What’s Going on with Avatar Kiss?

Kiss will continue as digital avatars starting in 2027, after announcing in December 2023.

The goal is to launch virtual shows with a $200 million investment, aiming to redefine live music with fantasy-based avatars. The avatars will perform music, and a new, arena-style show is planned, though specific details are still being developed. 

Developed with Industrial Light & Magic and Pophouse Entertainment

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is a pioneering visual effects, computer animation, and digital studio founded by George Lucas in 1975.

A division of Lucasfilm and is renowned for creating groundbreaking visual effects for hundreds of films, including the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, Jurassic Park, and The Avengers. 

Pophouse Entertainment is a global entertainment and music investment firm co-founded by ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus and Conni Jonsson in 2014.

The company acquires and develops music rights and brands across multiple mediums, creating interactive and location-based entertainment experiences.

Its notable projects include the virtual concert experience ABBA Voyage and a partnership with KISS to create an avatar show. 

When KISS announced the virtual avatar news in late 2023, some fans weren’t terribly thrilled at the prospect of those replacing their real favorite band at live shows. However, rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley has promised a mind-blowing experience.

“KISS fans will love it – but other people who could care less about KISS will want to see it… it will really cross that bridge of what’s real and what’s not, and combine the two,” he said during a June 2024 appearance on the Allison Hagendorf Show.

Thierry Coup, the virtual show’s creative director, said during the session that he and his team are currently “in the middle of developing the real avatars, which will take about two years.”

The documentary has seemingly made more progress, debuting its trailer before the panel audience. “”You’ll see a whole different side of Kiss,” promised manager Doc McGhee.

Summing up the vision, biopic director McG said, “More than any other band in the history of rock and roll, there is rock and roll before Kiss and then there is rock and roll after Kiss.”

No, Ace Frehley will not be part of Kiss's avatar show, as he has publicly stated that he does not "get" the project and thinks it is "not rock and roll"

Please let me know your thoughts. Is this a good move for Kiss?

email me at screamin@wcsx.com