2006 November : Movie Marketing Madness

Sony wants to know if you need a holiday

In an effort to promote their new romantic comedy The Holiday, Sony Pictures is asking whether you need a holiday. If you do, and you submit a video stating your case, you could win that trip. The contest runs until just December 3rd (this Sunday) so you better get started on your video now. Winners [...]

More on The Nativity Story in Chicago

Both the Tribune and Chicagoist have updates on the controversy over New Line being asked to bow out as a sponsor of Chicago’s Christkindlmarket. The studio had been sponsoring the event to promote their new flick The Nativity Story.
This story just seems odd, especially since, as both stories point out, ads for the movie are [...]

New Touristas poster

Fox Atomic has a new poster out for Touristas, the hot people in Brazil flick coming out this week. It’s pretty good, showing a woman’s sculpted abs about to get sliced by an operating blade. The one problem I have is that I think they’re creating branding problems with the constant use of “Touristas Go [...]

New Black Snake Moan poster

YEOW! Nice new poster for Black Snake Moan. That’s not just because it has Christina Ricci in a skimpy outfit and all chained up (though that has a large bit to do with it) but overall it’s just a cool, pulp comic looking effort.

Fox Atomic trying to drum up controversy over Touristas

The Chicago Tribune’s Mark Caro passes on an email that he got from Fox Atomic that loudly announces that there is all sorts of controversy over their new movie Touristas. Specifically, the email makes the claim that the Brazil Tourism Board is up in arms of the way their country is portrayed in the [...]

A Night at the Museum online game

Fox has created an online game called “T-Rex Fetch” to promote their new flick A Night at the Museum, starring Ben Stiller, Ricky Gervais and Robin Williams. Try to throw the dino a bone. It’s mildly amusing but not all that exciting. [Via]

New Smokin’ Aces trailer

This new trailer for Smokin’ Aces is a bit more conventional than the previous two, though it’s no less crazy visually. The one thing that stands out is that the trio of hitmen including Ben Affleck and Peter Berg is almost completely absent from this one. It also features a bit more of Jeremy Piven.

Get to know your evil black symbiotes

In preparation for Spider-Man 3 and the theatrical debut of “the black costume,” Marvel has a nice history of the symbiote that Peter Parker found, wore and which eventually turned into Venom. If you’re not already in the know check this out to catch up on the comics back-story of the costume.

Why Wal-Mart’s video downloading won’t work

Turns out Wal-Mart’s deal to allow people to download digital copies of Superman Returns was just a trial balloon. The retailer has now announced a full-service movie download service beginning in 2007.
I think, at least in Wal-Mart’s case, Scott says it exactly right. The retailer has, with their Superman Returns deal, now set a price-point [...]

Repositioning Find Me Guilty

Jeff Wells and others had major problems with the way that the Sidney Lumet-directed Find Me Guilty, starring Vin Diesel, was marketed earlier this year. The poster, and now the DVD cover, had Diesel looking like a comedic schlub and not like the gangster that his character actually was. That made the movie seem more [...]

Lowe’s giving out A Night at the Museum passes with gift card purchase

Home improvement retailer Lowe’s will be giving out movie tickets good for admission to A Night at the Museum with the purchase of gift cards worth $100 or more between December 1st and 20th. The tickets aren’t actually given to you at checkout but will be sent via email after you fill out an online [...]

Quick Takes: 11/29/06

Special downloading edition for you today.

Warner Bros. is planning on launching their own movie download service next year that would allow the movies to be burned to DVD.
BitTorrent is about to announce deals with a number of studios, as well as other content producers, that would allow their stuff to be legally funneled through the [...]

The Onion on focus groups

Focus Group Hated It Right Up Until the Guy’s Head Got Cut Off.

Quick Takes: 11/28/06

The Boston Gal talks about a special ticket package for Dreamgirls that not only gets you into the theater but also access to a costume exhibit and more. This is a very nice way to add incentives to movie-going.
More coverage of the “unique name versus a number” story for sequels from Frank Cimatu and via [...]

Nativity Story getting plenty of press - and plenty of controversy

New Line’s The Nativity Story, about Mary and the birth of Jesus Christ, is getting plenty of pre-release press and courting its share of controversy as well. Hard to believe, I know. Both AdAge and the New York Times have stories about how the movie will be premiered at The Vatican and that the audience [...]

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