The Little Mermaid Re-Release Promotes Playing on iPads in the Theater

I read about this and my mind was blown. Can Disney really be that stupid? Is this what the future of film is? Let me tell you the story.

Disney is re-releasing The Little Mermaid. It doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, right? Well, they’re also having this feature in the theater called Second Screen Live, where Disney wants audience members to bring in their iPads or iPhones and play games and puzzles based on the movie throughout the ENTIRE MOVIE!

Disney, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! Do you even care about the film and animation fans?! This is a stupid idea! To me, there is nothing more annoying than a cell phone shining its bright light in my eyes while I’m trying to watch and enjoy a film. In this case, Disney WANTS people to play on their phones and tablets and disturb people who came to actually watch a movie. I can’t even scream at the people and tell them to put their phones away like I usually would because Disney is making that the whole point. If this is Disney just trying to experiment, I don’t see how it is experimental. The only experimenting they’re probably doing with this feature is experimenting on how much they can piss off moviegoers.

For those of you who don’t know, Second Screen is actually a feature on many Disney Blu-Rays. When you’re in our home and want to use the Second Screen feature, there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s actually a pretty interesting feature. But moving it to the theater, a public place, is a horrible idea.

This also makes me question Disney’s respect for their previous films. If they really had respect for their older films, they would want to make sure that everyone is focusing on the movie. This just shows a lack of respect. The Little Mermaid is a timeless classic and seeing it (or any movie for that matter) in a theater should not involve playing around on phones or tablets.

However, this is only being re-released in a few theaters, so that makes me a bit less angry. But what really bothers me is the fact that Disney is doing this and the possibility of it being supported for future Disney films.