ZuckOff With Those Glasses

PRESENTED BY IXL

Happy Thursday, Future Party. It’s the end of an era in TV — Judge Judy (aka Judith B. Sheindlin) is retiring after 30 years. As far as anyone’s concerned, this whole world is now out of order.

Studios are increasingly hosting exclusive “challenge” screenings to raise awareness for small- and midsize movies.

The Hardcore Picture: In today’s culture, eventizing things is becoming the only way to get attention. While blockbusters can rely on scale, star power, and PLF screenings, smaller movies don’t typically have that kind of built-in awareness to break through the noise. Challenge screenings offer a fun marketing stunt that may get a movie on more people’s radar.

Behind The Challenges: Studios now really want you to experience their movies, according to Bloomberg.

Final Minute: Challenge screenings seem like an obvious evolution of 4DX screenings of big blockbusters — something that A24 even experimented with in 2024’s Heretic and Lionsgate did with this year’s The Housemaid. But the challenges provide a way to make people feel what the characters are feeling on screen (at least to a small degree) and create a social moment that can go viral.

Those are tenets that Briana McElroy, Lionsgate’s EVP for digital marketing, highlighted to Bloomberg, while underscoring that the real challenge is “creating an experience people genuinely want to talk about.”

These screenings tap into the reason people are obsessed with MrBeast videos — there’s something irresistible about an endurance test, especially when a prize is waiting at the end.

Coming Soon: It’s possible that some multiplexes may reserve a room that can be outfitted for various types of challenge screenings. Could this become a new, scalable PLF option?

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A new app called ZuckOff can alert users when someone nearby is wearing smart glasses.

Why It Hits: Smart glasses are quickly gaining a controversial reputation as people use them for all the wrong reasons — stalking women, wearing them during first dates, and pirating movies. It’s no wonder many people feel like they’re an invasion of privacy and are looking for ways to avoid them.

Behind The Lens: Wired reports that ZuckOff is the brainchild of 30-year-old Polish developer Pawel Szydlowski and already has thousands of downloads.

While the app’s flagship functionality is free, the Pro version (available for a one-time fee of $25) has features like “history logging, the ability to export the data as a CSV file, a homescreen widget, and continuous background monitoring that can scan for glasses and send alerts even with the screen off.”

Last Look: Smart glasses antagonism has reached a fever pitch because it’s so easy for people to physically disable the recording light. This has been especially problematic with Meta glasses, the market leaders in the category. Meta announced that it’s bricking people’s devices that tamper with the light… but the damage may already be done in the culture.

No one likes to feel spied on.

The Future: It wouldn’t be surprising if some events — like movie screenings, concerts, or other exclusive gatherings — start using ZuckOff to catch people illegally recording.

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34.2% of you voted Sometimes in yesterday’s poll: How often do you use Wikipedia?

“I try to donate $5 when they ask because they provide such an important service!”

“Often. It is an underrated tool that people take for granted. It isn’t perfect, but it is the closest we have to a central source of easily obtainable knowledge for anyone with internet access.”

“I use Wikipedia as a launching point when curiosity strikes. I understand that anyone with an agenda and very little computer skills may update just about anything to reflect just about anything. So, I use Wikipedia to get an idea of what something is about and then look for primary sources if I am still interested. However, I do not take ‘just any’ answer easily.”

“I try not to get sucked into that rabbit hole, but it normally happens when watching a movie and wanting to know how old an actor is. Then one thing leads to another, and you’ve researched their entire life…”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join Poll Of The Day, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

🍿 Spider-Man: Brand New Day is officially the highest-grossing movie ever at the domestic box office, after passing $936.7 million.

🎥 James Cameron’s Lightstorm Vision has acquired AI and 3D-tech startup Outsyders to become the entertainment industry’s premier shop for 3D content.

📺 Production company MACRO is getting into distribution with the acquisition of streaming service ALLBLK.

💰 OpenAI is raising a new funding round at a $1.2 trillion valuation.

🔋 Nvidia and Google are partnering with Emerald AI to create data centers that can “flex” their power demand.

🤖 Google and DeepMind are launching a new institute to study the effects of AGI on society.

🎬 Creator and filmmaker Wesley Wang has launched Wesley Wang Media to develop IP on social platforms before turning it into movies, TV, or podcasts.

💻 VidCon is leaving Anaheim, California as the company merges with LIONS.

🤳 Twitch is rolling out an AI “Stream Coach” to help users get better at livestreaming.