The entertainment industry has gone through a few momentous years recently in which many aspects have changed in front of our eyes. We can expect to see more changes in 2024 but what are some of the key issues to keep an eye out for this year?
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Streaming to Carry on Providing Options
Streaming has been one of the biggest factors in changing how we consume movies, TV shows, and more. However, global growth is expected to slow down this year, meaning that the main streaming services like Amazon Prime and Netflix may enter a period of consolidation after their recent growth. Some smaller services may go out of business or get absorbed by bigger rivals.
Live streaming has also changed the casino industry. This approach has added extra atmosphere and immediacy to roulette, so it wouldn’t be a major surprise to see live streaming filter into other types of entertainment soon. Some casino providers have a variety of live roulette games where a human presenter is beamed onto players’ screens as they spin the wheel and call out the result, like https://casino.betfair.com/c/roulette.
AI to Continue to Dominate the Headlines
One of the burning questions in entertainment right now is how much it will be affected by new technology. Artificial intelligence (AI) has already made waves in the movie business, with conflicting views from industry insiders about whether this is a good thing or not.
The future of this technology is going to continue to be heavily debated in the coming months, as questions over how to regulate AI and handle copyright issues need to be resolved. Amid this debate, the first full-length film to be generated by AI is expected in 2024, as Maharaja in Denims is being worked on currently, according to https://techwireasia.com/.
Will the Metaverse Make a Comeback?
The metaverse was hailed as the next big breakthrough in entertainment a couple of years ago when it was championed by Mark Zuckerberg among others, but things went quiet in 2023. Will the metaverse emerge once again in 2024, as a fully-fledged and mainstream entertainment option this time? Perhaps one of the big issues here is that a few major companies had high-profile attempts to enter the metaverse that didn’t go as well as expected.
Meta’s Horizon Worlds and Decentraland failed to attract the number of users expected to join them, while 2023’s Metaverse Fashion Week flopped due to a lack of visitors. Some major companies are reported to have drastically cut back on their metaverse spending, while Mike Bechtel at Deloitte Consulting suggested that this subject will become more balanced and be known now as spatial computing.
Apple Vision Pro Could Change the Way We Watch Movies
Spatial computing is at the heart of this next point, as Apple could produce the first device to take it into the mainstream in 2024. Virtual reality and 3D technology have been around for years now but we’re still waiting for them to break into the mainstream and change how we watch movies and TV shows. The Apple Vision Pro may be the next major breakthrough, as the company is lining up more than 150 movies for its launch date according to the report at https://www.dexerto.com/.
There’s been a lot of hype about the device known as Apple’s first spatial computer, with an expected launch date in early February. As a way of blending virtual and physical worlds, it could turn out to be the key to entering the metaverse we’ve been waiting on, but early reviews from demo sessions have provided mixed feedback so it’s not yet certain that it’ll be a hit. The hefty price tag of $3,500 (about £2,700) could also put off some potential purchasers who prefer to wait for prices to drop or to see if it takes off as expected.
The Box Office Recovery to Continue
While the previous points confirm our increasing options for getting digital entertainment, 2023 saw box office figures at movie theatres recover to a degree. Some high-profile new releases during the year certainly helped fuel this upward trend, with a 20% year-on-year growth rate mentioned in a report by Hollywood Reporter. This recent boost to the industry comes following a period of poor results over the last three years or so, meaning that there’s still ground to make up before it gets back to the pre-2020 levels.
Deadpool 4, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire are among the most anticipated movies of 2025, which shows a potential over-reliance on long-running franchises. New characters and stories are needed to captivate viewers and make the most of the technology that filmmakers have available to them.
In-Car Entertainment Faces a Big Year
The quality of in-car video and audio entertainment has been increasingly important to drivers and their passengers for several years. We now look for a seamless experience where our smartphones can be hooked up to the vehicle to give us exactly what we want in a way we’re used to. 2024 has started with news that the 3Ready Automotive platform by 3 Screen Solutions will now integrate Dolby Atmos immersive sound. Mercedes and will.i.am have also teamed up to create Sound Drive, which remixes and creates songs according to your driving style.
Driver safety is one of the key issues that need to be taken into account, as in-car entertainment needs to be completely safe to use. This is why autonomous vehicles and AI could prove vital in taking us to the next stage in this technology. Recent reports suggest that self-driving cars could take a huge step forward in 2024, and if this happens we can expect to see in-vehicle entertainment move forward with them.
Whatever else happens in 2024, the areas we’ve looked at here are sure to provide many talking points as they continue to transform the entertainment industry in new ways.