Good NewsUp, up and away! Pixar’s ‘Up’-inspired house takes flight
There's something irresistibly charming about Pixar's "Up." The waterworks-inducing love story, the dog-translating hilarity, the unlikely friendship and rough-and-tumble adventure; there's something for everyone in the sure-to-be-classic animated film. But what stands out to most is that single breathtaking image of Carl Frederickson's house taking flight.
A house suspended by helium balloons. It's a gorgeous visual. But can it be done in the real world?
Give the National Geographic team 300 eight-foot-high helium balloons and you'll discover the answer is yes.
The huge undertaking was filmed as part of the National Geographic Channel's "How Hard Can It Be?" series. If you don't have the patience to wait until it airs this fall, watch the video below for a little movie magic brought to life.
The house measured 4.8m x 4.8m x 5.5m and was suspended from 300 weather balloons, each filled with an entire tank of helium. The colourful entity broke a world record for largest cluster balloon flight, reaching an impressive height of 10,000 feet, while carrying two crew members on-board for over an hour.
No, the house is not a livable dwelling as Carl's was. (The structure was an extra-light custom construction made solely for this experiment. Executive producer Ben Bowie told ABC News, "We found that it is actually close to impossible to fly a real house.") Nor is the cluster of colour capable of taking anyone on an adventure to South America. For some things, we still need Pixar.
