Movies
‘Blumhouse Presents: Chauncey’s Imaginary Playhouse’ Offers Immersive LA Pop-Up ‘Imaginary’ Experience
Those looking to meet Chauncey the Bear from Lionsgate and Blumhouse’s upcoming movie Imaginary can do just that with a new immersive pop-up experience “Blumhouse Presents: Chauncey’s Imaginary Playhouse” in Los Angeles.
DeWanda Wise (Jurassic World Dominion) stars in and produces Imaginary, which is scheduled for theatrical release on March 8, 2024.
From the press release, “With Blumhouse Presents: Chauncey’s Imaginary Playhouse, fans can further explore the world of the movie and discover the terror that is the truly special friendship between Chauncey and the young Alice. As audiences walk through the playhouse, they will make their way to Chauncey’s basement, where they will find hints of the scary and shocking truth of the imaginary friend, along with plenty of photo opportunities.”
The experience, at 8175 Melrose Ave. (at La Jolla Ave.), debuts on February 23 and remains opens to the public through March 2. It will be closed from February 27-29 for a special event. The hours of operation are 4pm-10pm Monday through Thursday, and 1pm-11pm Friday through Sunday. Admission is free and reservations are recommended via www.imaginaryplayhouse.com.
Blumhouse’s Jason Blum produced, with Jeff Wadlow (Cry Wolf, Kick-Ass 2, Truth or Dare, Fantasy Island, The Curse of Bridge Hollow) producing and directing.
“We love creating experiences where our movies can come to life,” Jason Blum, Blumhouse CEO and founder. “Your teddy bear will never look the same, and Blumhouse Presents: Chauncey’s Imaginary Playhouse is the perfect way to get audiences ready to see the movie.”
Jeff Wadlow, director and co-writer of Imaginary, added, “Imaginary is not just a scary story about a forgotten imaginary friend looking for revenge – it’s a movie about the terrifying potential of imagination, and how it can be used to access a frightening new world with very real consequences. Giving fans the Playhouse treatment will fully immerse them into Chauncey’s world and set the table for what’s coming on March 8 when Imaginary hits theaters.”
“We also have seen audiences thrill at experiencing horror come to life, as with our SAW experience in Las Vegas,” said Dani Otero, Senior Vice President, Global Paid Media, Lionsgate. “When you combine that with Blumhouse – a name audiences trust to uniquely and authentically scare them – you get an extremely fun and memorable marketing experience that’s the perfect setup for a terrifying movie.”
In Imaginary, “Jessica moves back into her childhood home with her family. Her youngest stepdaughter Alice develops an eerie attachment to a stuffed bear named Chauncey she finds in the basement. Alice starts playing games with Chauncey that begin playful and become increasingly sinister. As Alice’s behavior becomes more and more concerning, Jessica intervenes only to realize Chauncey is much more than the stuffed toy bear she believed him to be.”
The film also stars Tom Payne, Taegen Burns, Pyper Braun, Veronica Falcon, and Betty Buckley. The screenplay is by Jeff Wadlow & Greg Erb & Jason Oremland.
Two things that have proven to be pretty dependable at the box office in recent years are horror movies and Christopher Nolan movies. With Nolan’s The Odyssey absolutely dominating the box office this past weekend, many fans of Nolan’s work have been left hungry for a Nolan-directed horror movie. After all, The Odyssey does whet the appetite for Nolan nightmare fuel.
Christopher Nolan has brushed up against the horror genre in the past with 2002 thriller Insomnia, but does he have any interest in someday making a full-on horror movie?
Nolan tells the Empire Podcast in a new chat, “I’ve always been interested in doing a horror film.”
“But horror is most successful when the conceptual framework of whatever the story is is just so undeniable. I think there are very few really great horror movies,” Nolan continues.
So why hasn’t Christopher Nolan directed a horror movie yet?
He explains to Empire, “I’ve never clicked with a particular idea or concept that worked for me. I love the genre. Of all genres, it’s the most visceral. Where the direct response to the audience is the most important. That is to say, you’re trying to make people literally feel something in their bones about what’s going on on-screen.”
Nolan calls horror “a genre in which experimentation is demanded.” He explains, “I go to see a lot of horror films with my kids these days, and you’ll see things in the first half an hour, 45 minutes of any horror film that you’d never see in another genre. Risks that are taken. Dangerous approaches to things. Admittedly, a lot of movies can’t sustain that to the end. But in the horror genre, that kind of innovation is not just respected – it’s really demanded.”
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is now playing in theaters.
Cillian Murphy as Scarecrow in Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight’ (2008)
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