First, the good news about 2032: It’s probably going to happen!
But as radical as the last few years have been, changes to the pop-culture landscape are only beginning.
Not sure what that implies?
Christopher Nolan’s 2010 hit ‘Inception’ as part of the Fortnite world.Fortnite
You’re not alone.
“It’s kind of an overloaded term,” he says.
No matter how you define it, the metaverse will give big-budget Hollywood storytelling a major creative jolt.
Katy Perry dazzled with XR (extended reality) daisies on American Idol in 2020.ABC
How will those stories play out in the metaverse?
The possibilities are endless (and, for now, mostly theoretical).
Many of those more elaborate experiences, of course, are years away if they even happen at all.
The future of entertainment is international, as proven by Netflix’s grimly comedic global phenomenon Squid Game.Netflix
Some of the metaverse’s more far-out storytelling applications are hard to visualize.
And what can people do in that world?'"
says Timoni West, VP of Augmented & Virtual Reality at Unity Software, a real-time 3-D platform.
“Everyone’s kind of internet famous now, but I do feel like in 10 years, everyone is truly going to be,” says musician Holly Herndon.Holly Herndon/Instagram
“But once movie directors get into this, they’re going to be all about it.”
When the pandemic shut down movie theaters, it spurred creators to seek out new venues for their work.
It’s the consolidation of entertainment and gamingbut one’s not going to preclude the other."
If I could control that from the stage, that would be a lot of fun."
The all-encompassing energy of the metaverse does sound like a blast.
But for those who just want to veg out the old-fashioned way, it also sounds kind ofexhausting.
For film fans, “Will movie theaters survive?”
has been an ongoing concern.
“Movie theaters aren’t going anywhere!,” insists director/writerM.
“Taking that oxygen away from us, even just a little bit, made us go crazy.
We need to be with each other.
And experiencing a story together will be even more precious, even more powerful.”
(Nearly all the top 10 films in the U.S. cost at least $100 million.)
“Streaming is the way of the future, but it won’t kill theatrical.
M. Night Shyamalan
“Movie theaters aren’t going anywhere!”
Does that mean you might walk into a theater in 2032 wearing your VR or AR gear?
But some of the changes our experts predict are less radical.
(It was recently adopted by some theaters, whichcharged higher pricesforThe Batman.)
And expect wider use out of older movie palaces, which can be refurbished or reemphasized for high-profile engagements.
Still, those are relatively minor solutions for the looming dilemma of how to fill seats.
“I could imagine theaters embracing long-form even more,” says film/TV director andReservation Dogsco-creator Sterlin Harjo.
“I think theaters will evolve and host social events,” says Netflix global film head Scott Stuber.
Kids will go there to watch [e-game] tournaments.
And there’ll be a place for big-event television.”
As for what must-see TV might look like in 2032?
And in conversations with experts about TV’s next direction, one series came up repeatedly:Squid Game.
Both point to a future in which streamers have access to more content from around the planet.
“It will be more social and interactive.
“It will be the other way round.
And they’ll follow those people through various life stages and cycles.”
What might that mean for showbiz?
Entertainers won’t need to win over the entire world to succeed.
(That’s howMila KunisandAshton Kutcherraised millions for their forthcoming animated seriesStoner Cats.)
With increasing ways for artists to support themselves, future pop culture will be more democratized.
“That’s when they do their best work.”
(Disclosure: Sweety High has a content agreement with EW.)
Nowhere is that sped-up hypermetabolism more apparent than in music.
“We’re playlist-generation kids,” says 24-year-old Grammy winnerFinneas.
“It’s rare you find a kid that’s only listening to one genre of music.
“The three-minute radio song isn’t going anywhere,” says Rubinos.
These platforms are just serving different functions for music in the moment.”
Then again, the superstar of the future could beyou.
It’s a far-out idea.
A decade from now, perhaps body-jumping will be a part of our daily existence.
Or maybe we’ll be too lost in the metaverse to even notice.
That is, at least, until 2042.
(Additional reporting by Maureen Lee Lenker)
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