Director JJ Abrams has always gone above and beyond with viral marketing. We all remember the plane he sabotaged to crash safely in the Bahamas for the last season of Lost, or the actual extraterrestrial contact he arranged for his reboot of Star Trek. Now, Abrams and his company Bad Robot have surpassed even these efforts with Action Movie FX, their first iOS app. The free app comes with two almost frighteningly realistic special effects, “Missile Attack” and “Car Smash” — which do about what you’d expect. Two other packs of effects are available for $0.99 each: Chopper Down / Tornado and Air Strike / Fire Fight.
Call in airstrikes on your iPhone with JJ Abrams’ Action Movie FX
Action Movie FX, an app released by JJ Abrams’ company Bad Robot, inserts special effects into videos taken on an iOS device. It’s free for now, but additional effects can be purchased in-app.
Action Movie FX, an app released by JJ Abrams’ company Bad Robot, inserts special effects into videos taken on an iOS device. It’s free for now, but additional effects can be purchased in-app.
is a senior tech and policy editor focused on online platforms and free expression. Adi has covered virtual and augmented reality, the history of computing, and more for The Verge since 2011.
Yes, the app is obviously a promotional for Abrams’ latest Mission: Impossible installment, with liberal Ghost Protocol loading screens. It’s a fairly simple point-and-shoot affair, but that’s not going to stop us from going pro. We might not have captured all the excitement of Cloverfield with the demo below, but you must admit the resemblance is uncanny.
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