Guillermo del Toro's two new movies

After Guillermo del Toro's huge success with his 2006 Academy Award winning movie Pan's Labyrinth, this director has seemed to set his sights on a new movie that parallels the mystic realm he explored in his previous film.

Del Toro will be returning to direct the sequel to his not so famous film, Hellboy, which starred Ron Pearlman and Selma Blair in 2004 and grossed close to $60 million in the US alone. It appears that creating and Academy Award winning movie allows a director to be able to create any movie he so well pleases, as apparent with this sequel. Seeing as how the original Hellboy failed to create much of a stir besides in the comic book realm, it is easy to see that once Del Toro landed a hit, his project that he WANTED to create was put on the fast track.

Seeing as how the movie is slated for release in July of 2008, the preliminary marketing is just getting underway. So far Universal Pictures has undergone the creation of the movies new web site, uploading it with things such as wallpapers and production videos. Also, the website features online comics, which will play together well with the original target market of the movie, comic book fans.

Since the movie is still in production many screen shots are yet to be released. One nice thing about the web site however is that it includes much of the production art that is being used in the creation of the movie. A few snapshots of those are included below.

Get Your Munk On

I have to admit that when I first saw the preview for the new movie Alvin and the Chipmunks I was a bit skeptical. What worried me most was that these big movie studios might perhaps take something I have loved as a child and turn it into another horrible movie much that that of Garfield.

The movie stars big name actor Jason Lee, most commonly known for his roles in Kevin Smiths movies that I suggest you do not watch with your parents. I have to say the rating for Lee comes as a huge surprise to me seeing as how most of the work he does seems to be way above the PG-13 level.

Besides the normal trailers and movie posters, and I'm sure line of toys and teddy bears to follow, 20th Century Fox has released an online application that allows users to customize what they believe their chipmunk would look like, and then record audio which is then converted to sound like the chipmunks. This interesting application can then be saved and pasted on your website, which I have done below. I couldn't really think of anything interesting to say, so I'll admit that the message is somewhat dull, but the application allows for endless opportunities which unfortunately start to become bland and old after five minutes of using it.

Even though the hype for the application seems to die out quickly you have to give the marketing agency a round of applause for this interesting take on movie marketing. Creating your own chipmunk is simple and easy. Click here if you wish to give it a shot.

I Am......Not What You Think

So when I first began to see the previews for Will Smiths new movie I Am Legend, I have to admit I wasn't to impressed. I THOUGHT the movie revolved around a plot about a virus that wiped out most of humanity and Will Smith, who plays Robert Neville, is one of the last known survivors on the planet. He spends the the movie looking for known survivors....or so I thought.

The truth is, the virus hasn't taken out the human race, instead it has transformed them into a canabalistic race. What I didn't know is that this movie is actually based on a book by the same title, which has already been adapted to screen twice already in 1964 as The Last Man On Earth and in 1971 as The Omega Man. This movie is somewhat different from the book seeing as how the book revolves around Robert escaping vampires, which were created by the virus. After seeing a preview that Warner Bros. released with the infected people in October, I decided that perhaps this movie would be interesting and worth checking out.

And boy was I right. The first thing Warner Bros is did to market the movie was create a game that users on Second Life could play called I Am Legend: Survival. The game allows users on Second Life to play on 60 acres of Second Life land modeled after NYC. The game is an RPG/shooter game and is set in the year preceding the movie. I found this tactic to be very interesting seeing how Warner Bros is taking the typical idea of creating a video game for movies, and have placed it on an online realm in which anyone can play for no cost.

DC Comics, in association with Vertigo Comics, also created small comics that is also set before the movie takes place. Here readers get a chance to better understand the situation, characters, and events that led up to the movie.

All and all I would say that now I see this movie in a whole new light. I think it is interesting that Warner Bros. decided not to market, what I find to be, the coolest part of the movie right off the bat. Instead they began to build the hype slowly, perhaps hoping that it wouldn't die out before the movie but instead reach a peak.

Other marketing tactics include a Myspace page for the movie as well as a special web site that will only be viewable on an Apple iPhone.

More Boob For Your Buck

It's hard for me nowadays to not automatically draw my attention to anything that involves having Angelina Jolie in it. Even before the huge fad of thinking of her as sexual icon, I always saw her as a role model due to how well rounded she is in everything she does. She seems to be one of the only actresses I know that can appear in such diverse roles and still sell who she is to the audience.

