The Future of Entertainment at Home: From Watching to Experiencing.

Last week we discussed how entertainment, in the form of music, personal brands and stars, will change thanks to the current tech evolution. In order to continue that thinking, let’s now look at how entertainment will change within our own homes.

Another industry that is rapidly changing I will be completely different from anything we are used to at the moment. Movies, tv shows, reality tv and other forms of entertainment that you can watch from your couch, will be massively disrupted. I think it is super exciting, but it also brings some big questions.

Let’s start with the creation of the content itself, by that I mean movies and tv series (one of my big passions by the way). It is pretty clear that generative AI is going to have a huge impact on the movie industry, if it hasn’t disrupted it already. This will start fairly “slow” with using generative AI to help with current film productions. The result will probably be a big drop in the costs of making movies, which in my humble opinion is a good thing that can potentially unlock a lot. It was actually the first topic I discussed in my very first newsletter. 

The problem is that movies are so expensive and the potential revenue they generate has become so minimal, because of streaming/lack of dvd sales/lack of theater ticket sales, that the risks is way too high for studios to bet on unproved stories, heroes, talent, anything. As explained by Matt Damon in this (3-year old) clip:

Meaning, if technology can bring down those costs drastically it will be much easier for studios to take these bets on new things. Not only that, the creation of movies will become more and more democratized. So instead of having to need a studio to pick you and your story, you can probably do almost all of it yourself/with a small team. I think this is very healthy and I believe we will see more cool things because of it.

So the above is pretty short term, although already very disruptive, I think things will get way crazier.

Let’s talk about styles of content. People have different taste, some kids rather watch a romantic comedy played inside Roblox, some people would rather watch Friends in anime style. Well, that will be possible and why not? It reminds me a bit of a startup that was part of a panel that I was in too, who were broadcasting live football games but then in Roblox. Their engagement numbers were pretty impressive from what I can remember (although I forget their name sorry). My confronting question now would be; is this startup dead?

Because Gen AI can literally just generate a version of whatever I want, in the style that I prefer. This became very clear with last weeks 4o Image Generation release by OpenAI and the hype around Studio Ghibli styled images that followed. Now someone took it very serious and recreated a full Lord of the Rings trailer in this particular style. It only took him 250 USD and 9 hours to do it….

I personally would never pick a Studio Ghibli version of LOTR over the original, but this is not about me. As I just said, there are a lot of kids that rather watch stuff on Roblox than the actual movie, so I can imagine the above generation of content (maybe even old content/movies just like LOTR) will find some sort of audience. And not only movies and series by the way. I remember, one of my favorite writers, Yuval Noah Harari, releasing a graphic version of his book Sapiens, about five years ago now. (One of my all time favorite books and my nr.1 recommendation). Why? To reach a new, younger, audience. So we already know that sharing the same content in different styles has its benefits. Five years later and you could now easily ask GPT to generate a comic version of a complete book and enjoy it.

This does not mean that I think we should just upload everything into a tool like GPT and generate whatever we want. I rather think it will become standard practice, that I get the option (when watching Netflix or buying an ebook) in which style I want to consume this content?

Now let’s go even further. I think we can all see and agree that the costs of generative AI is coming down drastically, the intelligence and usage of it will become a commodity eventually. This means we will see services that can, eventually, generative whatever we want instantly.

Now see yourself on a Friday night at home, opening Netflix and asking “give me a movie of about 2.5 hours. Include my favorite actors. I am in the mood for a WW2 movie”. Give it a minute to render and off you go. The AI knows exactly how you like your movies, what type of languages, how complicated or not, how much over the top or not, more or less drama, and so forth. In this scenario, actors probably have licensed their image to Netflix just as writers or directors (with distinctive movie styles) have licensed theirs.

On one hand it sounds super cool to have incredible movies ready for you whenever, because come one who doesn’t hate wasting 2 hours of their lives watching a horrible movie? Probably, if you would be wearing some sort of smart glasses, the AI can even adapt the story on the fly towards your emotions. If it senses you are loosing interest, it can make a change in order to keep you entertained. On the other hand, this can (as always) be misused by people with bad intentions. My ideal world is not one where we are constantly being hooked, and addicted, to “perfect” entertainment 24/7.

