CARRIE UNDERWOOD STARS IN 2021 NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL SHOW OPEN, PERFORMED ON INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC’S CUTTING-EDGE LED SOUND STAGE

NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL — “2021 Promo Shoot – Carrie Underwood” — Pictured: Carrie Underwood — (Photo by: Chris Haston/NBC)

NBC Sports Utilizes ILM’s Groundbreaking StageCraft Virtual Production Technology to Showcase Carrie Underwood Performing at a “Tailgate”

User-Generated Video from NFL Stars & Fan Tailgates Featured in Open

New Sunday Night Football Show Open Premieres on Sun., Sept. 12 Bears-Rams SNF Opener on NBC and Peacock

– In less than three weeks, on Sunday, Sept. 12 on NBC and Peacock, seven-time Grammy Award-winner and multi-platinum recording artist Carrie Underwood stars in the debut of the 2021 show open for NBC’s Sunday Night Football, which has been primetime television’s No. 1 program for an unprecedented 10 consecutive years.

Shot at Industrial Light & Magic’s cutting edge LED sound stage utilizing the company’s StageCraft LED virtual production technology recently used in “The Mandalorian,” the 2021 Sunday Night Football show open for the first time will feature a virtual football tailgate as a backdrop for Underwood’s performance of “Waiting All Day For Sunday Night.”

“Shooting the new show open for Sunday Night Football is one of the highlights of my year,” said Underwood, who headlines the SNF show open for the ninth consecutive season.  “I just love the fact that we get to reinvent it every year.  The team behind these shoots is incredible and it’s always a really fun day, especially this year getting to work with such amazing state-of-the-art technology.”

In addition, the show open will highlight user-generated cameos from some of the NFL’s biggest stars, as well as fans’ self-recorded video from NFL tailgates.

“We are excited about this year’s new collaboration with Carrie, which utilizes virtual production technology to generate real-time environments for Carrie’s performance, including a ‘tailgate’ to salute this game’s great fans, who have been ‘waiting all day for Sunday night’ and will be incorporated with their own user-generated tailgate videos,” said Tripp Dixon, creative director of the SNF show open.

NBC’S SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL IS PRIMETIME TELEVISION’S NO. 1 SHOW FOR RECORD 10 CONSECUTIVE YEARS: NBC’s Sunday Night Football finished the 2020-21 TV season as primetime’s #1 TV show in all key metrics for an unprecedented 10th consecutive year – adding to its record for the most consecutive years atop the charts (since 1950), based on official live plus same day data provided by Nielsen. Sunday Night Football also ranked as the No. 1 show in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic for the 11th consecutive TV season.

About Carrie Underwood:  Carrie Underwood is a true multi-format, multi-media superstar, spanning achievements in music, television, film, and as a New York Times bestselling author and successful entrepreneur.  She has sold more than 64 million records worldwide, recorded 27 #1 singles (14 of which she co-wrote), and has seven albums that are certified Platinum or Multi-Platinum by the RIAA, all while continuing to sell out arena tours across North America and the UK.  All nine of her consecutive album releases (two of which she co-produced) from the beginning of her career debuted #1 on the Billboard Country Chart, making her the only artist to accomplish that feat.  She has won over 100 major awards including 7 GRAMMY® Awards, 15 ACM Awards including three for Entertainer of the Year (the first female in history to win twice and the only female ever to win three times), 23 CMT Music Awards (holding the record for the most award wins ever for the show), 7 CMA Awards, and 15 American Music Awards. She has also built a successful business portfolio inspired by her passion for health and wellness, including her fitness and lifestyle brand, CALIA by Carrie Underwood, bestselling book, FIND YOUR PATH, her fit52 app, and a partnership with BODYARMOR Sports Drink.  She recently announced her first-ever residency, REFLECTION: The Las Vegas Residency, at The Theatre at Resorts World Las Vegas, which will begin December 1.

About Industrial Light & Magic: Industrial Light & Magic, a division of Lucasfilm Ltd., was founded in 1975. The company has become synonymous with groundbreaking visual effects work and continues to be a recognized leader in the field. ILM has operations in San Francisco, Singapore, Vancouver, London, and Sydney which work hand in hand to produce cutting edge visual effects and animation for feature films, television, commercials, themed attractions, and immersive entertainment experiences via its ILMxLAB division. ILM currently operates state-of-the-art StageCraft virtual production LED stages in Los Angeles, London, and Sydney. The company has been awarded 15 Academy Awards® for Best Visual Effects and 34 Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. To learn more, visit ILM online at http://www.ilm.com.

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