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Television Movies Entertainment News

Steven Spielberg Is Writing a Horror Series That You Can Only Watch At Night (variety.com) 136

Posted by BeauHD from the how-horror-movies-are-meant-to-be-watched dept.
Spielberg's After Dark horror series will only be able to be streamed when it's dark outside. It'll be available exclusively on Quibi (short for "Quick Bites"), a new streaming platform dedicated to short-form video, created by former Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg and former HP CEO Meg Whitman. Variety reports: Spielberg had an unusual request however: He wanted viewers to only be able to watch the program after midnight. Given that phones can track where it is at the moment -- and keep tabs on when the sun rises and sets in its area -- Katzenberg and Whitman challenged their engineers to come up with an idea for how to view the show when it's spooky out. The result: A clock will appear on phones, ticking down until sun sets in wherever that user is, until it's completely gone. Then the clock starts ticking again to when the sun comes back up -- and the show will disappear until the next night. According to the report, Quibi is planning for an April 2020 launch, and is "hoping to trigger a 'third generation of film narrative,' following movies and TV."

"At launch, Quibi will offer a two-week free trial period, and have eight 'super premium' productions (which Katzenberg still called 'movies') ready to view," reports Variety. "After that, there will be 26 more 'lighthouse' (read: signature projects) productions that will roll out, every other Monday, for the first year."
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Steven Spielberg Is Writing a Horror Series That You Can Only Watch At Night More

Steven Spielberg Is Writing a Horror Series That You Can Only Watch At Night

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  • PirateBay (Score:5, Informative)

    by b0s0z0ku ( 752509 ) on Monday June 10, 2019 @08:34PM (#58742792)
    it will be available on PirateBay at any hours, whether Shpiel-berg wants it or not.

    • Especially with the midnight restriction. I'm not going to start watching something at midnight, especially if it's like a 2 hour movie. I usually sleep from 10PM-6AM, and there's no way I'm killing my sleep schedule just to watch some movie. I'll probably fall asleep anyway. I can't even be bothered to watch the NBA playoffs right now, even though the entire country (Canada) is talking about it now because the one team we have finally made the finals. It starts at 9 PM and goes on to 11:30. I'm not goi

      • For instance, I use a medication that makes me sleep before midnight: .torrent saving me, again :P

    • This is nothing but a blatant attempt at micro-managing how people watch movies. And given that bean-counters turned CEOs know only on thing, namely to micromanage, they attempt the same thing with the viewers as with thier employees.

      Remember Microsoft's Kinect (or some similar name)? Originally it would take pictures of hte people in front of the TV and would refuse to play the movie if more than 4 people were present.
      What of a family of 2 parents and 3 kids ? Were they supposed to flip a coin to see who w

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • This is nothing but a blatant attempt at micro-managing how people watch movies.

        No, it's a publicity stunt. There's too many ways of getting around any location services limit for it to prevent any technically oriented person from watching at noon.

        I mean, look at how many people reading /. will immediately try getting around the limits, boosting sales/viewership and ad revenue, for no other reason than proving they can get around it. Whether they actually watch it or not is irrelevant.

  • Katzenberg AND Whitman? (Score:5, Funny)

    by 110010001000 ( 697113 ) on Monday June 10, 2019 @08:35PM (#58742796) Homepage Journal

    Sign me up! Hopefully it will only be $50 a month!

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Horror can really draw you in, especially when you are a young adult. Its fun to contemplate horrible things. And to feel strong. To understand the dark side. And so on.

      That shit gets in deep. When you get a bit older, and stress starts getting to you, you find that your mind is a bit more fragile than it once was. Much more susceptible to suggestion.

      All those horror stories can come back. Deny you sleep. Fuck you up.

      It would be better to keep your mind focused on more uplifting forms of entertainme

    • We can hope! But I, for one, would gladly pay $300/mo for the _quality_ programming we know those two will produce!! Especially if I'm only allowed to watch it at weird arbitrary hours!!!

    • FTFA, looking at $5-$8 per month. Hopefully they have a GOT style mega-hook movie in there otherwise the free-ish YouTube will be eating their lunch. The DUST sci-fi channel on YouTube has some clever shorts.

      "Quibi (short for “quick bites”) was first unveiled by Katzenberg and Whitman back in August. The company has already raised $1 billion from investors, though Whitman noted they plan to raise “about half that” again either this fall or next spring.

