologram technology becoming more common is back and here to stay.
Disruptive Technologies Can Appear
At this year’s Billboard Music Awards show, a hologram performance by the late Michael Jackson was the talk of the evening. He entered the stage on a throne and sat and sang while dancers performed around him to his single ‘Slave to the Rhythm’. At the appropriate time, he stood up and started performing some of his signature moves in tandem with the dancers. By blending real dancers with dancers that were holograms, the producers of the number were able to surprise and delight the audience by having dancers segue out of the number with special effects. The net result of the performance was an opportunity to leverage the publicity to bring more holograms to people.
Once again, however, although the producers of the hologram were not Digital Domain, a company that bought the rights to hologram technology sued them in court, saying they violated patents. The lawsuit will put the brakes on marketing momentum in the short term, and a countersuit was filed by the producers that also needs to be heard. The upshot is that it may be a while before all the companies in the market are moving forward full speed with their hologram marketing plans. In the meantime, the video for the Michael Jackson Billboard Music Awards dance routine is available online. It took 6 months of planning and coordination to turn into a reality by the team at Pulse Interactive and the technology that they used has been described as an evolution of technology by fans over the original Tupac hologram.
Meanwhile, Digital Domain sold off many of its assets, including the hologram rights and is back in business again. So don’t be surprised if they do not take another path towards getting back into the hologram market.