Beyond generation. I do think at-home-entertainment will evolve even more, beyond what we just discussed with regards to generative AI. I think things will become much more interactive, pushed forward by gaming.

We all know that, the younger the person, the harder it is for them to sit still for 2 hours or more and watch something. Traditional sports is feeling this, Hollywood is feeling this (probably one of the reasons tv series are having a bigger impact on culture than movies) and this trend will only continue.

So how, with all the new technology that is here and on the horizon, will a tv show in 2035 look and feel? I think it is a mix. We already discussed the Gen AI part of this, let’s now look at mixed reality/virtual reality. First off, TV screens might be a thing of the past? If mixed reality glasses and virtual reality headsets are becoming so good and affordable, why would you then still watch a movie on a TV screen?

Now let’s talk about some crazy thing that could happen when you combine interaction with your favorite shows or movies. First off, I think content can/will be expanded into your living room if you look via mixed reality glasses. In this, still content coming from your TV but if you wear your glasses it will open up a whole other canvas for content creators to play with. An early example of this was Disney’s short filmed called “Remembering”, released on Disney+ in September 2022. See below for an example.

What if we go beyond augmented reality and go to your actual physical room? A lot of people believe that all our electronic devices will be AI enabled at some point. Meaning your lamps, your fridge, your climate control. What if they can all adapt do the movie your are experiencing? Just have a bit of a chilly room when the scene is in the snow vs a hot dessert. What about scent?

Now I might hear some people think, this just feels like a massive distraction. I understand that take, but as so many times in this newsletter I want to invite you to look past that. I think it is just a matter of 1) better quality tech and 2) getting this technology in the hands of some truly creative super powers. The canvas for story telling will be expanded, so it is just a matter of human creativity how that will be filled in.

The next step would be interactivity. How can someone turn from a passive viewer into an active participant. Again, this might not be for everyone but there is still enormous potential for some crazy new forms of entertainment if you think about it. Where my brain immediately goes is somehow combining games and movies. What if you are watching a movie but want to take over control of the main character? Play the next battle yourself? This might sounds strange and not possible at all, but I do think it is. If AI can generate anything instantly, then why not turn my movie into a playable game on the spot?

Or what if you can have full blown conversations with the characters in the movie while you are watching it? Asking it “why did you decide to go into this dark ally, it clearly looks dangerous?” or anything else about their backstories, creating an even deeper connection with a movies character?

Idea: can someone please combine the game “Cluedo” with a movie somehow? For the people that don’t know this board game: The goal of the game is to determine who murdered the game's victim, where the crime took place, and which weapon was used. Sounds like a fun night having to find this out while experiencing a movie, in virtual (or mixed) reality, together with someone sitting next to you on the couch. Sign me upppp!

I think it is pretty clear that with all the new technologies the canvas for storytelling is becoming bigger than ever before. Some people might think movies or tv shows are a thing of the past, I don’t think that is the case. What I do think is that we will see radically different forms of this medium in the future. Maybe watching an “oldskool styled” movie will feel similar to now playing music via a vinyl record instead of streaming it. There will be beauty and room for both.

Let’s do discuss a potential disrupting change and that is for actors/actresses, directors, writers and so forth. Their way of creating a movie might become more of a niche than mainstream. That sounds harsh, but it is a potential outcome of all that is happening at the moment. I do believe that people, who do not have a very personal and particular style or following, will have to change careers. Again, that sounds very mean but if I was in their shoes I would rather already start thinking about pivoting vs being the last person to do so. As I touched upon it earlier briefly, the reason why a distinctive style (directors, writers, IP holders) is key is because people might want to generate their movies in your style. This gives these people then the power to license their styles exclusively to a particular service or services. Will it stop other people from generating something similar to yours in a more "illegal” manner? Probably not. So then the question becomes what people that do pay for this service to watch some “authentic Christopher Nolan” will get extra? Or is the “supporting my favorite creator because I love it and I can” enough? The latter certainly already happens on streaming services like Twitch where people voluntarily pay their favorite creators 5 USD a month (or more) purely because they want to support, without getting anything extra in return.

