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Why Video-On-Demand Might Save Movies (and Movie Theaters)
Filed under: Distribution, Home Entertainment, Movie Marketing
My dad is old, and he kind of looks like W.C. Fields. He's old enough that there was a time in his life when people probably thought he actually was W.C. Fields. His favorite movie is Doctor Zhivago, and I'm pretty sure he hasn't enjoyed a movie since (he walked out of The Dark Knight in favor of Mamma Mia! And he walked out of Mamma Mia! in favor of a ham sandwich). He's not much of a movie-goer, but if you asked him which recent film is about "A swat team sent into a pitch black apartment building where a virus that turns people into demons is raging," he'd instantly be able to tell you that it's Rec 2, the plot of which he was intimately familiar with a month before its theatrical release. That's because my dad aimlessly watches a lot of television, and in his endless quest to find C-SPAN he rolls his eyes across the Magnolia Pictures "Early Screening" tab embedded in Time Warner Cable's VOD menus several dozen times a month.
In October of 2007 Magnolia inaugurated their "Ultra VOD" program by allowing cable subscribers to watch Brian De Palma's Redacted prior to its appearance in cinemas, and have since made approximately 75 films a year available to rent directly through VOD services. The vast majority of those titles have been made available day & date with their theatrical bows, but only a chosen few have received the "Ultra" service and been beamed exclusively into viewers living rooms for $10.99 a pop ($9.99 in standard definition). And my dad is a perfect example of why Magnolia would be interested in providing customers with early access to much-anticipated titles for less than the cost of a movie ticket.
Central Florida: The Hub of 'Holywood' for Faith-Based Flicks
Filed under: Independent, Distribution, Exhibition, DIY/Filmmaking, Movie Marketing, Religious
Faith-based movie production companies are heading in flocks to central Florida to film. The weather is great, the local churches have plenty of volunteers at the ready, the state offers financial incentives, and the theme parks are staffed with actors looking for a big break. Plus, as one local filmmaker puts it, "We want to get the 'L' out of Hollywood." Zing! According to the Orlando Sentinel, which has a full rundown of these small indies filming in the Sunshine State, the help from local churches can be crucial, from just offering an extra set of hands to congregants who offer up their homes for locations. The Passion of the Christ benefited from marketing directly to churches and religious groups, who often bought tickets in bulk, but these smaller films have taken it one step further because churches themselves are becoming production companies and sometimes the theaters themselves.
Have a Peep at Our Exclusive 'Burlesque' Poster
Filed under: Music & Musicals, Movie Marketing, Images
One diva makes her overdue return to movies. The other makes her film acting debut. So who's excited about Burlesque, the hot new musical that brings together Cher and Christina for a sparkly, glamorous and wild Fosse-esque song and dance spectacular? I left off the latter's last name (Aguilera) because so does the film's poster, which we're happy to debut down below. It's full of hot pink and what I think is a lightbulb-adorned -- though it could also be rhinestone-studded -- title vertically separating the legend on the left from the newer star on the right. The film's tagline acknowledges the distinction between divas, too: Cher's side says "It takes a legend," which continues on Christina's side, "... to make a star." Kind of meta.
In Burlesque, Aguilera is a small-town girl trying to make it big on the stage of Cher's L.A. club, The Burlesque Lounge, but first she has to put in her due as a cocktail waitress. The musical also features Stanley Tucci, Alan Cumming, Kristen Bell, Eric Dane, Cam Gigandet and Dancing with the Stars winner Julianne Hough. It was written and directed by Steve Antin, who you may best know as the jock, Troy, in The Goonies or as the screenwriter of Sidney Lumet's Gloria remake (he also co-produced the Pussycat Dolls reality show). As the poster says, it opens this Thanksgiving.
Google to Launch Pay-Per-View Service Through YouTube
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips
One of the great things about the Internet has always been all the free stuff you can find on it -- and I don't mean pirating. Sites like Hulu and Slashcontrol and countless others have been offering films and television programs for free through their websites. That's started to change recently. First Hulu announced the debut of a premium pay service for users who want access to the vast majority of the site's content, and now comes news that Google's looking to get into the online movie streaming business, which will utilize YouTube. Are the days of free Internet content nearing an end?
