Title: Universal Studios at Universal Orlando Debuts World's First Life-Size, Ride-Through, Interactive Video Game Experience

Source: PRNewswire, 4/11/00

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Universal Studios at Universal Orlando Debuts World's First Life-Size, Ride-Through, Interactive Video Game Experience

Men In Black Alien Attack' Officially Opens To The Public April 14

Ride Features Newest Generation Of Universal's 'Roving Motion Platform' 

And World's Biggest Bug

ORLANDO, Fla., April 11 /PRNewswire/ -- The new MEN IN BLACK Alien Attack ride, located at Universal Studios at Universal Orlando will officially open to the public on April 14, it was announced today.

Hailed by designers as the "world's first life-size, ride-through, interactive video game experience," MEN IN BLACK Alien Attack stars Will Smith and Rip Torn, and is the first-ever attraction where guests (and the aliens) determine each ride's outcome by their individual and collective abilities.

Smith and Torn have re-teamed as "Agent J" and "MIB Director Zed" in the attraction, and, through the magic of film technology, lead hardy bands of guests/trainees as they take up arms to save the earth from intergalactic terrorists. Vocal artist Michael (Police Academy) Winslow supplies a number of the ride's extra-terrestrial utterances.

Part heart-stopping thrill ride, part cosmic turkey shoot, "MEN IN BLACK Alien Attack" remains true to the techno-futuristic style of the blockbuster Columbia Pictures/Amblin Entertainment hit film about a shadowy organization that is "above, over and beyond the system" -- the Men In Black.

Players actually step into the movie and directly affect the environment around them by firing their laser-sighted "alien zappers" at targets and scoring points. And the aliens can shoot back, causing chaos as the MIB trainee transports spin wildly out of control with each ricochet or direct hit.

MEN IN BLACK Alien Attack, located in a massive 70,000-square-foot building at the North end of the USF lagoon, and camouflaged as a retro- modern-style plaza reminiscent of the 1964 New York World's Fair, is the largest dark ride ever conceived. The ride immerses teams of guest/MIB trainees inside the adventure, careening wildly through the streets in government-issue vehicles, destroying hordes of aliens in order to earn their stripes as MIB.

The ride begins with a training lecture by MIB Director Zed (TORN), warning the guests/trainees that aliens are living among us, and the mandate of the MIB is to round them up. In fact, a shuttle will be taking off that very day, deporting some "rather nasty" alien criminals to Planet LV-428. Zed instructs the trainees in the finer points of "alien spotting," the proper use of alien "zappers" and the training vehicle, and then turns them loose on a sequence of "training missions."

The trainees soon learn that the shuttle bound for Planet LV-428 has crashed in the city, the aliens are armed, and the only thing between Earth and complete inter-planetary domination is them.

The training vehicle swerves back out into the street, revealing massive alien firepower. The battle is pitched -- trainees firing, bugs-a-poppin, chaos everywhere. This is all-out war for the safety of humankind. As the attack intensifies, the trainees receive a special transmission on the monitor in their vehicle. It's Agent J (SMITH) who appears on screen, and he's got BA-A-A-D news ... there's a huge alien bug showing up on his radar. It's hungry, angry and just up ahead.

MEN IN BLACK Alien Attack culminates (literally) in the "belly of the beast" as the largest animatronic ever built -- a warehouse-sized alien bug 30-feet high, with eight-foot teeth and 20-foot claws -- devours the vehicle. Guests/trainees are instructed by J to shoot their way out of the slimy intestinal cavity, and split-second decisions are crucial as each team determines its fate.

Regrettably, upon completion of their duties, terrified Universal ride designers were visited by shadowy government operatives and zapped with MIB "neutralizers," erasing their memories and forever locking away the secret of the ride's conclusion. However, early, de-classified versions of the ride description, uncovered at great peril, reveal multiple outcomes ranging from a hero's welcome to a loser's farewell.

Will Smith has thrilled audiences since they first discovered him as the rap artist The Fresh Prince in 1987. The following year, he and partner Jazzy Jeff won the first "Best Rap Performance" Grammy for "Parents Just Don't Understand." Two years later, he launched his television career with the wildly popular "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," which aired on NBC for six seasons. His film career includes starring roles in several of the highest-grossing films of all time, including "Bad Boys," "Independence Day" and "Men in Black." His theme song for "MIB" made the album one of the biggest selling soundtracks of all time. He most recently starred in "Wild Wild West" (for which he also wrote and performed the title song) and "Enemy of the State." Smith will soon star in "The Legend of Bagger Vance," directed by Robert Redford.

Although best known to audiences for his Emmy-winning role as Arthur, the acerbic executive producer on "The Larry Sanders Show," Rip Torn has been a film and television actor for almost 45 years. Known for his versatility, he has played roles in several Tennessee Williams television adaptations, including young Tom Finley in "Sweet Bird of Youth" in 1962 and again as his father, Boss Finley in 1989. Torn also starred as Big Daddy in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" in 1985.

He has played Generals (Ulysses S. Grant in "The Blue and the Gray," 1992), Gods (the voice of Zeus in the animated "Hercules," 1997) and two successive U.S. Presidents (Lyndon Johnson in 1987's "J. Edgar Hoover" and Richard Nixon in the 1979 miniseries "Blind Ambition"). Torn was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor in 1984 for "Cross Creek." He was nominated for 4 Emmys on "Larry Sanders" and once for a guest role on "Chicago Hope."

Academy Award-winning producer/director Steven Spielberg, executive producer of the original "Men in Black" motion picture, serves as creative consultant to Universal Studios Florida.

SOURCE Universal Studios 

CO: Universal Studios

ST: Florida

IN: ENT LEI

SU: PDT

04/11/2000 13:39 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com