Gotta love this: A whole bunch of movie posters recreated with Lego figures. I’d pay for some of these.
Chris Albrecht at NewTeeVee talks about how movie commercials on TV are increasingly being presented in letterbox format, something that allows some studios to slap the URL for the movie’s site in that blank space, a URL that’s still readable even by those fast-forwarding through the commercials. The first time I noticed letterbox TV spots was for 2007′s The Simpsons Movie, when I pegged the tactic as a way for the studio to differentiate the big-screen feature from the TV show.
Peter Kafka picks up a huge, full-screen ad for Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian that appeard on Ask.com’s front page and points out it’s just the sort of thing that Google wouldn’t do. The ad was not paid for but appears via a deal with the studio that trades it for product mentions within the film. [via Brian Morrissey]
I’m not quite sure why, in the wake of Night at the Museum besting Terminator: Salvation, there’s so much hand-wringing going on over WHY WHY WHY WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN. The math isn’t that hard: When two marketing campaigns are equally effective, the movie that allows for more ticket purchases will win the weekend. I know Terminator was PG-13, but it still wasn’t going to attract families, which range in size from two to five or more. Some groups probably went to see Terminator, but the Memorial Day weekend allowed families to all go see Night/Museum together, resulting in bigger box-office.
There’s also a MediaPost story about Night at the Museum’s tie-ins with Washington D.C. tourism groups.
William Goss at Cinematical is talking about trailers that feature footage that’s later cut from the movie and how audiences feel about that.
The Brand New blog looks at the evolution of the title treatment for RKO Pictures, one of the most iconic in the history of Hollywood.
An Indiana-based market research firm is looking to bring on some Hollywood studio client and gets help in the form of a New York Times profile. It’s not all that revolutionary – the agency says it can help studios cut costs while maximizing reach – but it could be interesting to watch. Scott Kirsner uses that story to do a little riffing that’s also well worth reading.
Warner Bros. wants to build more iPhone Apps, citing their low cost and high rate of interactivity and ability to extend their entertainment brands into the mobile space easily.
The Washington Post (via The Chicago Tribune) assembles a panel of experts to analyze some of the posters for the summer’s biggest movies.
So many of the most-anticipated – or at least the most-hyped – video games of the year are based on movies, either past or present.
