Rovio Encourages Phone Use In Angry Birds Movie

Love it or hate it at this point, Angry Birds is still “a thing.” Back in the ‘ol days of the iOS platform, the birds with attitude flung their way onto our mobile devices with a vengeance (literally! I mean, they’re angry birds!). Multiple iterations and almost six years after it’s original release date, here comes The Angry Birds Movie.

Now, the company behind the games, Rovio, is encouraging moviegoers to log into their phone before and after the movie to unlock some new content in the Angry Birds Action game (trailer below). Described as “Movie Magic,” they are asking viewers to log into their games and wait for a prompt on the screen during the end-credits. After doing so, they’ll be able to unlock a new area in the game, previously unavailable to them.

By going to see the The Angry Birds Movie in the cinema during the opening weekend and sticking around for the credits, audience members with the game open on their device get treated to more Movie Magic — a whole new area of the game to explore and an additional exclusive movie clip that can’t be seen anywhere else but inside Angry Birds Action!

It seems to be a smart, clever way to get a few more butts in the theater seats. The move by the studios is just one of many in their massive $400 million advertising campaign:

Sony and Rovio hope $400-million promotional blitz will help “Angry Birds” soar https://t.co/Vyw5aYx29Y pic.twitter.com/xjryCMOSiw

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) May 17, 2016

While Rovio and Sony aren’t campaigning to have people use their phones during The Angry Birds Movie, it is an interesting type of approach. Reason being, the AMC debacle about a month ago. The theater company’s CEO made some interesting comments hinting that AMC Theaters would not prohibit cell phone use during its showings. After much backlash, CEO Adam Aron corrected his comments and went back on that suggestion.

The Angry Birds Movie will “slingshot” onto the big screen tomorrow (May 20th). Will you be off to the local cineplex to see the movie? How about the game, in need of some more Angry Birds action?