'PK' power to the people

THE days when cinema audiences simply turn up, sit back and enjoy their popcorn could be a thing of the past. The success of movies such as PK.com.cn, a Chinese interactive film released last week, could herald the start of a new genre of films where the audience is in control.

Over 3.6 million Chinese netizens took part in the movie experiment on Sina.com by selecting their favorite youth novel to be turned into a film last year. The audience also selected the script, director and actors for PK.com.cn, a story about a friend coming to terms with the death of a friend.

The movie is a basic form of an interactive film where the audience controls the movie before it begins production. But more advanced interactive films, such as Late Fragment, released in North America last year, give the audience the ability to control the progression of the movie using buttons when in the cinema.

Mixed views

Entertainment analysts have mixed opinions about interactive movies' prospects. "Interactive film will be the trend in the future," says Seamus Morley, a managing director of a Hollywood special effects company.

But Lelsie Felperin, deputy editor of the British Film Institute magazine, Sight and Sound, believes interactive movies will only ever gain a niche audience. "People go to the cinema to escape, to see a story being told. To create the story as it goes along is making a shift from that."

Interactive films are just another example of the growing power of netizens over the film industry.

Back in 1999, bloggers turned The Blair Witch Project, a film about three students lost in the woods, into a worldwide success. Internet hype helped the film which was made for $20,000 gross to earn $200 million at the box-office.

But there are major drawbacks to giving the audience too much power over films. PK.com.cn, for example, suffers from a lack of cohesion in its plot. Any attempt to rectify this during production would have been impossible because the audience already decided on the script.

Plot summary

THE movie begins with the adventures of friends Zhang Wenli (Jaycee Chan) and Ji Yinchina (Wilson Chen). They are best friends during medical school but lose touch after graduation. When Zhang finds out his best friend is dead, the film follows him as he tries to come to terms with this reality, when all is not as it seems.

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come to term with 妥协

drawback 缺点

niche 小众

rectify 矫正, 调整
关键字:实用英语
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