The creator of the Regal Cinemas rollercoaster animation has died

John McLaughlin, the man behind the beloved rollercoaster voyage into Regal Cinema's feature presentations, has died at the age of 46.

McLaughlin was a visual effects artist who over the course of his career worked for both LucasArts Entertainment and DreamWorks. He worked on films like Shark Tale, Over the Hedge and all three Kung Fu Panda films, but according to his obituary:

One of John's favorite personal projects that he created was the Regal Cinemas preview trailer featuring a roller coaster in space speeding between soda, candy and popcorn that played before each and every movie.

The iconic rollercoaster, that zoomed past giant Coke cups and exploding popcorn kernels before pulling into the Regal Cinemas station, first aired in 1990, and has had four updated versions created since. 

Thank you, John, for making the journey into movies so special.

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