The newest movie, which opens this Friday, she will be appearing in is Beowulf. This movie is an adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon epic poems under the same title. I remember reading some of these poems in grade school and loving them. I'm hopeful that Robert Zemeckis will be able to bring this story to life since he did so well with other movies like Back to the Future and Forrest Gump.

The interesting, and saddening fact revolves around the item that Beowulf will actually be a PG-13 rated film. A blog that I constantly look at, Movie Marketing Madness, brought up the interesting fact that even though the movie is PG-13 rating, their marketing tactics seem to not be. This in turn brings me to what I mentioned above, and how I believe the fad with Angelina has not been subject around her work, but actually about her breasts.

I don't get as much time to watch TV as I would like to, so I am unsure about how well their marketing campaign is fairing on the "boob tube". However, after being in NYC last weekend I realized the extreme guerrilla marketing tactics they were using with their poster campaigns. As we passed station after station on the subway I noticed that pretty much everyone had not one, but at least four separate posters hanging up in their walkways. The posters can be seen pretty much everywhere you look, and not just in NYC. The main part of Chris's blog focus was the picture of Angelina, that I have showed above, and how you can see that Paramount is definitely going for the "sex sells" attitude.

I feel like the marketers of this movie however haven't tried to market the most interesting fact of the movie. Up until about two weeks ago, I thought the entire movie was not CGI, or motion capture as they call it. Zemeckis is most commonly known for using this technique in one of his previous films, The Polar Express. This idea lends itself to many ways they could have went about with its campaign, but I feel like perhaps the studio chose the easy route of slapping a big picture of Angelina's boob up on a billboard.

Paramount has also used a non-traditional advertising route by releasing four comics in October to further promote the movie. Also, look for the Beowulf game to be on your local retailers shelfs.

Read This Book!!!

This blog has no relation to movie marketing, but is well worth your time.

Last Friday I attended a Direct Marketing Seminar in NYC. I had never been to a seminar so I have nothing to compare it to, but I would highly recommend this one for anyone interested in the marketing field.

The speakers were great, but one in particular stood out. Lindsey Pollak, author of "Getting From College to Career", spoke to an audience of college students about seven tips we should follow to put us ahead of the game. I actually got a chance to talk with Lindsey after the conference, and I found her bubbly personality throughout her presentation was not a fake front, but actually who she was. She was extremely kind and helpful, and I felt like she was really listening to me.

I was so impressed with her speaking and personality, I immediately went home and purchased her book (18 copies of her book offered as door prizes and I didn't win one = lame). So it just came in the mail today and instead of studying for both my Consumer Behavior and Advertising tests I have next week, I decided to crack open the book.

The great thing about Lindsey's book is the fact that even after five pages, you have a sense that Lindsey actually gets who you are and where you are. I feel like my college is great about giving us the education, but when it comes time for us to head to the real world it kinda falls flat. This process leave someone like me, spending $40,000 a year on a college education thinking "What am I going to do, no one is going to hire me, I will be living with my parents, working in a restaurant, paying off my student loans for the rest of my life!".

It's easy to sit and listen to a professor tell you what you need to do because the whole time you're thinking "Yeah, but you have a great paying job now". Since Lindsey is younger and closer to our age, I feel like I can relate to what she says in her book a lot more and her ideas are fresh and new. Not only did she research a bunch for this book (so you know her tactics are legit) she was always placed in this same situation not to many years ago when she graduated from grad school.

I have never been one for self help books, in fact I have never even picked one up. I always felt like they didn't apply to me because of the fact that I wouldn't be able to relate to them. Well, have no fear, this book does. So, anyone reading this, I highly recommend either checking out her website, or purchasing her book. It's a quick and easy read full of 90 tips to help you on you way to getting a job. If you do at least ten of these tips, you're already a lot farther ahead then most of the competition in your field.

The Golden Compass: Round 2

Most of the time when I decide to blog, I start by looking for a new movie that interests me and I begin looking for ways the company is deciding to market it to the public. I decided to change this format up because of how I couldn't find anything really that interesting, and also because of how excited I am for The Golden Compass.

As mentioned in my previous blog, I read each of the books this summer and actually enjoyed them more than The Lord of the Rings. The movies in turn are actually being compared to that trilogy on the basis of their production costs and how much they plan to bring in.

