Fox Launching Interactive iPhone App to Provide Pop Up Trivia During Movies
It’s no secret that Hollywood is looking to stay hip and connected to the teen demographic in any way it can. We’ve seen MySpace, Facebook and Twitter all figure heavily into movie marketing campaigns as of late, and also the introduction of various BD-Live features on Blu-ray discs including the ability to watch movies with friends online. Now Fox is planning to launch a new social networking feature that incorporates pop-up trivia into the movie-watching experience. They are hoping this will appeal to the viewer’s need for instant gratification, and also boost dwindling DVD sales as well.
The feature is called FoxPop, and it will come as a freely downloadable application for the PC, Mac, and iPhone. While watching a compatible movie, the program will auto-detect and sync via audio input, then present trivia, photos and other content as the movie plays. Now before you get worried about distractions in theatres, this will be available for DVDs only, not current theatrical releases. The idea was prompted by research that revealed that 80% of DVD watchers go to the internet to research a movie after the fact, or pause it while watching to look something up. FoxPop will debut on December 1st with the release of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (an appropriate title due to the historical references, I suppose), followed by (500) Days of Summer and Jennifer’s Body. Does this sound like a cool feature to you, or are they way off the mark with this?
Comments (6)
Doesn’t matter where I am, the last thing I want is MORE distractions while watching a movie.
Posted by Stormy on November 9th, 2009I bet there are plenty of kids with short attention spans who would love it. But it must be every self-respecting director’s nightmare to have this done to your movie.
Posted by Bas on November 9th, 2009Here’s a crazy idea. Why not put that fucking thing on the DVD itself, like it’s been done countless of times before?
Posted by swarez on November 9th, 2009What a complete waste of money and time.
I feel like we already have commentary tracks for this sort of stuff, but if people what to do it in the privacy of their own home, then more power to them.
Posted by Matt on November 9th, 2009OK… so this does not float my boat, but like most things it is about how it is used and this technology will advance beyond just this. So I will be excited when it gives me a tool I would use. May be augmented reality of the movie would work better or the tool is yet to be discovered.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0bitKDKdg0
Posted by BigHungry on November 9th, 2009http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4FAKjfppp0
this idea is fine if it is part of the storytelling. I love meta cinema and new technology can really advance this stuff. Just don’t do it in any old movie so it is one more distraction.
Posted by rus in chicago on November 10th, 2009Leave a Reply