Movie Marketing
Does an analysis of the truthfulness of a movie’s premise somehow compromise the creator’s vision? That’s the question under discussion at Cinematical.
A promotional ad for the Blu-ray release of Fight Club includes Facebook Connect integration that puts the face of the person who utilizes that function into subsequent promotions that Facebook friends then see.
Universal Pictures has settled a complaint (Editor & Publisher, 11/12/09) filed by seven Alaska news outlets over the studio’s decision to write fake op-eds that make the claims made in The Fourth Kind seem real.
Distribution
Blockbuster will soon begin testing renting films on SD cards at kiosks within their existing stores. The cards will hold the movie for 30 days but once you start watching it you’ve got just 24 hours to finish it before the film is destroyed. Until they go into other locations like drug stores (the key to Redbox’s success) I agree that it’s not likely to take off since it still involves an extra stop/trip. Plus, the DIVX fiasco from a decade ago shows there’s not much appetite for self-destructing media, especially since the focus on eco-concerns has only grown since then.
Google has updated its movie listing information to include show times, location and so much more.
A new study shows that online watching of movies has doubled (Video Business, 11/11/09) since 2008, with free sites like Hulu leading the charge in changing consumer behavior. Monetization by the producers, though, remains a sticking point and is likely to hinder adoption for the time being.
It’s ridiculous that so much effort is being put into making the home video viewing experience more interactive (Variety, 11/13/09). That’s so very much not a priority and won’t have long-lasting impacts on consumer behavior.
