Hollywood film studios are harnessing the power of augmented reality (AR) technology from Cambridge UK to promote big screen blockbusters.

The Aurasma AR platform – based on technology from Cambridge web software giant, Autonomy – has just passed the one million users milestone. That’s the number of people who have installed the technology onto their smart phones and tablet devices.

Aurasma, a division of Autonomy, is changing the way we use our mobile devices. The platform uses a smart device's camera to see and recognise images in the real world and can overlay this view with an interactive layer of the virtual world, such as 3D animation, a video or a game, placed precisely within context of the image. This approach makes QR codes obsolete.

Aurasma is being incorporated as a platform throughout hundreds of different apps, covering areas including retail, film, travel, press, games, property and education. It is in use with over 100 partners including film studios, TV chains, online retailers, media agencies, newspapers, magazines, museums and billboard advertisers.

The world-leading film company Paramount Pictures chose to embed Aurasma into its Super8 app, promoting the Stephen Spielberg and J.J. Abrams blockbuster, Super 8. By integrating Aurasma into its app, Paramount offers fans the opportunity to bring Super8 posters to life, simply by pointing their smart phones or tablets at them, and engages them in the sci-fi mood of the film.

Through Aurasma's partnership with Mediacom, one of the world's leading media agencies, major print advertisements for the Universal hit movie, Bridesmaids now allow readers to see a fun movie trailer play directly from the printed page.

The first ever print advertisement to come to life using Aurasma was published in a national UK newspaper for luxury yacht company, Wally. By pointing the device to the static advertisement, readers viewed special video content, and had the option to navigate directly to a related webpage.

Aurasma is also being used by leading Californian real estate company, Alain Pinel Realtors, as well as retailers, such as Tsubo, the progressive, design-driven shoe company and a Deckers footwear brand. Both are using Aurasma to bring their brochures and print materials to life.

“Aurasma has changed the way our customers interact with the brand,” says Gianpaolo Altomari, marketing manager at Tsubo. “The readers now become viewers, allowing still pages to come to life and tell a more dynamic story through video. It's one thing to tell how a shoe is made, but sharing the journey a shoe takes through the intricacies of manufacturing tells a much deeper story.”

Aurasma managing director, Martina King, said: “Aurasma Lite Beta has only become available in the past few weeks. The fact that it has passed the one million installs marks so quickly is a testament to the power of this new technology - and this is just the beginning.”

Aurisma is based at Cambridge Business Park.