'Gargoyle Doyle' VR Movie Launches On Meta Quest

Virtual Reality (VR) is truly a new frontier in animation. The medium offers new storytelling possibilities and experiences that go beyond gaming. VR sections are becoming common at animation and film festivals, as more open up to the possibilities. The winner of the VR Cristal at this year's Annecy Festival, Gargoyle Doyle is launching on the Meta Quest store this Halloween.

Gargoyle Doyle is a witty, inventive VR comedy with mainstream appeal, designed to be enjoyed by fans of animated movies. It features the voices of Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter, Star Trek Discovery), Oscar-nominee Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense, Silicon Valley) and T'Nia Miller (The Haunting of Bly Manor, The Diplomat).

The VR movie tells the story of a gargoyle stuck on the wall of a cathedral for 800 years, watching on as the world changes both for the better and for the worse.

The 40-minute interactive comedy is a first-of-its-kind narrative experience for spatial computing platforms. As well as winning the top prize in VR at last summer's Annecy, it also screened at the Biennale festival in Venice last year.

As fate forces them together in the Middle Ages Doyle (Isaacs) and Chet watch the world change around them as their alcove falls into disrepair. Hundreds of years later, both must confront who they really are and what their lives add up to.

Written and directed by Ethen Shaftel, Gargoyle Doyle is a buddy-comedy of sorts, with two mismatched characters trapped together for literal centuries. It provides an exaggerated canvas to explore universal elements of the human expereince- our finite time on earth and the people with whom we spend that time. Through a cast of long-lived talking gargoyles, it allows for a novel; perspective on historical events, the struggle of dealing with change, and failing to live up to your own expectations.

“‘Gargoyle Doyle’ is created to be just as accessible to a cinema audience as turning on your TV or sitting down in a movie theater, yet offering something special that can only be experienced in a virtual world.” Shaftel said. "Comedy is a great genre in which to integrate novel elements of spatial storytelling, changes of size and scale, and elements of interactivity, in a way that delights and engages the audience.” 

Gargoyle Doyle is produced by Shaftel's LA-based immersive studio easyAction and co-produced by Detona Cultura in Argentina and Amilux Film in Austria. It is distributed by Astrea.

Shaftel sums it up like this: “We want ‘Gargoyle Doyle’ to be the thing you launch on your VR headset to show your friend or cousin that’s never tried VR before, knowing they’re going to love it."

Gargoyle Doyle is available on the Meta Store now and is compatible with the Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest 3.