It’s so rare nowadays for a studio to have great confidence in their films. Even the toys are on the market so early that if the movie bombs, they’ve still made some toy moola… Well, the internet has spawned a great new concept… show us a few minutes of a movie, and then go to the theater to see the rest. For me, it works, and I’m looking forward to seeing more ‘advance’ sequences this way.
It’s so much better than watching a whole movie in the trailer. But more on that soon…
Spider-Man 3 is on sale for $1 on the streets of Beijing. What’s worse? I bet it will be all over the world via internet by the end of the day.
Professionally I always get nervous and upset when I hear news like this. Chinese pirates beat Spider-Man to the punch. In todays world, the success of a film is in its opening weekend, and word of mouth can kill it as quickly as it opens.
That’s one of the biggest reasons that the number of reviews prior to release has decreased, and studios work to build anticipation while insuring that there is NO chance that you won’t be able to see the film opening weekend if you so desire. 1200 screen openings are not unique for a popular film.
While the Producers have claimed that it isn’t the final version, October’s release of ‘Highlander: The Source’ has already hit the internet in a widescreen stereo version.
In the near future, we’re going to do an entire Podcast devoted to this subject, and the importance of a carefully planned and executed motion picture marketing plan.
Until then, don’t watch an advance copy of an upcoming movie… wait and go see it the way it’s intended, in it’s uncut or director’s cut DVD… err… in the theater!
UPDATED: Sony says China pirated Spider-Man DVDs are fakes. While it is possible that all of the bootleg discs are actually Spider-Man 2, it wouldn’t be abnormal for Sony to make this claim to stop people for looking for their own copy. If we get confirmation that Spider-Man 3 has been leaked, we’ll let you know.
Everyone knows that technology right now is pushing our little personal worlds to change on a daily basis. It’s bringing upon us a new way to look at just about everything connected to our senses, expect maybe smell (unless you count the smell that your overly-abused iPod Nano takes on after the many sweaty places it’s been). So here’s a line of thinking that is pretty clear to follow, yet I’ll be the first to brand it. Hmmm, let’s call it the “magic box theory.” As a filmmaker it makes me sad, but I’ll explain:
In the 1950s, there was this ‘magic box’ that seeped its way into just about every household in America. On it, you would get magical moving pictures, news and advertisments of your favorite kitchen appliances and soap powder. I’m not sure if you’ve ever heard of this ‘magic box’ but trust me when I say, it changed the world. When it did, the movie studios were paranoid as hell and planned a massive counter attack. They created wide screen formats like CinemaScope, VistaVision and Cinerama and launched a primitive 3-D process so as to offer people something they couldn’t get in their living rooms on their brand new 10- and 12-inch black & white screens. And never guess what? It worked. People still kept going to the movies.
So what about now, you ask, when the ‘magic boxes’ turned into ‘magic picture frames’ in the form of 40-60 inch Hi-def plasma screens as the centerpiece of home theater systems fully equiped with digital suround sound? And what about the small screens we can carry in our pockets anywhere and the ability to watch high-quality video on our computers? The answer: digital, theatrical 3-D. And yes, it too is working.
Gotta hand it to Bob and Harvey (Weinstein), they know what they’re doing. On April 6th, Dimension Films–genre arm of the Weinstein Company (formerly Miramax) will release Grindhouse, the umbrella title for two back-to-back throwback features directed by Robert Rodriquez and Quentin Tarantino. Combined, both movies cost a total of $53 million to to produce, are directed by two of the hottest directors in town, have a ridiculously foreign-friendly genre (Tarantino big action), and did I mention they cost $53 million to make? Can you say no-brainer? This will be the Weinstein Company’s grand opening in my humble opinion and will most likely breakeven on the foreign revenue alone with domestic and DVD being the gravy. Grindhouse is gonna clean up, that’s all there is to it.
What is the Grindhouse you say? It’s a genre brought forth in the 1970s described in the trailer as “featuring uncensored sexuality and hardcore thrills.”
Okay, I’m a sucker for anything having to do with the Ocean’s franchise. I know some of you think the second one sucked and at any moment I would throw down to defend the honor of my friend George (yes in the Hollywood book of name dropping if you party with a celebrity at least thrice, he/she is officially your friend), but here’s a link to the recent trailer of Ocean’s Thirteen and it doesn’t look half bad. Perhaps not entirely original, but who cares. You Tube doesn’t have it yet so here it is at Yahoo exclusively.
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