The Financial Times says that Google has approached major studios about launching a global pay per view movie service by the end of 2010. If this comes to fruition, analysts speculate that YouTube will become one of the major players in the online video streaming marketplace.
According to sources, Google is using their clout as the most well-known search engine and YouTube's reputation to pitch the service. They feel this will attract lots of visitors to the venture, which translates to money for them and Hollywood. Talks have been ongoing for quite some time, but apparently it's ramped up recently. If Google jumps into the streaming movie business and gets Google TV up and running, they'll theoretically be able to give places like Netflix and iTunes a run for their money. The one potential snag here is pricing. While no price has been set, the rumored amount is five bucks per movie. Seems steep to me, given everything else out there.
I'm all for competition since it should help consumers, so Google's welcome to join the party. Would you pay to stream movies through YouTube? Would you pay $5 a movie? Share your thoughts below.
Some Thoughts on the Trailer for 'Life As We Know It'
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, New Releases, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips
They say you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but whatever. They say a lot of things. They say you're not supposed to send text messages during a movie, too, and everyone still does it. So when I saw the trailer for Life As We Know It the other night -- the figurative cover for this figurative book -- and sat there, agape, astonished at the misery I was witnessing, I jotted down a few thoughts. The trailer is posted after the jump; check it out, then see if any of your thoughts resemble mine.
- Boy, they are not going to give up on this Katherine Heigl thing, are they? The combination of Grey's Anatomy and Knocked Up made her a star, but everything she has done since then has been awful. 27 Dresses? More like 27 Messes! Killers? More like Please Kill Her! The Ugly Truth? More like The Ugly Stupid Romantic Comedy That I Hate, and Also Please Kill Her! She has a dour, scolding persona, and she keeps choosing formulaic romantic comedies that wouldn't be good even if someone fun were in them. Whichever diabolical Hollywood organization is pushing the Katherine Heigl agenda, it needs to be stopped, through an act of Congress if necessary.
Theories on Why 'Scott Pilgrim' Bombed
Filed under: Universal, Fandom, Distribution, Movie Marketing
Why Scott Pilgrim vs. the World tanked articles were bound to flood the Internet after the well-reviewed flick's dismal opening weekend. Now that Scott Pilgrim has just wrapped up its second week in theaters, the constant chatter has somewhat fizzled out, but folks are still examining the divergence between critics and fans that has occurred more than once this year and could certainly effect the types of films the major studios pump out in the future.In The Wrap's latest article on the topic, the site suggests five reasons why the film failed. The list consists of exactly what you'd expect, but a few quotes liven up the subject a bit, especially the ones from folks on the marketing side of the industry.
The first finger is pointed at genre confusion. What is Scott Pilgrim? Is it an adventure, romance or comedy? Based on the promotional material, it's impossible to know. Come to think of it, even after seeing the film, there's no way to give it a clear-cut label. Scott Pilgrim is just something we've never seen before and while it should be praised for daring to be different, moviegoers are running scared. Even the film's posters sent out a confusing message. At first Cera looks super cool rocking out on his guitar, but then we see he's just a geek in the commercials. A marketing executive suggested, "They couldn't decide if this was a true superhero movie and they should make him look like a hero, or if it was an underdog story and you were supposed to root for him to get the girl."
Blame DVRs For The Increase in Online Movie Ads
Filed under: Box Office, Tech Stuff, Home Entertainment, Movie Marketing
It may seem hard to believe, but the way we watch TV is now affecting how films perform on their opening weekend according to an article in today's THR. With the advent of DVR's and online services like Hulu, "time shifted" television viewing is on the rise -- meaning those movie ads that have long been a part of the television viewing experience may not be reaching audiences in the way marketers intended and could be something we see far less of in the future.
Time shifted viewing -- or viewing programs at a different time than they originally aired -- has been around since the advent of the VCR, but the proliferation of DVRs (coupled with how much easier they are to use to record things than a VCR) have made recording programs to view at a later time easier than ever. A recent survey of Comcast subscribers found that 62% of them are using DVRs, Hulu, or VOD services regularly. What this means to film advertisers is that their targeted new release ads airing on a Thursday evening for a Friday release may not be seen until the following week -- making them money wasted in some instances.
Hit the jump to read more about how time shifted viewing is changing movie advertising.
