AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

MEDIAWEEK

Users of the popular young adult-centric virtual world There.com will soon be able to quote from there favorite movies–using actual clips from those movies.

There.com, which is owned by Makena Technologies, has embarked on an innovative partnership with Paramount Digital Entertainment to license short clips from thousands of movies and TV shows. Via the social networking application VooZoo (which is already popular on Facebook), those who’ve created There.com avatars will be able to display quick snippets of movies like Clueless and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off as part of their conversations with other members of the world – much like those popular smiley-face emoticons common to instant messaging.

Initially, those clips will be available for There.com users to purchase for $1.00 a piece, said officials. By second quarter, Paramount said it plans to extend this program to MTV’s various virtual worlds. And down the road, its possible that the studio might offers trailers and clips from new releases free to avatar users for short periods of time.…more