      The company currently has proj

      • So the only reason for ten minute segments is to allow them to fit enough adverts in. Basically, its broadcast TV - 2 hour show with ad breaks every 10 minutes.

  • many people have a job, schameelburg (Score:5, Informative)

    by iggymanz ( 596061 ) on Monday June 10, 2019 @08:37PM (#58742804)

    most working people will sleep after midnight, way to lower the market

    just because he can snort coke all night and wake up at 1pm doesn't mean most can

  • on account of globe earth

  • Another Streaming Service! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    It'll be available exclusively on Quibi (short for "Quick Bites"), a new streaming platform dedicated to short-form video[...]

    Another streaming service! Yay!

    I pay for Comcast, Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO on prime, Starz on prime... AND a VPN so I can actually get stuff with Chinese subtitles so my girlfriend and I can watch shows together (her English is limited). I'm seriously considering cancelling everything except the internet connection and the VPN.

    Torrents for the win!

  • I still have a VCR (Score:3)

    by jfdavis668 ( 1414919 ) on Monday June 10, 2019 @08:55PM (#58742870)
    I'll figure out some way to record it and play it later.

  • Speilberg wanted midnight. The app is currently about three and half hours off.

  • Sunset != dark. (Score:4, Informative)

    by msauve ( 701917 ) on Monday June 10, 2019 @09:04PM (#58742906)
    "...ticking down until sun sets in wherever that user is, until it's completely gone. Then the clock starts ticking again to when the sun comes back up..."

    Fail. Sunset is just the start of civil twilight. It doesn't really get dark until astronomical twilight (or later, for non light polluted urban areas). The difference is more than an hour.

    • Seems like it would be almost as effective to make sure it would be dark by the time they were done. I'm sure they ran the numbers.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Up in northern Alaska there will be places where you can't watch for several months at a time, but then there will be whole months where you can watch it all day long.

      dom

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      In northern Finland there are no night during summer. And on the winter, there are months of darkness. So can the Disney horror be watched only during winters?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by necro81 ( 917438 )

      Sunset is just the start of civil twilight. It doesn't really get dark until astronomical twilight (or later, for non light polluted urban areas). The difference is more than an hour.

      Depending on latitude and the time of year, it can be much worse than that. We're less than two weeks away from the summer solstice - large swaths of Scandinavia won't see astronomical twilight for months.

      Years ago I did some field work in Greenland. It was a really big deal at the science station when, late in July, the

  • Bummer if on Arctic exploration trips - but... (Score:5, Funny)

    by sbaker ( 47485 ) on Monday June 10, 2019 @09:35PM (#58743012) Homepage

    There's an open Janitorial position at McMurdo station...pays up to $89k/year - and for the next few months you can binge watch the entire series!

  • And little they realize... (Score:3)

    by newsdee ( 629448 ) on Monday June 10, 2019 @09:38PM (#58743024) Homepage Journal

    ...that the thousands of dollars spent developing this will be defeated by a dude changing their time zone on their device...

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday June 10, 2019 @09:47PM (#58743054)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Given your language, if you haven't heard it you may enjoy Stash Up by OPM. Catchy little tune with a decidedly non-child friendly chorus (OK, the verses also are not child friendly, but the chorus is right in line with your sentiments).

      Good song to boot.

  • at first cause it went with the horror part and was excited... A little less so when my brain ECC fixed the mishap. Interesting concept, but prob not much to it. He's first I guess, so it will work this time.

  • Movies needs somthing else, nice try, but this isn't it. CGI needs to come a little further... so we cant tell humans apart from animation.... then make a movie where can interact with and have multiple ending...
  • People want to watch what we want, WHEN we want

  • So too bad if you live above the Arctic Circle or in Antarctica in the (local) Summer -- when the Sun never sets.

    [But, on the upside, you can binge watch it during the Winter months...]

    • So too bad if you live above the Arctic Circle or in Antarctica in the (local) Summer -- when the Sun never sets.

      [But, on the upside, you can binge watch it during the Winter months...]

      As pointed out in other posts, sunset doesn't mean complete darkness. I live around 62 degrees latitude (Arctic Circle is about 67) and these days/nights it isn't really getting dark any more. OTOH, in the middle of the winter we have several hours of sunlight in the day, weather permitting. There are multiple effects that "spread the light around", so the yearly average of light per day is considerably more than 12 hours.

