Has Hollywood Spoiled the Metaverse to Mankind?

During New Year’s Eve, the most iconic place for someone to be part of would be in the Times Square building, New York City. Every year, the event hosts 58.000 people.

Yet, this year’s event, welcoming 2022 was much different due to the Covid-19 restrictions. It was announced that only 15.000 people, fully vaccinated, would attend the event.

What about the rest of the 43.000 that would normally attend?

Jamestown, the owner of Times Square decided to solve the low attendance problem by inviting people to join the celebration in the metaverse.

To spice things up and attract the audience, the iconic 26-story tower at the heart of New York’s New Year’s Eve ball drop was recreated.

(The tower in New York as depicted in the “MetaFest 2022”)

The event, dubbed “MetaFest 2022”, included non-fungible token (NFT) art, rooftop VIP lounges, and virtual music performances to name a few.

Is this a new era?

Something so groundbreaking certainly points to that.

Time will tell, but for now, one thing is for sure. Hollywood had given us a taste of the future, through various film projects, some of which were iconic for pop culture.

The first film that comes up to mind is the Matrix franchise, whose first and most successful installment instantly captivated the audience’s imagination. The story follows Neo, “The One”, who battles against tyrannical machines inside the Matrix, a virtual reality, where humans are connected from cradle to grave.

Throughout the years, various Hollywood films were projected to cinemas that included the concept of Artificial Intelligence and the metaverse, such as “Minority Report” and “Tron”.

Hollywood’s potential claim on its influence on the concept of the metaverse, comes with the highest-grossing film of all time, Avatar. The movie, directed by James Cameron, explores the world of Pandora, where people are placed into a simulation reality by being transformed into the bodies and minds of the Na’vi creatures. Throughout the film, viewers got to experience the concept of Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality, and envision an extreme alternate life for mankind.

(The hero of the movie Jake Sully stares at his Avatar)

What then seemed to be art based on fictional scenarios, is now a reality!

The metaverse concept of Facebook as announced will introduce eventually an alternative version of ourselves, an avatar.

Does it ring a bell?

My props to you James Cameron!