Steven Spielberg is venturing into interactive film with a (currently-untitled) haunted house horror project. The movie, announced last week and to be directed by 'Crawl' director Alexandre Aja, will have a choose-your-own-adventure plotline that follows in the footsteps of projects like Netflix's "Bandersnatch," relying on interactive content technology from the startup Kino Industries.
That company will be providing an app called CtrlMovie to Spielberg's Amblin Productions that will help construct the film's "branch narrative," which outlines the various choices audience members can make throughout an interactive film.
The company's co-CEO, Chady Eli Mattar, told Cheddar that in movie theaters, audiences will vote on what choices characters should make as the film progresses.
"Every individual will have their own voice, but collectively — and democratically — the story changes. And that's the main thing: we're trying to bring everyone into the dialogue," he said, though the company has also translated the system for the individual streaming experience.
"It's still very much like the cinematic experience that you see in the movie theater, but for the first time, really, you have a say in the movie. And you're controlling the movie as the audience, and that's the exciting part," co-CEO Tobias Weber said.
As movie theater attendance in the U.S. falls, the company's executives say interactive plotlines may be a way to bring audiences back.
In 2017, Kino Industries — whose name appears to reference the first interactive movie ever made — unveiled its technology for the first time, debuting an interactive film called "Late Shift" that follows a boy who is roped into robbing an auction house.
Weber and Mattar emphasize that the format can be used beyond horror and adventure films, adding that they currently have romantic comedy, "family-friendly," and documentary interactive movies all in the works.
Fox is also reportedly working on an interactive movie series based on the similarly-structured "Choose Your Own Adventure" book-series using Kino Industries' technology.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.
