Meta seeks to improve cinema experience by encouraging smartphone use

15 April 2025

After unleashing their content polluting algorithms onto our social media feeds, allowing the display of stuff (sorry, content is not the right word in this context) from people we don’t follow, far less even heard of, Facebook owner Meta wants to interfere with the film watching experience.

Technology called Movie Mate, will allow people to “second screen” during a film, that is, watch a feature on the big screen, while accessing related “exclusive content” on their smartphones. As if second screening, whereby people don’t put their phones down at the cinema, isn’t already a big enough problem, and Meta wants to encourage the practise.

But let’s talk about second screening for a minute. I don’t have a problem with what’s sometimes referred to as content grazing, while watching a movie. In fact, I find it quite relaxing. I might stream a movie I’m familiar with, and lookup other things on my phone. Since I know what’s going to happen in the story, I can multitask a bit, without worrying about missing anything important.

But this is at home, not in a movie theatre, being the only place Movie Mate will be available. And sure, access to story related trivia, director’s commentaries, and deleted scenes is fun, but hardly while watching the film at the same time. Won’t that be distracting, especially for first-time viewers? Isn’t there the risk they’ll miss something important?

It makes me wonder what the intent of second screen technology really is.

From Meta’s point of view though, it’s pretty simple. They like to take something sensible and straightforward, say a social media feed featuring only content people want to see, and muddy it up. From a film producer’s perspective though? That’s a little trickier to fathom. I don’t see how presenting extra-features content, simultaneously, during the film is screening, is meant to be useful.

For repeat viewings, and at home, of course. But not in a theatre full of people who want see a film, not a sea of phone screens. The second screen technology will be trailed in American cinemas during limited run re-screenings of 2022 horror title M3GAN, in a few weeks. Ok, a lot of people have already seen M3GAN, so just maybe checking out extra features in this fashion won’t be a problem.

But making only-for-use-in-cinema second screen tech available for first-time releases, premieres even? Now there’s a horror story in the making.

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film, film production, technology