For those who don't know, Quentin Tarantino was floating around Sundance last week, mainly to promote the film Hell Ride (which he produced). Cinematical spotted him a few times in our hotel bar, but that was about it. We drank in our corner, he drank in his corner and the world was a safe and happy place. Others, however, actually approached the guy for either a pic or to say what's up. I know one fellow blogger who asked Tarantino for a photo outside the Hell Ride premiere, only to have the guy flat out reject him as if he were asking for a million dollars and a lap dance. Then, not long after hearing that story, this video clip popped up on YouTube.

It shows Tarantino exiting a Starbucks in Park City, while some dude points a camera in his face. Right off the bat, Tarantino is edgy; asking continuously what this whole camera thing is all about. Yet, it appears the guy attempts to answer, only Tarantino won't let him. Instead, the Pulp Fiction director shoves the guy, threatens to fight and then both get all tough with one another -- like those days back in the schoolyard when each kid would wait for the other to throw the first punch. Now I'm on the fence as to whether Tarantino is in the right here. It does take awhile for the guy to even attempt to pony up his reason for being there, but Tarantino doesn't give him much breathing room. Plus, it's Sundance -- these guys aren't in the middle of nowhere. If you're a big celebrity, you have to understand folks will be interested in photographing you during the festival, be it at a party, a premiere or outside a Starbucks. But what do you think?

After the wild success of March of the Penguins, Paramount Classics thought they had a solid follower with Arctic Tale -- the story of a walrus and her calf and a polar bear and her cubs. They scored a promotional partner in Starbucks and waited for the success. Well, where Penguins earned millions, Variety reports that Tale has only earned $484,000 in the past month -- not quite the popularity they were expecting. (Penguins had nabbed millions in the same amount of time.)

But it seems that no matter how much Starbucks can infiltrate the US, and slip a store on practically every street corner, they can't seem to beef up movie sales. Tale is their second attempt -- the first was Akeelah and the Bee, which also performed below expectations. But it's not without some effort -- for this latest film, the company installed signage and stickers, specially-branded cup sleeves, sold plush walruses, sold the film's soundtrack and had special discussions in some stores about climate change. They didn't go further, like specially-named drinks, to avoid over-commercializing the tie-in, which I have to respect. "We are careful to promote our products and projects in a tasteful manner and not to interfere with the coffeehouse experience," says Ken Lombard. The article also mentions how the stores don't have screens to air footage, but really, it's a flipping coffeehouse -- that's a good thing! Is the problem how Starbucks is promoting it, the films themselves, or something else?

It's all about money today: the Chinese government gouges Paramount by postponing Mission: Impossible III's release; the William Morris Agency makes a questionable deal with Starbucks; and Harvey Weinstein, desperate for a sure thing, throws a sack of cash at Ice Cube.

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Starbucks is seeking to expand into movies and books with the help of the William Morris agency. The alliance allows the influential talent agency to find music, film and book projects for Starbucks to consider for marketing in its stores. As we reported earlier, Starbucks started promoting their first movie venture, Lionsgate’s Akeelah and the Bee, by advertising the attraction on coffee sleeves and putting up words of the day on its chalkboard menus. The New York Times quotes Starbucks’ founder Howard Schultz as saying “We want to see our name associated with the kind of music, literature and movies that [will make] people say, ‘I’m glad Starbucks brought this to the marketplace.’”

Starbucks' music venture has been a success, so it’s no wonder they want to expand their brand’s scope even further. I’m no knee-jerk Starbucks hater, but I’m getting a little weary of these endless tie-ins. Enough of Starbucks as a “lifestyle” destination; I’d just like a cup of coffee please.

Karina reported a while back that Starbucks had gotten into the movie industry (and not just in the form of Tom Hanks movies with the word "Starbucks" in the title) with a production credit for Lionsgate and 2929's Akeelah and the Bee. And, now that the film's release is imminent, Starbucks is initiating phase two of its involvement: beating customers over the head with the movie. Woo hoo! So, starting Tuesday, expect to see a whole lot of Akeelah and the Bee-related stuff going on at your local Starbucks. Don't worry, though: according to company executives, the marketing will be "much classier and more upscale than the average fast-food chain movie promotion." (This is a good thing? I was counting on a Laurence Fishburne toy with my latte, dammit.)

Apart from dissing fast food-style promotions, however, the people at Starbucks aren't offering many details about what their classy technique will entail. Basically, all we know that words from the movie (the "bee" in the title, by the way, refers to a spelling bee, not the buzzing kind) will show up on cups, and those oh-it's-too-hot sleeves. Oh, and that when you go to get coffee tomorrow, you "will be invited to step inside Akeelah's journey." Oh boy, a journey! Thanks, Starbucks.

Following the trail trod by their successful in-store CD sales program, Starbucks has decided to move into the movie game. They've signed on to put their considerable vending muscle behind Akeelah and the Bee, a drama starring Angela Bassett, about a young girl from South Central trying to make it to the National Spelling Bee. Starbucks will offer sneak previews of the film to its customers before it opens in April. Later in the year, the coffee shiller will sell the DVD of the film at its registers. It's the first step in a major push by the Seattle based company to expand their retail offerings, the very concept of which seems to muck up its famed "third place" branding strategy – what good is having a separate space that is not work or home, if that place is trying to choke you with media? All Marxist misgivings aside, the CD program has worked incredibly well to raise the profile of its offering ... which only makes me wish that a certain other, quickly-forgotten spelling bee film had been chosen for the push.