The marketing for this movie is sure to be huge, especially seeing as how it began almost a year before it was released. The newest marketing tactic used by the studio is the release of several pictures highlighting key characters in the movie as well as their daemon.

One interesting thing I noticed about this pictures however was the fact that everyone was pictured with their daemon except for the witch, Serafina Pekkala, who actually did posses a daemon in the books (a goose), but seems to be flying solo in the movies. An interesting part of the novel, and conclusion, revolves around the fact that witches, unlike humans such as Lyra, have the capability of separting themselves from their daemons for a large distance. For people such as Lyra, if their daemon

The two additional movies to follow that complete the trilogy are in the works already. The only downfall is seeing how much this one actually brings in to begin with. The studio has already commented on the fact that they will not produce the movies if this one fails. If you think they are bluffing, look at the how Fox ruined the great novel Eragon, and we have yet to hear anything about the sequel book Eldest being adapted to the big screen (thank god).

Go Big Or Go Home

The problem with coming out with a blockbuster movie your first time around is simply that audiences will expect that every time there after. This is the big problem facing director M. Night Shyamalan, most famously known for his 1999 hit The Sixth Sense.

Since The Sixth Sense, Shyamalan's movies have seem to be going continuously downhill according to how much the gross at the theaters. The underlying question that seems to rear its ugly head is that is beauty really in the eye of the beholder? Many people would argue that his films haven't really changed that much, which are a big part to the downfall. The best part of The Sixth Sense was the huge twist at the end that left audiences dumbfounded as to how they did not notice that before. Now, as Shyamalan's movies are released, audiences go to the movies and expect the twist and look for it, which in turn make them anger when they either figure them out or there isn't one at all.

Personally I always enjoy Shyamalan's movie. I find them to be interesting and always take a route that you wouldn't expect. Audiences disliked movies such as The Village or Lady in the Water mostly because they did not follow the common trends Shyamalan placed in his previous films. Shyamalan expressed this in an interview were he proclaimed he felt that marketing actually took away from those films because they were not supposed to look like supernatural thrillers, but instead stories of hope.

Hopefully audiences have gotten that out of their system seeing as how Shyamalan's newest movie does not seem to dig into the supernatural world at all. The Happening, starring Mark Wahlberg, seems to be Shyamalans interpretation on An Inconvenient Truth. The world is ravaged and plants start creating a poison in the air that kills humans. Wahlberg, a local biology teacher, takes his family on the run from these deadly toxins while in the mean time trying to patch up his marriage (seems like at the end of the world his wife shouldn't start getting so picky).

It will be interesting to see how the studios begin to market the movie as its release date grows nearer, especially since the originally version of the script wasn't picked up by any studios Shyamalan's first time around.

So far not even a teaser trailer or movie poster has been released for the movie, which makes me believe the studio is either not impressed with his final product, or trying to create a nice little WOM hype throughout the internet. Shayamalan's films are most commonly related to his cult following so I believe that the studio feels that people who should know about the film, do. The only marketing tactic so far is the release date, set for June 13th 2008, which falls on Friday the 13th. Personally I think the studios better do a little better than that with their marketing campaign, and soon, before the Shaymalan's cult train leaves the station.

So You Think You Can Market?

So I promised myself once the contest started, I would be doing it mostly for the extra points. Well, lets through that idea out the window right now. I graduate in May so I think winning something like this would look pretty sweet on my resume.

So if you've clicked through from the site, and haven't voted, I wanted to take a little bit of your time to talk about the contest. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I entered an online contest called "So You Think You Can Market?". The professor for the class offered extra point, which I very much needed, so I decided to participate.

The contests is for www.thebargainqueen.com, and how they can possibly attract male viewers to what appears to be a female dominate site. You have a limited budget of $500, so your ideas have to really work on the WOM principle.

I wrote up a page long explanation, but they only put in a paragraph (understandable). However, since the only comment to the contest mentioned "But I don't understand the model for the second one. My vote goes to the first one of the two:", I decided to use my blog to promote my idea.

My idea is pretty simple. Facebook is a growing web site that males and females our age find themselves on everyday. One of the newest statistic I heard was that Facebook is actually more popular than porn with kids ages 18-24. We all know the gifts application, where you can send gifts to your friends for a dollar (they are just little icons that they can collect). Well my idea is for every time the Bargain Queen has a new product to promote, they create and icon that looks exactly like it. They then partner with facebook to give users the ability to buy the icon and send it to there friends. There are two perks to this.