For actors/actresses it might come down to if there is enough people who follow you and/or enjoy watching you in movies/series. Meaning, their personal brand will become more important than ever before. If you have a dedicated following than it makes a lot of sense for a “personalized movie generation service” (Netflix?) to make a deal with you to be able to have you in their catalog so users can get movies generated for them with you in them. Slightly different topic but I think the exact same is true for models by the way. All unknown actors, background actors, catalog models and so forth do not have the added value of a fanbase and will become obsolete. Sorry to be this harsh, but I don’t see any other outcome..

The one thing that does keep me thinking though is the following, and it is something I want to end this section with so you can give it some thought as well. Culture. Currently, big movies and series are a big part of culture. Not only in viral moments, such as everything is still going crazy about the Apple series “Severance”, but also about conversations with friends and family. What will happen when we all watch a different version, a different outcome, of a show like Severance? Mine might end with all of them leaving to another planet (because I like space) while my best friends version might end up with them all playing football (because he likes football ⚽️). Can we still discuss it? Can we still enjoy these conversations together?

So again, big questions, big unknowns, painful disruption and changes. But also again, a very exciting new way of telling stories and I am very excited to find out what the creative geniuses will do with all of this. I am here for it!

Here are some of the latest announcements and other things that I found interesting this week (underscore means clickable!):

• OpenAI, fresh of their mega viral 4o Image Generation release, announced the biggest private venture capital funding round ever: $40 Billion USD. A staggering number, giving OpenAI $300B post-money valuation. Although 300 Billion is a lot, it is still not even close to the top-5. At number 5 currently sits Amazon with a valuation of 2.3 Trillion (with a T yes). Sooooo is OpenAI still UNDERvalued? What do you think?

• And that people love to generate Studio Ghibli images is pretty clear by this tweet that Sam Altman shared, holy moly:

• The viral Studio Ghibli moment also created a lotttt of backlash from people who hated that such a specific, beautiful, style of art is bluntly copied by everyone and everything at the moment. Not only people, but brands have used it to share it on socials etc etc. Major IP infringement moment or did Studio Ghibli just took their brand (awareness) to a whole new level? I think the latter, BUT more importantly this again shows why we need Blockchain for creators (as discussed in last week’s edition). If Studio Ghibli will now release new work, put it on-chain so anyone can see this is an original piece of Studio Ghibli work. The work itself, on-chain, will probably be worth a lot more in value after this moment. Blockchain keeps our internet honest.

• Important for the above future we just discussed are the video models and man they keep improving fast. Here is the release of Runway’s latest model, yup once again, CRAZY! I added the Youtube video so you can check it in 1080p. The quality is amazing.

• Staying in the realm of our at-home entertainment, movies and AI superstar topics. Did you guys see the awesome robot Nvidia showed off? A true BD1 from Star Wars! Complete with personality. Who wants one too? 🤣 

• I love watching and listening to Naval, so whenever there is a new podcast that has the privilege of hosting him, I am all ears and so should you! What does it mean to win at the game of life? Is it tons of wealth, pure happiness, infinite time, or a loving family? Big topics discussed by Naval and Chris Williamson. Enjoy!

• Last but not least, Meta also keeps delivering! They just launched MoCha which turns text or voice into realistic characters. Now I think Angry Tom’s text is a bit clickbaity as it is not perfect, it is still growth and impressive.

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^{Who am I and why you should be here:}

^{Over the years, I’ve navigated industries like advertising, music, sports, and gaming, always chasing what’s next and figuring out how to make it work for brands, businesses, and myself. From strategizing for global companies to experimenting with the latest tech, I’ve been on a constant journey of learning and sharing.}

^{This newsletter is where I’ll bring all of that together—my raw thoughts, ideas, and emotions about AI, blockchain, gaming, Gen Z & Alpha, and life in general. No perfection, just me being as real as it gets.}

^{Every week (or whenever inspiration hits), I’ll share what’s on my mind: whether it’s deep dives into tech, rants about the state of the world, or random experiments that I got myself into. The goal? To keep it valuable, human, and worth your time.}