MOVIES ON MOBILES: IS QUIBI THE FUTURE?

Moviemakers have a whole new, and very different, hi-tech outlet for their work in Quibi.

A recently launched streaming platform designed entirely for phones, all films and shows are delivered in chapters of seven to ten minutes.

These chunks of content are called “quick bites,” or Quibi for short.

Launched by Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg and tech executive Meg Whitman, the app quickly attracted more than $1 billion from investors.

It has also attracted big-name filmmakers with Steven Spielberg, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Soderbergh among those signing deals to create content for the platform.

The first bite-sized movies on Quibi include Most Dangerous Game starring Christopher Waltz and Liam Hemsworth and a Queen Latifah film called When The Streetlights Go On.

Quibi’s signature and revolutionary technology is called Turnstyle and allows viewers to switch between portrait and landscape video instantly just by rotating their phone.

Jeffrey Katzenberg said he does not consider the subscription service a competitor to other paid for platforms like Netflix or Disney Plus but more of a rival to free tech platforms like Instagram and You Tube which he claims cannot compete with Quibi’s creativity and star power.

“They don’t know how to do what we do, with all respect,” said Katzenberg. “We offer something that is meaningfully, measurably, quantifiably, creatively different.”

Will the plan to make Hollywood go tech pay off with big profits. As with all entertainment, the audience will decide.