Watching movies in the future

In five years, buying and watching movies at home will be a very different experience than it is today. Here’s what a film fan’s living room might look like in 2016:

Movies in the ‘cloud’ — Purchasing “Transformers 5” won’t just mean taking home a DVD or downloading a file, but having the right to watch it on any digital device. With virtually every television, tablet and smartphone connected to the Internet, all it will take is a login and password to view a movie you’ve bought.

Digitizing DVD collections — Now that you own “Transformers 5,” perhaps you’re eager to watch the first four installments in the series that you already bought on DVD or Blu-ray. But opening a box and moving a disc from one device to another is so 2011. For less than $5 each, you’ll be able to copy movies from DVD format to your “digital locker” in the cloud. The tech-savvy can do it from their own computers, while others might have to enlist a store like Best Buy to convert their DVD collection to digital.

Want it now? Pay more. Want it cheap? Wait — Just a month or two after Justin Bieber’s directorial debut hits theaters, you can rent it via video on demand for $30. If that’s too much money, you can buy a digital copy for $15 or $20 a few weeks later. If you want to use the Redbox digital service to rent it for 99 cents per night, however, the wait could be half a year at least

Going social — Clicking “like” on a film’s Facebook page will generate much more than just a new entry on your profile. It will give you the ability to buy or rent the movie directly through the social network, share clips with friends, or even create a virtual party to watch it together via the Internet. In addition, wonky recommendation algorithms on Amazon.com and Netflix will be replaced with ones that suggest that because 70% of your Facebook friends like “ ‘Paranormal Activity’ versus ‘Saw,’ ” you’ll probably dig it too.

Seeing double — How can you possibly comprehend “Inception” director Christopher Nolan’s newest masterpiece about a team of schizophrenics unraveling a conspiracy in four different alternate realities on just one screen? The iPad 6 on your lap will sync with your TV to give you additional angles, text and directors’ commentaries that complement what you’re watching on the big screen.

Ben Fritz