The tour, called "An Evening With Whitney Houston: The Whitney Houston Hologram Tour", and another superstars.

A just-announced musical tour featuring a hologram of the late Grammy winner Whitney Houston is facing furious backlash from critics who call the move 'disrespectful' and a 'money grab.'

This week, BASE Hologram announced that it has create a hologram of the star, which will tour the world in 2020 as part of a concert series called An Evening With Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Tour.

That the rock legend has been dead for almost 20 years was of little importance: They were gathered to see a hologram of the star croon his hits.

Lit for the filming, the double cast a horror-movie shadow on the soundproofed wall of the otherwise darkened soundstage. There was something eerie about the way Houston’s voice and the mid-’90s dance beat echoed through the vast space — music being played at club volume to a nearly empty room, with no one dancing, not even the avatar pretending to sing. But despite the workaday setting and the unconcealed artifice, by the third or fourth time I heard the song, I couldn’t help feeling … something.

The Michael Jackson performance on the 2014 Billboard Music Awards was the result of nearly half a year of planning, choreography and filming, not to mention the development of new technology.

Jackson, in hologram form, performed "Slave to the Rhythm" midway through Sunday night's show with a five-piece band and 16 dancers live onstage. Jackson appeared in gold jacket, white T-shirt and brick red trousers on a set modeled on the art work for the album "Dangerous," an appropriate choice as the track was recorded in 1991 with L.A. Reid and Babyface during the sessions for that album. Released this week on "XSCAPE," which is neck-and-neck with the new Black Keys album for No. 1 on the Billboard 200 next week, the track was produced by Timbaland.

BBMA producers Dick Clark Productions built a special stage at the rear of the MGM Grand Arena that was used only for the Jackson performance. Dancers moved through aisles as Jackson was seen rising from a throne, walking down steps before going into several trademark routines, a moonwalk being one of the them. Lasers, streams of flames and dancers in ancient costumes were part of the film.

Demand for the Jackson hologram was considerable, but in the end Branca and the estate felt it needed to be shown with a live audience.

"It's so important to experience Michael Jackson in a live setting," Branca says. "This is something where we wanted a live performance in front of a live audience and nothing speaks to that more than an awards show."

The superstar's performance at the Billboard Music Awards in 2014 was broadcaster ABC's "most-watched moment in 13 years, so we know there is a huge demand. And audiences are thrilled when a virtual Michael materializes during 'Man in the Mirror' at our Las Vegas show, Michael Jackson ONE, by Cirque du Soleil. But these are moments within a larger context. One day, we may determine a way to make a longer, sustained performance work -- but until we know the creative is perfect for Michael's fans, we won't do it."

Over 3,000 people filed into the 5,000-capacity Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales, on April 8 to see Roy Orbison perform. That the rock legend has been dead for almost 20 years was of little importance: They were gathered to see a hologram of the star croon his hits.

Ronnie James Dio and Frank Zappa will also both be "touring" soon, while some living stars have started reaching out to hologram companies, researching whether they might be able to "perform" while they're actually in the studio, or dealing with medical issues, or just really far behind on their Netflix queue.

Brian Becker, founder of BASE Holograms and creator of the Orbison version, says such shows are "more in line with modern versions of Shakespeare, or films based on the lives of dead people."

Institution, as a scientific lecture, but the audience’s riotous response persuaded him to go the magician’s route, and soon he began touring the illusion in British and American theaters.

Shapiro, who attended a preview of the Zappa concert, said, “What I just saw felt closer to seeing Zappa than seeing a cover band do it,” adding that, based on ticket sales alone, he would definitely book another hologram show. The theater, which holds 1,800 people, was close to sold out for opening night.

“But here’s the headline,” Shapiro went on. “Look at who’s gone, just in the last couple of years: Bowie, Prince, Petty. Now look who’s still going but who’s not going to be here in 10 years, probably, at least not touring: the Stones, the Who, the Eagles, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, Elton John, McCartney, Springsteen. That is the base not just of classic rock but of the live-music touring business. Yes, there’s Taylor Swift, there’s Ariana Grande. But the base is these guys.”

Data is scarce on the market for hologram concerts, mostly one-off events to date. In Japan, one of the biggest pop stars in the country, Hatsune Miku, is a hologram, but an anime-adjacent teenage character not based on a real person.