Hitting Mach 10 with Maverick

CATEGORY: Events & Exhibitions

The brief

The Royal Marines Charity hosts an annual fundraising ball, which in 2024 took place aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth, one of the Royal Navy’s two aircraft carriers. Given the venue and audience, perhaps there’s no surprise that the ball was ‘Top Gun’ themed. Engage was commissioned by Lockheed Martin to create a little light entertainment and branding opportunity to support their sponsorship of the event.

The work

We conceived and created a low-cost simulator experience – ‘Mach 10 with Mav’. Featuring a short animation, delivered inside a ‘black box’, the experience follows the mysterious Skunkworks™ Darkstar aircraft from launch to Mach 10, mirroring the start of the Top Gun Maverick movie. From concept to delivery on site, Engage did everything from writing, storyboarding, modelling and animating the experience.

The outcome

Pilots and Naval staff loved their brief ‘flight’, with several going through more than once. The experience is effectively available ‘out of the box’ and can be delivered anywhere to engage and entertain the public.