Fox Debuts New Interactive Technology With ‘Night at the Museum 2’

6 Nov, 2009 By: Chris Tribbey

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CENTURY CITY, Calif. — 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment thinks its new DVD and Blu-ray Disc technology creates “the world’s largest couch” for viewers.

Dubbed “FoxPop,” the feature debuts on the Dec. 1 release of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and allows viewers to sync up their iPhone or computer with the film. The program downloaded to the computer or iPhone “hears” what point the film as at and automatically starts feeding information to the viewer based on those scenes.

Trivia, film and song facts, and even Facebook or Twitter notes from others watching the movie appear on the phone or computer screen in line with what appears during the movie. When Amelia Earhart’s character appears on the HDTV, trivia about her life appears on the computer or phone screen. When Ben Stiller is seen, background on the actor shows up. When a song plays in the background, all the info regarding it shows up as well. When “Cubes of Rubik” is joked about, actual Rubik’s Cube background is offered.

Trivia answers are tallied at the end, offering a competitive angle for users, and at the end, users can have all the facts viewed during the FoxPop session e-mailed to them. And for each time viewers watch the movie with the FoxPop feature running, new information shows up during the film.

“It’s a truly interactive experience with the movies,” said Ajay Shah, CEO and co-founder of Spot411, which developed the technology. “It creates a mechanism for the world’s largest couch, improving the home entertainment movie experience. And it’s completely up to you how much you want to experience.”

Fox will run teasers showing off the new technology and will include an insert in Night to explain how to use it. The Dec. 22 release of (500) Days of Summer and the Dec. 29 release of Jennifer’s Body also will include FoxPop, which is exclusive to Fox through the end of April. After that, Spot411 will see if any other studio is willing to give the technology a try.

For (500) Days of Summer, Fox will attempt an e-commerce angle, with FoxPop users given the option to buys songs through iTunes.

“FoxPop furthers our commitment to providing consumers with the most exceptional home entertainment experience possible,” said Mary Daily, EVP of North America marketing of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. “By providing interesting movie-related information and the ability to engage with fellow Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian audiences, the application creates a powerful new connection between the movie and its viewers.”

Spot411 executives hope to have all smartphones capable of handling the technology by mid-2010, starting with Blackberries.

“Another great thing is that it works with both DVD and Blu-ray,” Shah said.

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