Bryan Singer Talks 'X-Men: First Class' Villains, Setting and More
Filed under: Movie Marketing
Boy, news about the new X-Men movies sure is coming in at an alarming pace these days, isn't it? Producer Bryan Singer, who you may know as the guy that walked away from the X-Men franchise and made a rather good but poorly received Superman movie, talked with Harry Knowles at Ain't Cool News about the upcoming X-Men: First Class film amidst the latest flurry of casting announcements. Singer deserves a lot of respect for walking away from the franchise like he did and for not backing down during his contract negotiations when he was in talks to direct X3: The Last Stand, and while Valkyrie was pretty lousy, I'm inclined to give the guy the benefit of the doubt as even that stinker has its moments (the pivotal bomb scene in Valkyrie was very well-paced, even if we all knew what was going to happen). This news accordingly comes from a source I'm automatically more inclined to pay attention to.Here are some highlights from his chat with Harry Knowles:
- The film will take place in the '60s so as to mirror the civil rights movement and better contextualize the characters' struggle to either segregate themselves or fit in. It should be noted however that in the original comics Stan Lee and then Roy Thomas wrote, the X-Men never tried to fit in with society. They pretty much kept to themselves in their mansion in Westchester, protecting humanity from themselves from afar for fear of fearful retaliation from the people that they're protecting. They would go into Greenwich Village every now and then to enjoy the Bohemian lifestyle, but that's as integrated as the X-Men got.
- The movie will feature more "comic bookish" costumes and will not be a "conventional FIRST CLASS story. Phew. I can't be the only one that hates rote origin story template stories. Also: the leather costumes for the X-Men really stink, so that's very good news. I mean, when people complained about how the costumes for the Thor movie looked like Cosplayers outfits, I thought that was a good thing. Because they're superheroes, for cripes sake, not spies or models or whatever it is those silly leather outfits were going for. They fly. They shoot lasers out of their eyes. They pop metal claws out of their hands. Yellow and blue uniforms are probably the least garish thing about these guys.
Cinematical Late Night: Spider-Man, Google, TMNT
Filed under: Horror, Casting, Paramount, Sony, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek
- Now that the role of Lisbeth Salander has been filled, the new hot female role for young actresses to contend for is the love interest in Sony's Spider-Man reboot, opposite Andrew Garfield as the web-slinger. Names in the mix for the part, which isn't Mary Jane (!) and unknown to instead be Gwen Stacy, include Emma Roberts, Imogen Poots, Lily Collins, Ophelia Lovibond and Teresa Palmer. Should they just set this in the UK and rename it Spider-Chap?
- Google has been unrepresented in the Social Network parodies, so someone is just going to go ahead and make an actual film about the story of search engine pioneers Sergey Brin and Larry Page based on the book Googled: The End of the World As We Know it. I don't have anything more to say on the idea, but did you know that if you type "Google" into Google you can break the Internet?
Ben Stiller is the "Godfocker" in new 'Fockers' Trailer
Filed under: Comedy, Paramount, Movie Marketing, Remakes and Sequels, Trailers and Clips
Do fans of projectile vomiting and fans of The Godfather travel in the same circles in other countries? Because, from what I can tell from its international trailer, these are the two primary demographics seemingly being marketed to in the second Meet the Parents sequel, Little Fockers. Actually, I guess any self-respecting Godfather fan wouldn't see a comedy just because it heavily makes reference to the 38-year-old classic by playing bits of Nino Rota's score and having Ben Stiller's character labeled "The Godfocker." Especially if it looked as terrible and bodily fluid-filled as this.In addition to the awfully unrealistic splattering of lasagna puke there's far-reaching squirting of blood during a turkey-carving scene. And in addition to the Godfather parody there's a too-on-the-nose Jaws spoof involving a ball pit. Hopefully the trailer isn't giving everything away and we can also look forward to poop, a Star Wars gag, some semen, a Saturday Night Fever spoof, and a mix of more vomit via an Exorcist bit. The sad thing is, of course, that Robert De Niro is reminding moviegoers how low he's sunk since The Godfather Part II with the reference to that franchise. This might even be sadder than the Taxi Driver shtick in The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.
Watch the trailer after the jump, but try not to get to upset by it.
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