Horror purveyor Blumhouse is serving up triple the terror for its annual “Halfway to Halloween” celebration, bringing M3GAN, Annabelle, and Ma back to theaters. But the M3GAN screenings will be accompanied by a tech twist—amusingly ironic, considering the movie is about a seemingly benevolent tech innovation that instead turns very, very scary. It’s also tied into a gimmick that seems poised to encourage moviegoers to pull out their phones, which is its own nightmare to contemplate.
Here’s the pitch from a Blumhouse press release: “Blumhouse is teaming with Meta to bring to life Meta’s second screen experience, Movie Mate, for the first time in theaters across the country. As fans interact with the M3GAN chat bot in theaters, they will receive never-before-seen content, trivia, and behind the scenes info on the film in real time.”
Meta’s Omar Zayat described the features as something “designed to get audiences back into theaters,” but is it really an enticement that the person in the seat next to you has their phone screen lit up while they interact with a chatbot during the movie? We love behind-the-scenes tidbits and trivia as much as the next fan, but that’s maybe something better saved for the home viewing experience—you know, without disrupting the enjoyment of other filmgoers around you who’re just trying to watch a killer robot girl slay with style.
However, as the press release further notes, “Movie Mate is only available to moviegoers who are in a theater, and works by DM’ing the Instagram account @M3GAN account to start the experience. The entire experience is designed to leverage Meta’s capabilities to augment and uplevel the ‘second screen’ viewing experience.”
The phrase “‘second screen’ viewing experience” is, let’s face it, a less cynical way of saying “people are now physically and emotionally unable to turn their phones off for two hours to fully focus on a movie.” There’s a real “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, and advertise to ’em too while you’re at it” spirit afoot here, is there not?
At any rate, if you dare venturing out to watch M3GAN on the big screen again, she’ll be returning April 30 (ahead of M3GAN 2.0‘s arrival June 27). Annabelle will screen April 7 and Ma will screen May 14, and Blumhouse is teasing “sneak peeks, exclusive recorded messages from directors and talent from the films, and surprise special appearances in select markets” as part of the Halfway to Halloween festivities.
Advance tickets are on sale now here, where you can also check to see which theaters are participating as well as keep an eye out for any additional showtimes.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Read the full article here
