I'm beginning to believe that no one really wants to watch movies anymore. Or, at least, they don't want to actively watch them. Big movie theaters are hurting with the advent of saucy home theater systems, and it seems like most people would rather curl up on their couch then head out for the big community experience. We've already heard arguments about the mass distractions that are attached to home viewing, but I never thought that it would become part of the movie experience.The Hollywood Reporter posts that Walt Disney is itching to use Blu-ray's Live technology to make a more interactive movie experience. But they're not talking about the Choose Your Own Adventure sort of fare. They're adding a whole lot of bells and whistles to their classics. First up, my favorite Disney film ever -- Sleeping Beauty.
Luckily, it doesn't seem to be presenting anything that will make me want to go out and get a new player. It's all movie distractions. It might be cool that the menu will have a customized version of Sleeping Beauty's castle that will reflect your weather conditions, but that's just fluff. Besides that, there's just things to distract you from the film -- integrated chats on the movie screen, customized video messages to insert into the movie, the option to mail clips to friends, trivia games, and the option for a constant stream of web trailers.
Of course, not any old Blu-ray player will do -- you'll need one that uses BD Live technology, which will hit shelves this summer. And of course, to use the interactive bits, you need to have two copies of the film and two players. Buy, buy, buy! Me, I'll just stick with my trusty DVD player and Skype, which is free, and only needs a headset, computer, and internet connection, which hey, I already have!
But it makes me wonder ... sure, this is definitely a cash-grab, which will make them all tons of money if it catches on. But is this just to give people more technology, or to distract us from the increasingly crappy films out there? Maybe we won't notice that a film is shite if we can conduct a chat right on the movie screen and not actually pay attention to the movie itself.
1. I'm still waiting on cinematical to do an article that actually shows that people are staying away from the theater and waiting to watch movies at home. Maybe its the scientist in me, but it seems as if once a day someone on cinematicals team posts an aritcle saying "Big movie theaters are hurting with the advent of saucy home theater systems, and it seems like most people would rather curl up on their couch then head out for the big community experience". I'm sure DVD sales are up because of things like netflix and blu-ray, but how does that support the claim that people are shying away from theaters? Iron Man just did 100 million dollars in one weekend domestically, followed by another 50 mill the next weekend. The rest of the films are poised to break box office records. If hollywood puts out good movies or even movies that feature characters fans are excited to see (Spiderman 3) then people will flock to see them. I'm not saying you guys are wrong, I'm just waiting for you guys to support your claim with more than redundant statements. Once you do so then I'll be the first one supporting you.
Posted at 9:16AM on May 16th 2008 by Kevin