Neill Blomkamp, director of District 9, Elysium, Chappie, and that really weird shoe commercial said today that he'll be releasing experimental short films on Steam under the banner of Oats Studios. They're not exclusive to Valve's platform though. In a tweet shortly after sharing the teaser trailer, he clarified that the films will also be coming to YouTube, and probably for free. Some Steam releases will have a price, but only because Blomkamp wants "to see if the ecosystem works for film."
The idea has been kicking around for a few months, it seems. Back in April, Blomkamp asked his followers:
If I sold experimental short films on @steam_games as tests for potential full feature films, would people watch them?April 9, 2017
We'll have to see, but I can get behind dropping a few bucks to watch a shoe enter metamorphosis, especially if it means we might get a two-hour version of it somewhere down the line.
The Steam releases might come with a few extras too. According to another tweet from Blomkamp, they could be bundled with anything from concept art to 3D assets and Maya scene files.
He's released a few clips on the Oats Studios YouTube page already, some dating back to late last year, including this clip of a near-future presidential motorcade that made me laugh so hard I burped. What a harrowing vision of the future.
There's no indication exactly when Blomkamp's first film will be available, but we'll be sure to let you know. In the meantime, check out this badass salamander dad.
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