ABBA need to recoup $177 million from digital show

[Teletubby 149,762]

Abba are said to need £140 million ($177M) to cover the costs of their hologram concerts after splashing out on ‘Abba-tars’ made by George Lucas’ special effects firm.

The Swedes returned to stage on Thursday (26.05.22) for the first time in 40 years with an avatar-led show in their purpose-built arena at London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford.

Bandmate Benny Andersson’s son Ludvig Andersson, 40, who is the project’s music producer, told ‘The Telegraph’ newspaper no band had tried a virtual performance before as “it’s so bloody expensive”.

‘The Times’ estimates the band will need to recoup £140 million to cover costs of their immersive digital show, which is already critically acclaimed by the world’s leading music writers.

The band have already sold a staggering 380,000 tickets for the London residency, which is booking until May 2023, while the show is then expected to head on a worldwide tour, according to The Times.

The realistic avatars were created using motion capture and other technology by Industrial Light and Magic, the special effects firm founded by Star Wars director George Lucas.

Over five weeks, the band recorded their movements with 160 cameras trained on them and an 85-person crew manning the operation, which were then used as reference points to create the avatars.

An impressive one billion computing hours were then collectively logged from 1,000 special effects pioneers across four different studios to create the end result, ABBA Voyage.

During the concert, the ABBAtars appeared on a 65million pixel screen, with lights and other effects creating a futuristic 2D performance, made more realistic by an accompanying ten-piece band.

source source

[COOOK 76,406]

[bionic 50,107]

According to Google, average ticket price is £75 (in reality it will be much higher as the cheapest tickets were available in the smallest quantities). The venue has a capacity of 3,000. Average ticket sales of £225,000 per show. This will require around 622 shows to make £140 million. The show is scheduled to run from 27 May 2022 to 28 May 2023. There are matinees and evening shows. They will make this money from ticket sales alone, putting aside any income from merchandise, hospitality packages etc.

[knee 278]

they'll 100% recoup 

[littlepotter 75,146]

I'm not that familiar with Abba's music but I would go see that show just for the novelty and to see how the technology works

[ryanxjensen 134]

They literally could have gone on with a minimalist stage, low impact tour as a group and made that amount back in one farewell tour…

[Chlorine 47,976]

All that money and effort spent just to not have to show up to work... 

[Alfonso 1,550]

5 minutes ago, ryanxjensen said:

They literally could have gone on with a minimalist stage, low impact tour as a group and made that amount back in one farewell tour…

They didn’t go on tour because of its impact? I think it will be interesting to see the technology that went into the show, but for me in no means Can this replace the real experience of going to a concert, so I wouldn't pay that much to see it (probably would If I was a big fan)

[PunkTheFunk 124,445]

6 minutes ago, Frank Potion said:

All that money and effort spent just to not have to show up to work... 

Goals

[phantasmas 10,584]

sounds like a lot of money to watch people play Guitar/Band Hero on a jumbo screen 

Spoiler

wish I could go 

 

[Villanelle 1,247]

It looks iconic and will obviously be the future of visual music and touring at some point. ABBA are iconic 

[RebeldeFaith 5,495]

Wait. So it is just a huge screen? I was expecting a more Hatsune Miku kind of technology. It does look cleaner since the lights won't reflect on it but now I'm a little less impressed. Still, I'd love to be able to experience it before it ends.