First off, students in class mentioned how they usually don't buy the gifts unless they know the money goes to charity. I suggest Bargain Queen partners with a charity and donates half of the proceedings to that charity. This way, Bargain Queen gets nice rep for helping out charity, and they are helping themselves.

The second perk is by sending the person the icon, you automatically enter them into a drawing that can actually win them that item in real form. Winners will be drawn at the end of the month, and people who are chosen will then receive their free real life gift in the mail.

So thats my plan, and I'm sticken to it. They pitted me up against a professional from Washington DC with a good idea, so it'll be interesting to see how it pans out. If you wish to vote (do it), then click the link below.

So You Think You Can Market?

The Dark Knight Does It Again

When it comes to the idea of movie marketing, I have to admit that I am constantly impressed by the campaign put on by Warner Bros. to promote it's newest Batman movie, The Dark Knight. Whenever marketing is discussed in my major our teachers always push the idea of how important WOM (word of mouth) is to your campaign, as well as how hard it is to obtain. Warner Bros. has definetley taken this complex idea and made it look more simple than it ever has.

My previous post about The Dark Knight talked about the viral marketing campaign they had at the Comicon in San Diego in July. Their newest scavenger hunt sent Batman lovers all throughout their home cities searching for clues that could be found on its newest viral marketing site whysoserious.com.

People from all over the US set out in their city to find just exactly what they were looking for in their clue. Guided only by their hint as well as a partial snapshot of what exactly they were looking for, viewers who found the letter were then instructed to send it to the web site where it would be posted and they would be credited for finding it first

So what exactly did everyone find? A nice little letter from the Joker explaining "The Only Sensible Way to Live in This World Is Without Rules". After clicking on the envelope were this is spelled out, a picture of the Joker from the movie appears. By clicking on the picture of the Joker, you are then directed to their NEWEST virial marketing campaign, released on October 31st.

The Joker instructs its viewers to paint themselves up like him and go around town taking pictures in front of famous landmarks. The letter is actually pretty funny because you can see how the company is trying to protect itself all throughout the letter while still making it sound like the Joker wrote it. For instance, one sentence explains how it doesn't want to be sued if someone does something stupid for this scavenger hunt:

"Put on a show in front of the most famous landmark in your city, but dont get arrested -- you are no use to me behind bars"

They also try to ensure that viewers know their pictures will not be used anywhere without their permission by stating:

"Pictures are like ears: anything you lend me I am not giving back"

All and all it is shaping up to be a pretty interesting campaign. Keep checking back to the newest virial site Rory's Kiss of Death to see what happens once the Joker has filled his quota of photos.


On a side note, I'd like to give a little shout out to Judy Kim, producer of the a new independent movie titled Screeh! of the Decapitated. Our class recently had the pleasure of having Judy come into our classroom and talk about the movie industry as well as her film. To be completly honest, I had no intentions of watching the film when I first began seeing it advertised around our campus (ITHACA COLLEGE REPRESENT!). However, after listening to Judy, which was easily one of the best public speakers I have ever listened to, talk about her film I became interested. Just from listening to her you could tell that she knew exactly what she was talking about as well as that she had experienced a lot in the movie industry. So, if you're a fan of such movies as The Rocky Horror Picture Show, this movie will definetly be up your ally and worth your time to check out.

Tekken Takes To The Theaters

Taking a multi-million dollar video game and turning it into a multi-million dollar movie is by no means a new idea what so ever. The first video adaptations came with Super Mario Bros in 1993 which proved to be a humongous flop. Mortal Kombat followed a few years later raking in about $70 million, somewhat respectable but making it fall second to the film adaptation of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.

Comingsoon.net was the first to announce the arrival of the newest video game- to- movie Tekken, set to release in 2009. Marketing tactics are dismal seeing as how production is just beginning, but the hype for the movie is already beginning. It should be interesting to see how much and how exactly the company plans to market this movie to the consumers when it is released. The reason for this stems from the latest video game movie DOA: Dead or Alive, which was barely marketed at all in the US (and the movie kicked some serious ....). The movie, costing around $21 million, only brought in $6 million worldwide.

So far the only marketing tactics placed out have been the release of the movie poster. I was also able to find what was called a teaser trailer, but appears to be fan made. None the less, it appears that the people who will be potraying the characters are shown in the clip.

