Quibi’s short films from Spielberg, del Toro could stretch into full-length features

The upcoming streaming service Quibi is starting to stretch the meaning of what a short film can be. 

Short for 'quick bites,' Quibi's platform will be exclusive to mobile devices and centered entirely on short-form filmmaking. 

As detailed by Vanity Fair, the service will be broken down into three tiers. First, there are the Quick Bites, which are short films with self-contained narratives. Then, there's a news service called Daily Essentials. Although Lighthouse might be the most intriguing. 

Basically, much of the content for Lighthouse will come from A-List directors, which so far includes the likes of Catherine Hardwicke, Guillermo del Toro, Steven Spielberg, and more. While their projects will ultimately range from anywhere between two and four hours in length, each one will stream on Quibi in digestible fragments between seven and 10 minutes. 

So far, Quibi is boasting a horror anthology from Spielberg that's only available to stream after dark and a sci-fi story from Hardwicke starring Don Cheadle. Other directors involved include Sam Raimi, Steven Soderberg, Antoine Fuqua, and Paul Feig. 

What's more interesting, after two years on Quibi's platform, the creative team behind the film will be allowed to re-edit it into a standard, feature-length film, at which point they will own the rights and can distribute it however they see fit. 

Quibi is spearheaded by Jeffrey Katzenberg, a veteran Hollywood executive who helped reinvigorate Disney in the 1980s, then founded Dreamworks in the 1990s. Now, he's focused on attracting top-tier talent to the mobile-only platform, which is boasting over a billion dollars in backing from most of the major studios. 

With Quibi looking to launch this coming April, Katzenberg said he's banking on the A-list projects offered in Lighthouse drawing in new subscribers, and the creative freedom they offer will entice more filmmakers to their platform. 

"The blockbuster here is if they make something great, two years later they [will] own it," Katzenberg told Vanity Fair. "That’s the uniqueness of this, and I think has been a big appeal."

If you want to find out more about Quibi, you can check out their website here.