iOS 6 preview: Siri goes to the movies | siri ios6

Not many real-world assistants will help you find a movie to watch anymore, or look up whose in it and how well it’s rated for you, not even Siri on iOS 5 and the iPhone 4S. With iOS 6, however, Siri is not only opening on the iPad, but its becoming a veritable movie buff to boot.

Here’s how Apple previews it:

Siri can help you find the latest flicks by location or showtimes. Can’t decide? Ask Siri to show you a movie trailer or a Rotten Tomatoes review. Siri is also quite the film buff: Find out when a film premiered, who directed it, and what awards it won. Or ask Siri which movies your favorite actors star in, so you won’t miss any of their past or future blockbusters.

Siri’s movie expertise is only available to beta testers right now, but Apple did show it off during WWDC 2012, so we’ve at least gotten a small peek behind the big red curtains.

Here’s the kind of information Siri will be able to present:

• Studio: Who produced the movie
• Title: What the movie is called
• Director: Who directed the movie
• Stars: The 3 top billed stars of the movie
• Rotten Tomatoes rating: The aggregated percentage review rating of the movie
• Content Rating: The MPAA rating for the movie (G, PG, R, etc.)
• Runtime: The length of the movie in minutes
• Description: A brief teaser about the movie, including plot, characters, and actors.

Here’s what you’ll be able to do with Siri’s newfound movie expertise:

• “Ask “Where is Prometheus is playing?” and get a list of movie theaters and showtimes for the movie.

• Ask “What movies are playing at the Metreon?” and get a list of movies and showtimes for the theater.

• You can tap into one of them to get a lot more information about a specific movie.

• You can tap beneath the movie poster to watch the movie trailer, or tap on the Rotten Tomatoes review rating to see a list of individual reviews.
• Say “Show me movies starring Scarlet Johansson” and get a list of movies starring the actor, or made by the director, you asked about.

• You can also ask for any other piece of information about a movie, such as “what is Prometheus rated” or “is Prometheus a good movie” and be shown the movie’s information sheet.

Siri’s Pixar-like personality is obviously a good fit for movie searching. There’s no Open Table-style partnerships to date, so Siri can’t actually reserve you a ticket or buy you popcorn — yet — but if you’re out and looking for some fun, Siri help you find a movie, tell you where it’s playing and who’s in it, and show you its trailer and ratings to help you make your ticket-buying choice.

iOS 6 is scheduled for release this fall, perhaps as soon as September 19.

For more on iOS 6 and Siri, check out:

• Siri: The ultimate guide
• Everything you need to know about iOS 6
• iOS 6 discussion forum