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With home entertainments systems always evolving, there seems to be less incentive to head on out to the local movie theatre for a $10 cola and four-year-old running up and down the aisle during an R-rated movie. This means it’s up to the cinemas to raise the stakes and provide new and intriguing movie-going experiences.

Some theaters in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou think they have found such an experience by allowing those in the audience to post their comments onto the screen for all to see while the movie plays. So now when I take my mother-in-law she can ask everyone “Why did Bruce Willis just shoot that guy?” instead of just me.

When watching movies which utilizes this technique known as danmaku (barrage) in Japan and danmu in China, viewer comments float across the screen from right to left as the movie plays. The more comments that are made, the more of the screen’s real-estate they take up.

Danmaku became widely known in Japan from its use on the hugely popular video streaming site Niconico Douga. For old farts like myself it’s incredibly annoying and causes me to instantly roll the mouse over to the speech bubble icon which shuts the danmaku off. The kids, however, seem to really be into it. Here’s an example.

The appeal is understandable though. Reading people’s comments as the movie plays gives an added sense of community and thus can make even a tedious video fun. In the convenience of one’s own living room it’s worth a try at least once. But is danmaku enough to get people to pay the price of admission to make and see comments scroll by on the big screen?

Reports have said that films offering the danmaku feature have been experiencing attendances of 80 to 90 percent, a vast majority of whom are under 24 years of age. Moviegoers on China’s social networks have also reported special services offered such as battery chargers delivered to your seat. It’s still early though and only time will tell whether this is simply a fad which will quickly wear out its welcome or the wave of the future for film.

It’s a technique that’s bound to be divisive among not only viewers but also movie makers. Getting real-time recordable feedback from theaters all over the country would be a dream for those footing the bill for major productions. On the other hand, a lot of directors, set designers and other artists might not appreciate their hard work being detracted from.

▼ There’s a movie in there somewhere.

Actually, the more I hear about this idea, the more it’s kind of growing on me. It paves the way for lots of anti-social fun like going to a movie you’ve never seen before and just randomly posting completely imagined spoilers to mess with everyone like “Jackie Chan’s really a robot but he doesn’t know it!” It could give Karate Kid 2 more twists and turns than an entire M. Night Shyamalan film festival.

Source: appllio, My Game News Flash (Japanese), CCTV, The New York Times (English)
Video: YouTube – HIMEW