'Searching' Producer Timur Bekmambetov To Shoot World's First Vertical Format Blockbuster.

TikTok meets the movies? Prolific Russian director and producer Timur Bekmambetov, whose credits include multiple Hollywood pics such as Searching, Ben Hur and Wanted, is set to go into production on V2. Escape From Hell, the first blockbuster movie made entirely in a vertical format.

Bekmambetov is credited as one of the inventors of the 'Screenlife' film and TV format, which sees events unfold from the perspective of a computer, tablet or smartphone. Movies he has worked on in the genre include Unfriended ($63m U.S. box office) and the John Cho-starring Searching ($75m). He also produced 2015 pic Hardcore Henry, an action movie shot entirely in the first-person perspective.

View this post on Instagram

A new era, or the end of the world as we know it?

A post shared by ign (@igndotcom) on Feb 16, 2020 at 5:01pm PST

Now, Bekmambetov has set his sights on pioneering the vertical video as a viable format for major feature films, flipping the traditional landscape format. Vertical content has previously been popularised by platforms including TikTok and Snapchat for short form on mobile. The film is being designed primarily with a smartphone audience in mind.