  • What's up with the phone? Are they magically going to put a clock on my phone? Because I'm not going to put in on there (other then the one already on it). Or are they thinking I'm going to watch this show on my phone?

  • Speilberg : I have a fun gimmick where you have to watch horror at night, it'll bring the anticipation and specialty back into viewing.

    Internet : FUCK YOU SPEILBERG, I can watch things whenever I god damn want, fuck you, fuck anything, your next project should just be you bowing down and thanking me for watching your fucking show. I will VPN and torrent it, because I want to watch it in the arctic circle where it's daylight for the next 6 months!

    Regular person : huh, neato

  • and recordings of birds chirping at sunrise. Come at me, Speilbro.

  • It's sunny for 24 hours a day, you insensitive jerk!

  • "Given that phones can track where it is" (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    It is about tracking users, not "experience".

    Why would you give GPS access to a video-watching application?

    The artistic idea is very interesting, but the technical execution is digging too much in our lifes.

    • One would do this precisely so one could participate.

      Anyway as a backup they will probably tie it to your IP address which has a location more than accurate enough for this purpose and for the vast majority who aren't traveling.

  • Every method that limits a potential paying customer's purchasing or viewing habits is going to impact on sales.

    Simple as that.

    Cute gimmick. It'll work for about a week. Then it'll be game over.

    People: I still can't buy Aliens:Special Edition on an online video provider. Why? What's up with that? There are BBC series that I still can't buy online despite them being shown on TV all the time, and / or having previously been made available on VHS and DVD?

    Honestly, I just switch off and stop buying when I

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Spielberg: "I think I can do something unique and interesting by requiring the viewer to experience my show at night."

    Slashdot: "FUCK YOU! HOW DARE YOU ATTEMPT TO CONTROL ME! YOU'RE NOT MY REAL DAD!"

  • You can only watch it when the sun is down, which is when most people watch TV anyway.
    And you can only watch it by subscribing to something I've never heard of before called "Quibi".

    Low ratings will not be due to scheduling.

  • ...not after midnight.

    "After midnight" doesn't need to know when the sun set as it's a defined time. The description is clearly indicating that this is after sunset.

    Also, I pity anyone in the Arctic Circle who may have to wait months for the sun to set... although in winter they could watch it at any time.

  • really? Yet Another Streaming Service? Can't they just partner with Amazon or Netflix? Unless it's free I'm gonna skip this.. Spielberg's work hasn't been great the last few decades anyway.
  • Why on earth one want a programme broadcasted after midnight? I remember when TV station switched of transmitters after midnight for instance Granada TV [youtube.com] RAI [youtube.com].
    In the case of streaming one can't use a videorecorder to timeshift. So someone is going to broadcast when nobody except some night guard will like to watch them, and can't record it?

  • they still don't get all the reasons why streaming is killing cable.
    it's not only the fact that you have no ads, but also that you can watch what you want, when you want it.
    imagine you'll get programming on video streaming providers, that would be a horrible thing.

  • Simpsons did it (Score:3)

    by jbmartin6 ( 1232050 ) on Tuesday June 11, 2019 @07:48AM (#58744284)
    When I was a kid, we could only watch The Simpsons at 8 PM Sunday night. Can you kids imagine that? Crazy right? I don't recall what technology they used to keep us from watching it at other times. My Dad had a server somewhere in the house and he only let us watch shows on some dumb box that only had three shows on it.

  • So... not available to whole geographic regions (northern Alaska, Norway etc) during summer months at all?

  • Maybe the plot will be someone who only *thinks* he's outsmarted licensing restrictions and attempts to watch a movie at an unauthorized time, and then is dealt justice by supernatural forces.

  • I see this kind of like the shows that were designed to work with the Philips Hue lights, so they'd change the colors to go along with the show.... It's clever marketing, but really, it doesn't add much to the experience. In the end, all people will really care about is if a TV show or movie tells a good story. These shows will just get recorded/saved and shared around so people can view them any time, anyway.

  • Generations of radio listeners tuned in to late night suspense and horror like Arch Oboler's Lights Out. The geek is obsessed with time-shifting. But it is midnight that sets the stage. For what began as wholly original and unpredictable live broadcasts. Imagine coming on The Twilight Zone for the first time, with no spoilers, no distractions and no binge-viewing to dull the effect.

  • So here will be another use for VPNs.

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