The Next Hollywood Trailer May Talk Back: Tech CEO Predicts Interactive Technology Could Change How Audiences Experience Movies

Interactive trailers that viewers can engage with in real time are expected to spread across Hollywood, with celebrity interactions also planned. The CEO of San Francisco-based interactive content company Flam, Shourya Agarwal, said in an interview with Benzinga that he expects almost every Hollywood production house to adopt the format for trailers. "You will see almost every Hollywood production house out there adopting this as a new format to release trailers," Agarwal said. He did not name studios or provide figures. What Are Interactive Trailers? A traditional trailer is a video that viewers watch from start to finish. Interactive content lets viewers tap or talk to the material and get a response in real time, Agarwal said. During the interview, the Indian technology entrepreneur, who has a computer science background, said entertainment is one of the biggest uses for the technology. Flam’s first movie trailer in the format was "Now You See Me," the third installment of the heist franchise, he said. Celebrity Interactions and Film Marketing Beyond trailers, Agarwal pointed to celebrity interactions. He said interactive characters can look and sound like a real person and answer questions. Celebrity interactions would use that kind of technology. That plan ties in with Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan joining Flam’s recently raised $40 million Series B round as an investor. Agarwal told Benzinga the two sides will work together on projects "from King to many other upcoming movies," where the format could be used for trailers or celebrity interactions. "King" is an upcoming Hindi action-thriller film scheduled for theatrical release on Dec. 24. Talking about other big Hollywood names joining Flam, Agarwal said more are coming. "You will see a lot more of them," he said. Agarwal also named other Hollywood-side backers of Flam. One is Tim Sarnoff, a movie producer known for Spider-Man and Starship Troopers. Another is a former chief operating officer of Technicolor, one of the largest post-production houses for Hollywood in the United States. Olivier Pomel, CEO of Datadog Inc. (NASDAQ:DDOG) and Martin Chavez, who sits on the board of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and runs the investment firm Sixth Street, also joined Flam as individual investors. Interactive Format Expected to Reach Movies, Ads and Websites Movie trailers have been released as videos for the past 15 to 20 years, Agarwal said. According to Agarwal, viewers need no special expertise to use the interactive format, because anyone who can watch a video on a phone can use it. He said he expects movies, advertisements and websites to become interactive as well. Read Also: Mark Zuckerberg Says Video Not 'End Of The Line' As Meta Eyes Future Where Users Can Jump Inside The Content: 'The Investments That We've Done…' Photo Courtesy: Shourya Agarwal