mhg83

Thanks for the warning Disney. I wont be anywhere near this re-release! If this shit catches on

The movie theater is one of the few remaining sanctums where you're largely safe from the annoying glow of smartphones and tablets.
Well, at least until Disney re-releases "The Little Mermaid" on September 13. The studio is actively encouraging kids to bring along iPads and play games while the movie is showing on screen.

Specifically, they're inviting you to be part of Ariel's world with their own app -- Disney Second Screen Live -- designed to let viewers interact with the film. It's essentially a kid-friendly blend of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” karaoke, and video games.

The app will lead sing-alongs with the film's soundtrack, games based on events in the film, behind the scenes information, and a competitive element played against fellow theater-goers. The app is free, but perhaps due to Disney's close relationship with Apple, Android tablets are not supported.

Disney is rolling it out slowly -- only 16 theaters nationwide will take part in the Second Screen Live experiment -- but it's still a radical departure from most theaters' policies, which urge viewers to silence or turn off their mobile devices before a film starts since the bright light from the screens is particularly distracting in a darkened theater.

Film buffs are obviously not thrilled by the idea. Slashfilm derisively calls it a "second screen indoctrination tool for young children." Penny Arcade Report paints an uglier picture.

"Imagine a theater full of children, with everyone looking down at a bright screen instead of watching the movie," writes PAR editor Ben Kuchera. "Let's hope that the app is silent or you'll be dealing with hundreds of speakers all playing music with different timing, or at different volumes. Hellish."

The in-theater Second Screen experience is an extension of Disney's tests with a home-based Second Screen app. Two years ago, the company began testing the idea of offering bonus footage, concept art, filmmaker commentary and storyboard images for home video releases, issuing versions of the app for the Blu-Ray releases of “Bambi,” “Tron: Legacy,” “The Lion King” and “The Pirates of the Caribbean.”

Disney first tested the use of the app in theaters last fall with Tim Burton's “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” The company says the trials resulted in "positive" responses among viewers, though you certainly wouldn’t think that based on the 5-1 ratio of “thumbs-downs” to “thumbs-ups” on the trailer’s Youtube page.
http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged...214306551.html

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stvn1974

Sometimes I feel bad about not having kids or being married and then I realize how many Disney and Dreamworks animated movies and chick flicks I haven't had to sit through and all is right with the world.

Jay G.

What does being married have to do with it?

Hokeyboy

This is where we're supposed to act surprised that svn1974 isn't married.

TimeandTide

Because having kids automatically means having to go to Disney movies.

Anyway, it's not like Universal is encouraging people to take their iPads to opening night showings of the next Fast and Furious movie. It's LITTLE MERMAID. (Guess you'll just have to re-watch it at home, mhg83.)

MrSmearkase

I have no problem with this. As noted above, a brand new release would be another story entirely.

fumanstan

It's not too big of a deal, especially since it seems like it's specific showings for kids to sing a long.

I can see how young kids might treat it as ok behavior in a theater going forward though, although a pretty minor thing to get over.

TomOpus

Geeze, people up in arms over nothing.

Roybq

I'm not too up in arms about this considering how limited this is, and how audiences are told to do this. I vowed after last time this movie was released that I'd never see it again in theaters. We ended up at a showing filled with some massive alliance of daycare kids. So many kids were singing along loudly off key, and it was just torture to try to sit through. I ended up getting a refund after it was obvious that the core audience wasn't there to just watch the film.

I wonder why they ditched the 3D release of this. Seems since they already converted it, it would've been some easy money for them.

Alan Smithee

Any encouragement of doing anything in a theater besides watching the movie is never a good thing- and no, I've never been to a Rocky Horror showing.

Ash Ketchum

Staying married often means having to see chick flicks.

Jay G.

Depends on who you marry. My wife hates chick flicks.

Ash Ketchum

You're one of the lucky few.

Hokeyboy

No chick flicks here either. Ever. In fact, I probably end up requesting more of the "chicky" flicks, if by "chicky" flicks you mean Pedro Almodovar or even some of the recent Woody Allen movies.

On the down side, my wife's favorite movie is "That Thing You Do" (!), which is not a bad movie in and of itself -- I actually like it -- but my GOD if I have to sit through it ONE MORE TIME, I might have to eat my own face.

TomOpus

So? Do you believe the wife has to do only things the husband wants to do? My fiancée isn't a big horror movie fan but she will watch them with me. It's not the end of the world if you should do something your wife would enjoy.

Mabuse

It sounds lame. When I take my girls to the movies I take the opportunity to teach them good theater manners. Having the theater encourage behavior like this teaches the wrong message of how to behave at a movie.

inri222

So does mine, her favorite director is Werner Herzog.

Ash Ketchum

How do you extrapolate that extreme position from my simple statement? My statement agreed with your last sentence. Staying married means doing something your wife wants to do once in a while.

Meglos

It's really not.

Mattflix

Or we could teach kids to be quiet and well-behaved in a movie theater. A decade or so down the line they'll be irritating teenagers who don't behave in a theater.

Obi-Wanma

My wife claims to not like chick flicks, but then I catch her watching shit like "27 Dresses"

TomOpus

Sorry about that. I think I took your post incorrectly. I will blame it on a lack of Mountain Dew

Draven

Speaking as a parent, one "special" event where you take your iPad doesn't undo the dozens of other movies they've quietly sat through as far as theater manners go. Everyone needs to calm down.

That said, as much as I like The Little Mermaid, we're not seeing it in theaters. Or any other Disney re-release for that matter. We already have all of them at home.

Drexl

I'm not really opposed to it, provided this is limited to one showing per day or something.

I'm more concerned about the home-based app for discs. This sort of thing could eventually replace on-disc content for BD releases, so that I must have an iDevice just to access special features.

Alan Smithee

Disney's already done that with a few disc releases, including Tron Legacy and John Carter. They say you can use a laptop computer with them, which I actually have, but still haven't had time to check them out yet. Doing this at home is different than in a theater.