As a kid, the Choose Your Own Adventure book series was always good. It was because after finishing a book with one ending, kids could go back and change some of the choices they made while reading the book, and the outcomes would be different. In 2018, Netflix modernized this by letting people choose certain plot points on an episode of Black Mirror called Bandersnatch. This experiment was a major success securing two Prime Time Emmys, and leading to a sequel that will be out this April.

Now, this same interactivity has landed on the big screens in Japan for Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle, an anime cartoon where people use their phones to vote. Before the movie, theatergoers download an app to their phones and scan a QR code to identify which screening they are attending. Hypnosis Mic is a story about six teams of battle rappers, which features songs from superstars like Creepy Nuts. At certain times in the movie, the audience is given a choice of outcomes. The votes are counted and the movie moves in that direction. Hypnosis Mic has 48 different versions and more than 30 percent of viewers go back to see it again.

Movie theaters have been in the dumps recently, so this creative and interactive trend has caught the attention of many industry bigwigs. Hypnosis Mic made US$5 million at the box office on its opening weekend, showing that people will come back to the theater if there is something besides a Marvel movie showing.

Check out the trailer for Hypnosis Mic:Division Rap Battle below.