One of the biggest fears that has gotten under Hollywood’s skin like a transsexual sea witch in recent times is the advent of social media. The explosion of Internet culture over the last decade has created a form of competition that makes Hollywood’s 1950s disdain and snobbery toward television look downright polite. Indeed, with iPods, iPhones and iPads changing the way people communicate and amuse themselves, movie studios have felt iSlapped (especially now that tech competitors have made this technology commonplace).
In our new OnDemand world where audiences can literally stream 10 hours of their favorite TV show at the touch of a button (or just spend ten hours watching kittens on YouTube), how can the movie industry convince viewers to attend large dark rooms with strangers where they must sit quietly without touching their flashing mirror pockets and watch something on a non-glossy screen?
It is a question that studios have not yet answered, as the latest trick of 3D inflated ticket sales has achieved as much backlash in recent releases as acceptance. However, with its latest rerelease, Disney is experimenting with a new way to watch movies at the theater, and it may be Brave New World upon whose chart they have coursed.
Last January, Disney quietly and unceremoniously scuttled the planned wide rerelease of The Little Mermaid for this September because of the poor box office returns on Monsters Inc. and Finding Nemo’s 3D foray. We ran a piece on why Disney turning its back on the pivotal film that ushered in the Disney Renaissancewith its marriage of traditional hand-drawn artistry and Broadway optimism was a depressing shame. In retrospect, it would have been better to leave this mermaid under the sea, before the musical siren could lure possibly all of cinema to its dank watery grave. One that we may all soon find on Instagram.
Earlier this month, Disney proudly announced that The Little MermaidWILL return to the big screen in September, at least in select cities. However, this is less of a rerelease and more of a theatergoing experiment called Second Screen Live, upon whose concept Disney could explain better than any other:
Did you watch that? Let that sink in for a moment and then watch it again.
Disney is requesting viewers to bring their iPads, Kindles, iPhones or whatever other blinking touch screen contains this App to a movie theater with the intent purpose of waving it around in the dark at the big screen. Another way to put that is Hollywood may soon demand that you watch your film through the prism of your 3.5-5 inch phone screen—which still have may more color clarity on Retina Display than 3D (oh yes).
Of course, this is just a children’s movie, a nice time out for the whole family to watch a dancing crab avoid a persistent French archetype like it’s a UN resolution. However, it may also be the opening salvo where studios want to be part of our world. No, not the one about walking and dancing and thing-a-ma-bobs. Rather like a mermaid who just got a pair of dancing legs, Disney wants to wrap itself around the hot new trend while cinephilés like this writer bemoan from our aquatic kingdom.
Nonetheless, the sight of electronic glowing screens spiraling above the seats of a movie theater like wicked Siamese felines is a striking monument to the cultural shift at play. Understandably, Hollywood and any movie company who wishes to maintain a footing in theatrical release must find any path forward to connect with new audiences in an increasingly fractionalized entertainment market. However, when studios accept with resignation that it is impossible to hold a young audience’s attention for even 90 minutes with Rastafarian crustaceans, magical eels, and a Broadway ingénue belting to the cheap seats all in a brightly colorful package, how long until the same conclusion is made for blockbusters? Particularly as they continue to disappointment more and more every year, right After Earth, White House Down, The Internship, The Lone Ranger, RIPD, Smurfs 2, Paranoia, Kick-Ass 2, The Mortal Instruments and Getaway? Right!
This little limited engagement release could be a fluke or it could prove a far more profitable avenue than the 3D releases have for the last few years at the House of Mouse. In which case, imagine an App that lets kids play “Magic Carpet Mayhem” on their parents’ tablets while a pair of blowhards sing about “A Whole New World” for an Aladdin rerelease in the background. They clearly wouldn’t be whistling Dixie. Who needs to follow the confusing character development of a Street Rat who wants a better life or a lion cub who just wants to be king when they can compete for who spots the most cute cuddly sidekicks amongst their party of friends. Imagine the joy in the theater and all the boasts and exclamations that go with it.
This may be a whole new way to indoctrinate raise a generation on the classics. And hey, if that works, they may want Second Screens with their 14th Batman reboot and Sixth Marvel Phase as well! This could be the new social contract between studio and audience necessary for Hollywood to compete in our world for new affection. And even before we’ve signed it, I’m already speechless.