Late Shift is the first feature-length interactive movie in the world to receive a wide theatrical release. The film attracted big audiences when it was screened this summer in nine cities in Taiwan. In the first weekend after its release there, 99 per cent of seats in cinemas showing the film were filled. The company behind the movie, Kino, set up in 2017 when crime thriller Late Shift was first screened at the Cannes Film Festival in France, is headquartered in Los Angeles and Beijing. Ronan Wong Kwok-yin, chief operating officer of Kino Asia, says that, following its Taiwan debut, the movie can be expected to have a theatrical release in mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia. “This movie has [so far] made a lot of money,” Wong tells the Post in a recent interview in Beijing. “Just the proceeds we earn from online viewings make the movie profitable. Over 50 per cent of the online viewing profits come from the mainland.” Late Shift has been available on PlayStation, Xbox, Apple TV and other platforms since 2017. It costs 30 yuan on pay-per-view in China, and US$4.99 in Taiwan. The story of Matt, a student forced into the robbery of an auction house, the movie has four hours of footage, encompassing seven alternative endings and 180 binary scenarios, in which the audience, using a phone application, has to make an instant choice between two options. When audiences attend a screening, they do not see all those scenarios because their choices lead to only one ending; the film runs for about 90 minutes and typically involves making choices about what Matt does next in 60-plus binary scenarios. During seven screenings at the Beijing International Film Festival in August, the audiences’ choices meant there could be four possible endings. While each of the screenings finished with one ending generated by the collective choices, viewers were shown two other endings on the big screen as well. Wong says many people who saw the film in Beijing went home to see the other four endings online. Netflix releases an interactive Black Mirror episode “The choices people made throughout the film give us many useful analytics for future improvements in plot development. If we see an overwhelming number of people make the same choice in a scenario, that means the scenario [does not have any controversial elements] worthy of asking people to make a binary decision [on]. We will skip the choice-making in future [similar scenarios in other movies].” Kino has six interactive movies in development. One is Choose Your Own Adventure , on which Kino worked with 20th Century Studios to remake the popular American children’s book series of the same name. Another project is a horror film, a collaboration involving Kino, Steven Spielberg’s production house Amblin Partners and French director Alexandre Aja, who is best known for his work in the horror genre. Late Shift ’s director, Tobias Weber, will meanwhile make an interactive sci-fi movie called Riot . There will be two movies for the Asian market as well. One is an adaptation of Golden Eyes , a popular Chinese TV series adapted from a novel of the same name about the adventures of a pawnshop broker and his skills in treasure authentication. Another one is a Thai horror film named Ghost Radio , based on true events. “We got the inspiration for the Thai film following a 2017 incident in which a radio station received a series of strange phone calls one night from a woman who spoke incoherently. The next day, the woman was found to have died in a car crash [the night before].” Besides the adventure, sci-fi and horror genres, Wong is eager to make an interactive love story. It will be interesting, as people can make wrong choices in romance which lead to different fates, he says. “Many genres lend themselves well to the interactive format. But time travel stories are not suitable, as interactive movies have to have chronological timelines.” Wong, who comes from Hong Kong and worked in the movie industry for 20 years as an investor and producer before leading Kino Asia, has great confidence in interactive movies, even though previous new movie technologies such as 5D cinema (and theatres with special effects such as belting out smoke and water to enhance the sensory experience) failed to gain wide currency. “Revolution in entertainment happens after new technology comes out, like the appearance of IMAX and 3D, which led to a great boom in movies,” he says. “I have physically transported film before the advent of digital film. Once it turned digital, the whole film market became very lively. The advent of sound in films a century ago led to an even bigger revolution. “So revolution in cinema always comes because of technology, instead of content. People won’t see blockbuster Titanic (1997) as leading to a revolution. But when Avatar came out [in 2009], it led to a revolution as it heralded the whole 3D and IMAX market.” Wong adds that the tech for interactive movies matured in 2016. “The concept has been around for a long time. But it was not until 2016 that technological problems were solved. In the past, after the audience made a choice [in a binary scenario], they would see the broadcast get [a split-second] interruption, rendering the viewing experience not smooth. [Now,] an interactive movie flows as seamlessly as a traditional one.” The cost of making an interactive movie is 15 per cent more than for a traditional film, Wong reveals. “You have to do more takes for a scene. The length of the footage has to be at least double that of a traditional movie. “[When watching Late Shift ], some viewers think the need to frequently turn to their phones to make choices would disrupt the viewing experience. The more than 60 binary scenarios in Late Shift might be too many.” After getting customers’ feedback, Wong now believes around 40 such scenarios are enough for a 90-minute movie. Besides films, Kino makes other interactive content, including TV series, games and advertising. “In April, the Singaporean government launched an anti-drug-abuse ad which features a man facing temptations to take drugs after arriving at a house party. There are many applications for the interactive format,” Wong says. Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook