Fox to Bombard You with Random Facts During Movie

Fox is trying to sell more DVDs by adding Pop Up Video.

The Hollywood Reporter posts that the company is hoping to boost sales by "putting a new spin on interactivity, including harnessing the power of social networking" with a little system called "FoxPop." Not so much a "new spin," FoxPop is a downloadable computer program (works with Mac, PC, and iPhone) that will recognize the sounds of a film, immediately sync up, and give movie viewers a "constant barrage of facts, photos, games, and trivia questions related to the movie they are watching." In other words -- Pop Up Video on a separate screen you're welcome to ignore.

Fox's example of how it will work: "when a T. rex appears on the screen, for example, the user's iPhone would vibrate and ask how many bones that particular dino has. It will also tell what percentage answered the query correctly" while completely distracting them from the fun of the dino hunt. Social networking comes into play with the ability to make comments on the film with Facebook and Twitter that your friends will be able to see when they want to watch a movie. I see the last bits of our attention spans flying away into the ether of history...


This is all possible through a partnership with Spot411, and CEO Ajay Shah notes that "People feel they have a right to know something about a movie the moment they want to know it." Uh yeah, sure, but it's not like people are running around with pickets whilst shouting: "We demand the right to know movie trivia NOW!" Ignoring the strange wording of Shah's statement, he's saying that this all comes from the tendency we all have now to hit the Net during or after a movie to research what we're watching, and rather than letting us do it ourselves, Fox wants to offer it and try to make those dwindling DVD sales perk back up.

The service is free -- although it will have purchase functions with iTunes, for example -- and many movies are on the Pop block. But for now, FoxPop will make its first appearance with the Blu-ray and DVD release of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, and be followed by -- I shudder to type -- 500 Days of Summer, and then later in December with Jennifer's Body. And the powers at be are looking to add this same technology to live TV.

Bring it on! Why bother actually watching a movie or show? Who wants to enjoy it when you can turn it into a game of distraction with silly little blips of trivia like a feature-length Scene It? Ugh. To me, it sounds like the right sentiment and the absolute wrong execution. I would be shocked if this adds enough "value" to make people buy more DVDs. That being said, if you merge it with some old, oft-watched titles, the game aspect could make it quite desirable -- outlining trivia, the actors of a film, where they are now, films that have copied it, moments where the sound goes off and you have to fill in the dialogue...

But most of all -- you know what people demand in the movie world because they can't get it? The right to be fans. Forget the distracting PopUps and make programs that allow users to make their own videos and Internet fandom. That's going to pique interest a hell of a lot more than a use-it-once batch of facts and trivia.

All that said, have you been tantalized into buying more DVDs?