''Something big is coming'' teases MultiChoice in a brand-new and enticingly apt, mysterious promo that's clearly intended to get the tongues wagging about the pay TV platform's soon to launch DStv BoxOffice video-on-demand (VOD) service. DStv BoxOffice will be made available commercially from the end of July when subscribers press the green button on their DStv remote control that's not currently assigned to a HD PVR interface service.
In a brand-new TV spot of 20 seconds that starts with a panoramic view of the cityscape of Johannesburg, a shadow of darkness suddenly falls over Johannesburg. Making use of the classic visual science fiction trope seen in Independence Day, V and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy the ominous shadow spreads wider across the city as eery-tantalizing music plays.
As the shadow advance, silver words appear: ''Something big... ... is coming.''
Which culminates in a three dimensionally rendered, semi-transluscent green ''play'' button similar to the blue one of DStv on Demand that MultiChoice introduced last year for its DStv Catch Up service.
In a second enigmatic MultiChoice TV spot (also playing with a science fiction movie trope - this time 2001 A Space Odyssey's raising-the-monolith, ape-picks-up-a-stick-and-use-it-as-a-tool moment and using Richard Strauss' iconic Sprach Zarathustra music) viewers see a slowly rising, brilliant-lit DStv remote control.
Thank you reader for sending me this second promo - and this promo's screengrabs below I've made from your iPhone clip that you've sent me!
As the remote control reaches ascendancy over the event horizon of a planet (is anyone else thinking Falling Skies opener?) the words ''Hollywood comes home'' appear, after which follows the same green DStv BoxOffice button, this time against a luminous star field.
The busybody press that keeps prying will get their first look at DStv BoxOffice when MultiChoice unveils it this coming Thursday afternoon. Details of the video-on-demand service and how exactly it will work is wrapped in secrecy.
UPDATE Saturday 16 July 2011 14:00 - A reader has sent in this image taken of the DStv BoxOffice on screen interface which was taken on 30 May on the TV screen of a commercial subscriber. According to this beta version which was probably a MultiChoice oopsie (and may or might not reflect the look and terms when the service is introduced at the end of the month) movies were available to watch for a period of 48 hours after purchase and this specific movie cost R29. Free trailers can also be watched.
