It’s been ages since Steven Spielberg dabbled in horror — unless you found The Post’s depiction of a president trying to silence the press scary — so here’s some good news: The creator of Jaws is working on a revolutionary horror series. The twist: You can only watch it at night.
Some explanation: Variety reports that the legendary filmmaker is at work on a “super scary story,” as he put it, for Quibi, the forthcoming mobile-focused streaming service being co-launched by his frequent business partner Jeffrey Katzenberg. Like Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House, it will be one story divided into chapters, of which Spielberg, Katzenberg says, has already written five or six.
One thing that’s exciting is this: Spielberg hasn’t actually written a screenplay — or at least received a screenplay credit — since the original Poltergeist, back in 1982. He mostly tasks others to write the script, such as Tony Kushner, his writer on Munich, Lincoln, and their upcoming West Side Story remake. Indeed, the only time he’s been a writer-director, handling both by himself, is 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
The other exciting thing is this: Spielberg has requested that they put in place technology that only allows viewers to watch it at night. Phones already know where you are at any given moment, so it follows that phones could also know if it’s light or dark out. Only when it’s the latter will the show work. As per Variety:
A clock will appear on phones, ticking down until sun sets in wherever that user is, until the sun sets. Then the clock starts ticking again to when the sun comes back up — and the show will disappear until the next night.
Quibi, which is set to launch in April of next year, is being touted as yet another streaming giant angling for your time and money. Part of their lure will be shows that are, Variety reports, of the House of Cards/Handmaid’s Tale variety, as well as shorter “content.” They’re aiming to drop 125 pieces of content a week, or 7,000 in the first year. Already tasked to produce work for them are Guillermo del Toro, Steven Soderbergh, Sam Raimi, Anna Kendrick, and Laurence Fishburne, and that’s on top of the guy who made 1941.
(Via Variety)
