Interactive Decision-Making in Entertainment Movies: A Mixed-Methods Approach.

Public Policy Relevance Statement This article seeks to explain how we cognitively apprehend and emotionally process movies that integrate our decisions as viewers, so-called interactive movies. Using the movie Bandersnatch as an example, we show that the audiovisual decision-making process and the main character's engagement can explain our entertainment experiences in interactive movies. Entertainment researchers often differentiate whether media elicit hedonic or eudaimonic entertainment experiences when investigating mental processes during movie reception. Recent audiovisual entertainment formats provide recipients with an interactive role, for example, deciding between actions and options. This study investigates the impact of interactive decision-making in movies on entertainment experiences. By using a mixed-methods approach, we complemented a laboratory experiment (IV: interactivity of movie stimulus, N = 60) with subsequent reflective interviews to get deeper insights into cognitive and emotional processes when consuming entertainment. The results demonstrated that entertainment experiences were higher in the interactive than in the noninteractive movie condition. Furthermore, this intensified entertainment experience is explained through decision-making processes and mental engagement with the protagonist. We discuss these findings in light of the role of engagement with fictional characters and their implications for entertainment theory and recent entertainment formats.