How the creators of the Invasion and Asteroids are pioneering 360-degree VR films

Baobab Studios is a new kind of film studio, making 360-degree interactive cinematic movies in virtual reality. It came up with the hit animated VR short film, Invasion!, a funny title dreamed up by Baobab’s creative team, which includes Madagascar director Eric Darnell, a cofounder of Baobab.

And last week, Baobab debuted Asteroids!, the second episode of the Redwood City, Calif.-based studios’ VR series. The company was founded by Darnell and Maureen Fan, a former vice president of games at Zynga, to make interactive entertainment that blends elements of film and games together for the new medium of VR. The Asteroids! VR short film debuted last week at the Oculus Connect event in San Jose, Calif. The full film will debut in 2017.

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Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.