Walt Disney Imagineering has unveiled its new technology, which transforms a pirate animatronic at Disneyland from a human into a skeleton in seconds.
The next-generation pirate animatronic is part of Disneyland's iconic Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which reopened on Friday (26 June).
The pirate has spent the last 59 years frozen in time as a skeleton, but through its new technology, Disney is able to tell the character's full story, said Imagineering's research and development (R&D) unit.
Joel Peavy, executive R&D Imagineer at Walt Disney Imagineering's R&D studio, said animatronic figures "are foundational to the Disney brand and how we tell our stories".
The new technology combines a front projection with a partially articulated mechanical face, providing the "next level of animatronic figures", Peavy said.
"We've come up with hybridised technology that combines a front projection with a partially mechanically articulated face, which together makes for these incredibly characterful faces," he added.
"It opens up an entirely new creative toolbox to be able to tell our stories. We can now have characters cry and emote in ways they just haven't been able to before."
As above, Peavy said: "Our pirate isn't a new character. He's actually the same character. We've seen him for the last 59 years, frozen in this moment in time as a skeleton.
"But now, using this new technology, we're able to tell his full story. The story that's been there all along, of him picking up the cursed gold and turning into a skeleton, and dropping it and turning back into a human."
In more news, Walt Disney Imagineering's self-walking, free-roaming robotic Olaf is now part of Disneyland Paris' new World of Frozen.
Images courtesy of Disney