The movies main marketing tactic of establishing its identity has already been employed for the past 13 years. The movies realease will also be helped by the release of the newest Tekken game, Tekken 6, which is to be realased on Playstation 3 in November. The game will feature the return of the majority of the Tekken characters as well as the introduction of three new characters.

Not So Incredible

I remember being a senior and high school when I first saw the preview for The Hulk. I was extremely excited for the summer to roll around seeing as how any Marvel movie was always worth my time and my nine dollars. I also remember that up until The Hulk, I had purchased ever Marvel movie on DVD. Like I said though, up until The Hulk....

I will be the first to admit that I was wooed by the ways of Hollywood and once again feel prey to a heavily marketed movie with a crappy story line. The Hulk did considerably well it's first week, bringing in about $62 million opening weekend. What looked like a promising start though soon dwindled into a downward spiral of failure. Thanks to the o-so-great word of mouth tactic, sales and viewings of the movie began to drop substantially. The movie brought in around $245 million overall when the dust had settled, but the reputation of the movie had taken a much harder hit.

I guess it should not have been such a huge shocker for me then when I noticed that Marvel studios announced that they will be producing another Hulk story, titled The Incredible Hulk.
To the naked eye, this idea seems like a poor choice on the part of Marvel to try to pick up where they left off and save the movie from extinction entirely. However, taking a closer look, you can see how Marvel production company has taken the necessary steps to place this movie out of the shadow the The Hulk, and into a spotlight all of its own.

I guess the easiest way to look at this is by comparing Batman with Batman Begins. Same characters, but completely different storyline (the original Batman will always be the best). Sad to say, Eric Bana will not be returning to play Bruce Banner. Edward Norton instead will lead the cast along with Liv Tyler replacing Jennifer Connelly as Betty Ross.

The coolest thing about this movie is that it is not totally disregarding the previous movie, but definitely not following in its footsteps. The creators have the "learn from our mistakes" attitudes when it comes to this film. They will use the first movie to get the idea of the Hulk's origins out of the way and build from there. A few things they are changing in this movie is a smaller, more believable different shade of green hulk.

So far, little marketing has been taken place. It will be interesting to see how the general public responds to the marketing tactics seeing as how many viewers still feel cheated from the last film. A web site was recently posted up with no more than the storyline of the new movie to offer up to viewers. A poster for the movie has also been released and showed off at the 2007 New York City Licensing Show.

Some common things to look for in the coming months include a teaser trailer (finally) as well as more descriptive movie poster. I then assume things such as video games and action figures, followed by a soundtrack featuring the latest "cool" bands. But who knows, I could be wrong (rarely happens).

Virtual Conference

Recently I listened to an online conference where speakers Todd Waserman, Alan Schanzer, and Barton Goldberg spoke about online social networks and they can help you by spreading brand awareness. Throughout the presentation I felt like a lot of the material was pretty much the majority of the stuff I have been learning in my internet marketing class. The three men talked about things ranging from Google, to Myspace, to Web 2.0 characteristics and how to use them to your advantage.

Todd started off the presentation with his presentation mostly highlighting numeral data that the companies are bringing in. The most interesting thing that Todd said for me was when he explained that despite all the hype about Facebook, Myspace is still the number one social networking site. For me, this seems unreal because I know a few people with Myspace, but literally everyone has Facebook. I think the important factor to keep in mind however is something Barton Goldenberg said in his presentation, just how many people are visiting the site though?

Mr. Schanzer's presentation was personally, for me, the most interesting. What I liked most about him was that he lead by example. He gave us some underlying features of social networks, and then explained how these helped certain companies with extending their brand awareness. He talked about the company E&J Brandy, who used social networking to set up a "Spoken Words" contest. The most interesting thing that Mr. Schanzer pointed out was the fact that everyone is so fascinated by these social networks, but a lot of people still don't even have internet. E&J Brandy fixed that problem by taking around a mobile van to African American communities and allowing them to record their 30-second spoken words spot and then upload it to the internet. This was a great idea because of the simple fact that now they had both the online and offline community involved with the brand.

Barton Goldenberg was the last speaker for the conference. I found his material to be pretty much the regurgiated matter of my great professor Kurt Komaromi. His entire presentation focused the Digital Client, who according to Goldenberg, is the Generation Y people who are "always on, always connected". He also talked about how great social networks are for businesses because not only are digital clients connected to your network and stores but they are also connected directly to you, the company.

