Alcon Entertainment

Alcon Entertainment has formed a new division of the company titled Alcon Interactive.

Alcon Interactive's initial venture is a partnership with leading virtual reality company Oculus. As part of this partnership Oculus will make and distribute virtual reality (VR) Experiences based on Blade Runner 2049 starring Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling and directed by Denis Villeneuve. These VR Experiences will be exclusively distributed on the Oculus platform.  The VR Experiences will be distributed around the October 2017 release of Blade Runner 2049.

Alcon Interactive underscores Alcon's continuing diversification beyond its core business of financing and producing feature films, having also established in the past years Alcon Television Group, Alcon Management Enterprises and Alcon Sleeping Giant, a music publishing company. 

Dan Offner will serve as Interim Head of Alcon Interactive and closed the Oculus deal with Alcon Entertainment's COO, Scott Parish. Offner, a veteran corporate and entertainment lawyer, has represented numerous interactive entertainment companies including THQ, Ubisoft, and Sony's PlayStation Group. He has also worked with Alcon's Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove on past interactive entertainment projects. Most recently, Offner was an early stage investor in and general counsel of Oculus through its sale to Facebook before returning to private practice and angel investing.

Johnson and Kosove stated: "The formation of Alcon Interactive is the logical next step in Alcon's continued growth. It is our goal to integrate and streamline as many aspects of our movie and television production process as is manageable, and we are eager to begin this journey with Oculus. The first Blade Runner created a new standard for science fiction films, world building and visual effects and we believe that our sequel will continue that tradition, pushing new boundaries in entertainment. We are excited for Oculus's involvement and the opportunity to utilize VR to enhance the overall experience of our innovative film."

"We are so excited to be working with Alcon Interactive to bring the Blade Runner universe to the Oculus platform next year," said Colum Slevin, Head of Experiences, Oculus. "Blade Runner has always pushed the boundaries of cinema, visionary art, design and story and bringing the sequel to this beloved sci-fi property to VR gives us an opportunity to push those boundaries further. We look forward to giving audiences a new way to experience this iconic title in an entirely new and reimagined way."