And it don’t stop! After a HUGELY successful first ever appearance at Coachella this Sunday during Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s closing set, the hologram of the late, great Tupac Shakur may be coming to an arena near you. Wall Street Journal spoke with Digital Domain Media Group Inc., the visual-effects house responsible for Pac’s surreal appearance, and they revealed that reps for Dre and Snoop are “discussing logistics” for taking the hit show on the road. This would be epic to say the least! More details below!
The rapper’s ghostly image was created by Digital Domain Media Group Inc., DDMG +13.52% the visual-effects house responsible for making the virtual versions of Brad Pitt that populated 2008’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” The movie won the Oscar for visual effects.
Representatives for Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg plan to discuss logistics for a tour involving the two performers and the virtual Tupac, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
One option would be a tour in stadiums, involving other hip-hop stars, including Eminem, 50 Cent and Wiz Khalifa. Alternately, they could stage a more limited tour, featuring only Dre, Snoop Dogg and the virtual Tupac, in smaller arenas.
Digital Domain is a publicly traded company that reported revenue last year of $98.6 million. The thinly-traded company has a market capitalization of $211 million. Its stock is down 15% year-to-date.
“To create a completely synthetic human being is the most complicated thing that can be done,” Digital Domain’s chief creative officer, Ed Ulbrich, said in a phone interview Monday.
He said that the performances of the rapper’s hits “Hail Mary” and “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted” weren’t simply old ones captured on film and repurposed: “This is not found footage. This is not archival footage. This is an illusion.”
“This is just the beginning,” Mr. Ulbrich said. “Dre has a massive vision for this.”
Spokeswomen for Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg declined to comment.
Mr. Shakur was shot to death in Las Vegas in 1996, at age 25. Because the shooting has never been solved by authorities, it has become grist for conspiracy theories akin to the “Elvis lives” rumors a generation earlier.
Dr. Dre and his production team first approached Digital Domain a year ago to discuss the possibility of creating a virtual Tupac. They began work in earnest on the Coachella performance around four months ago.
