It is inevitable to associate cinema and metaverse. Two fields in which the image is the raw material. In one case, the cinema has spoken at length about virtual worlds such as those predicted by the metaverse. And on the other, in the metaverse it is possible to enjoy the novelties that the seventh art offers us and the latest productions.
Combining the social and the interactive, cinema and the metaverse go hand in hand because they have a lot in common. They entertain, they show the world through a window and allow us to dream and imagine. Alone or accompanied by other people. Without leaving home or in public places. In addition, both disciplines influence each other to achieve similar goals and rely on technology to go further.
But not only that. While the metaverse wants to be a virtual space in which we spend as much time as possible and interact with other people or digital elements, cinema explains, in its own way, the reality we live in or how its creators imagine it.
The metaverse in the cinema
Films such as the recent Free Guy (2021) or Ready Player One (2018) and other more long-lived ones such as The Matrix (1999), Johnny Mnemonic (1995) or Tron (1982), each explain in their own way futures in which Virtual worlds or realities stand as complementary alternatives, not supplementary, to daily life in the physical world we inhabit.
Cinema and metaverse, reality and fiction are combined thanks to science fiction and allow us to imagine what the future will be like in which we will be able to move through virtual worlds thanks to technologies such as virtual reality and others that are yet to come, such as brain-computer interfaces that we see in films like the ones mentioned above and in other more dystopian ones like eXistenZ (1999) or Total Recall (1990).
But the stories they tell aside, the technologies they showcase may well be getting our hands on in the near future. From imagination to reality thanks to science and technology to make our lives easier. And to change the way we interact with the physical and the virtual. In the cinema and in the metaverse.
Cinema in the metaverse
And while the cinema has sounded like the metaverse will be, the metaverse offers itself as a space and/or a tool to create and disseminate the seventh art. Cinema and metaverse united by the same goal. Movies can be shot in the metaverse . Something similar to what is already happening today with open-world video games with powerful graphics engines and in which it is possible to recreate scenes and make a subsequent montage in the form of a short or feature film.
The metaverse can be a filming set but also a place to broadcast movies. If virtual worlds are intended to recreate reality and all its possibilities, watching a movie in a virtual theater without leaving home may be something natural in the future, with built-in virtual reality glasses. An evolution of the current streaming platforms in which a catalog of titles is combined with a virtual stage in which we can interact with other moviegoers.
Projects of this type already exist. An example is Airtel Xstream. It went live in India on the Partynite Metaverse platform. It recreates a real cinema where it is possible to watch movies from different producers such as Lionsgate, Sony and others. With the advantages and immersion offered by virtual reality glasses instead of viewing the content on a traditional television. Up to 20 screens on which to display content from different OTTs.
Another example that unites cinema and metaverse is in Korea. The CGV cinema chain opened its own multiplex in the metaverse earlier this year. Under the name of Zepeto CGV World, virtual visitors can access movie theaters, also virtual, and watch movies in an immersive way if they have virtual reality glasses. It is also possible to take photos in a special area and interact with other users in the spaces provided for this purpose.
And if we go further, the metaverse, in the long run, can change the way of creating audiovisual content. We only have to take a look at platforms like YouTube to enjoy 360-degree videos that allow us to see everything that the cameras have captured. Something that was previously impossible to do. The viewer inside the scene watching the story from the position you prefer. More immersive cinema to live it in the first person or next to the protagonist.