Archive for May, 2007
Blockbusters all over the place – but how are they doing?
While studios jockey (and sometimes bicker) for position as the box office champs of the weekend or the biggest comedy of the year or whatever, it's important to maintain some perspective. As this New York Times story shows nothing aside from 1997's Titanic comes close to any claim as an all-time box office hit when you adjust the grosses for [...]
Die Hard marketing sets up, trips over own stumbling blocks
It's been 12 years since Bruce Willis last took to movie theater screens as do-it-his-own-way cop John McClane and 19 years since the original Die Hard debuted. The latest adventure, Live Free or Die Hard, comes amid a flurry of comic adaptations, sci-fi/fantasy and high concept period adventure films. That makes it, a more or less straight ahead [...]
Ratings system gets it wrong – again
Eric Zorn at the Chicago Tribune is wondering why Once from Fox Searchlight, which features just a few conversational F-bombs and no other objectionable content, is rated R. Such a rating, of course, limits the audience and creates a stigma around the movie. The answer, of course, is that the MPAA's ratings board thinks bad language is the [...]
Film fests raking in sponsorship dollars
A growing number of film festivals are making the rounds at no charge to attendees because they're ad-supported, reports MediaBuyerPlanner. Comcast, IFC and others are sponsoring the ten city tour of the Free Film Fest. In addition to the major opportunities there are chances for local and smaller advertisers to get in on the event as well. IFC [...]
MovieLabs looks for technology ideas
Scott Kirsner has a write-up in Variety of MovieLabs, a multi-studio-funded research group that awards grants for original thoughts on security, presentation and other ideas to protect or expand the studio footprint on the world. The group awards grants to people with ideas on how to improve secured online delivery of movies, develop [...]
