Netflix’s ‘Bandersnatch’ Has Five Possible Endings And One Trillion Story Combinations

BuzzDecember 31, 2018

‘Black Mirror’ has now dropped its first-ever original movie called Bandersnatch. It is the first interactive adventure project where adult viewers get to choose their adventure. The movie is set in the 90s, and David Slade is the movie’s director. It features Fionn Whitehead playing the role of Stefan. Stefan is a character that encountered different struggles in remaining sane all through the course of the movie as he tries to adapt science fiction book that has multiple choices into a video game that gives player series of choices.

Viewers of Bandersnatch are faced with diverse storytelling options capable of pivoting the narrative to different degrees.

As soon as it debuted on Netflix, Variety extensively analyzed the movie’s project making. As the viewers watch Bandersnatch, they are faced with diverse storytelling options capable of pivoting the narrative to different degrees.

Varying Runtime

According to reports, there are five varying possible endings to the movie and over one trillion different permutations to the story. Also, there are choices with less impact than others. For example, one option is to choose the cereal Stefan takes, and the answer to that doesn’t have an impact on the primary narrative.

The movie has five varying possible endings to the movie and over one trillion different permutations to the story.

As previous reports highlighted, Netflix and Slade shot more than five hours footage for this movie and according to sources, the movie’s shortest runtime based on a viewer’s choice is about forty minutes. On an average, the viewing time is about the ninety-minute mark, although some permutations could make the story have a runtime of about two hours and a half.

Change In Streaming Pattern

According to Variety, the fact that Netflix went ahead to change its manner of streaming content to ensure that viewers can play Bandersnatch is a very intriguing detail. Normally, applications that run Netflix’s television series and movies often pre-cache the content to ensure the smooth running of the streaming in case of any slight internet connection problem during viewing. However, because this movie is interactive, the applications have to now pre-cache two likely paths, and that is something older Netflix application versions are unable to do. For that reason, Bandersnatch cannot be streamed on the older versions.

Variety also reports that Netflix is excluding the movie from playback on Apple TV and Google’s Chromecast for some technical reasons. It appears that Todd Yellin, the vice president of product for Netflix isn’t so worried about not carrying some people along. According to him, almost every household using Netflix has one device that can play the movie. Some analysts have praised the movie for its highly interactive storytelling which has been considered groundbreaking.

Background Details Of Movie

Earlier in 2017, Netflix approached the creators of Black Mirror, Annabel Jones and Charlie Brooker with an uncommon idea. The company has been carrying out some experiment on producing content that kids would find interactive as they get to choose the path the story would take. The young viewers were able to do that with a range of multiple-choice questions which they could easily answer with the use of the TV remote.

Netflix approached the creators because it wanted something similar for an adult audience. Black Mirror appeared to be an ideal fit, but the creators were initially not on board with the idea. According to Brooker in an interview, his response at first was a big no. Jones on the other hand partly agreed because she didn’t like previous interactive storytelling examples which she considered gimmicky.

Charlie Brooker first said a big no to the idea of creating an interactive movie

However as they began to discuss the ideas for subsequent episodes for the show later, they had a plot which would work only in an interactive setting and agreeing at that point came easier.

From the onset, we discover that the eccentric writer of the book lost his sanity as he wrote the multiple choices for the adventure causing him to kill his wife. In the movie as well, Stefan also struggles with his demons, and he turns the book into a very complex multiple-choice video game which does not particularly improve his mental health. Brooker admitted that he was able to empathize with Stefan’s feelings.