This Should Bee Good

Jerry Seinfeld is finally back on the big screen....well, sorta, in Dreamworks new animated movie Bee Movie. Seinfeld will be voicing the character of Barry Bee Benson, a local college graduate who has spent his life preparing for the big wide world ahead of him. However, after graduation, Barry becomes troubled when he realizes the world isn't that big at all and he has one task in life, to make honey. Barry travels outside the hive and breaks the big rule of talking to humans, which is where Renee Zellweger's character comes in. Barry then sues humans for confiscating their honey, only in the end to find that by doing this he has put every bee out of a job. Also, without bees pollinating the flowers anymore, plant life soon begins to die. It is now up to Barry to find a way to get the jobs back for his fellow employ-bees and restore order to mother nature.

This is not the first big animated movie for Dreamworks. In 2006 they released the comedy Over the Hedge starring the voice of Bruce Willis. The movie grossed over $150 million in the box office alone and was a favorite among children in teens.

Dreamworks is taking the common marketing route when coming to this movie. They have released two trailers thus far and plan on releasing a video game on October 30th that will be available on various platforms. They have also released a movie poster capitalizing on the visual imagery and animation the movie will feature. Their web site is also interesting, offering everything from icons, screen savers, even recipes that you can download and use. It also offers a section for kids and moms to explore ways honey can help their health and beauty.

The coolest marketing tactic I found however is one that I haven't seen a lot of movies take advantage of. Dreamworks animation have taken the common idea of Neo-pets and Tamogatchi and created a Bee-a-pet, a widget application you can place on your desktop or web page. In this application, you receive your very own bee in which you are capable of feeding, bathing, making it sleep, or making it work. The application allows users a chance to experience the movie at the forefront by having their very own character and pet.

I took the time to download this application and play around with it a little bit. It's fun and doesn't require a lot of your time. You can simply check in from time to time and make sure your Bee is still alive and happy, and you can watch him grow up. I stopped using the application however because of the fact that I use a Mac, and would much rather prefer it to add it to my widgets page instead of it own sidebar. Because the application is available to download on yahoo, you have to download a separate widget application called Yahoo Widgets, which then mounts itself on the side of your computer screen. Anyone looking to reminisce about the golden days should defiantly take advantage of this application, but if you are a neat freak such as myself and don't wish do have sidebars cluttering up your computer screen, I recommend not downloading it.

Transform Your Ride

I thought it might be nice to change up my blog postings mostly considering that after scanning the internet for a few hours and not finding any movies that caught my attention (besides Jumper), I would begin researching a little post-marketing for some movies. The one that immediatly caught my eye was the summer smash hit Transformers. This movie, which has been called everything from spectacular to "a giant commercial for GMC/The Army", was one of the bigger summer blockbusters bringing in over $316 million in the US alone.

It doesn't take a marketing expert to see just why this movie would be famous. The markets that the production company could expand into were pretty much limitless. First off, you have the most obvious, which would be your toy line. These would reach children (and some adults) ages 4-10 with ease. Hasbro pretty much got handed this option of creating the toys on a silver platter after Dreamworks got into talks with them about producing the high budget movie.

This extensive marketing campaign has made it pretty much impossible to not turn your head and see something that ties in with Transformers somehow. Most apparent, you have the major company that contributed to the movie, GM, having a contest you can enter once you buy the film. By entering information online you can then enter for you chance to win a 2008 Chevy Camaro, the version that was actually used in the movie. Then of course you have the Transformers video game , Transformers Monopoly Edition, and just in time for Halloween, the Optimus Prime costume.

So whats to come for Transformers? Well, I think the answer to that question is pretty obvious. Dreamworks has apparently already given the green light for Transformers 2, and will a strong product base already laid out for them I don't forsee the company having any problem what so ever coming up with some extra cash to splash into the budget. They got their name out there, now all they have to do is create a sequel that was as well made as the original.

Jump On It!

Well its nice to see that actor Hayden Christenen has not fallen into the "Star Wars" curse like former actors of the film such as Mark Hamill. Christenen's new movie, Jumper, is the story about a man who was born with a genetic anomally which allows him to "jump" or teleport to and from wherever he pleases. Chistensen soon comes to discover that others such as him have the same power as well as a group of individuals who are sworn to kill him.

The movie, which is based on a science fiction title by Steven Gould that was released in 1992, will not follow the same main points as its story counterparts. The written version of Jumper center more around Davey, the main character, and his pursuit to find his mother, rather than the war he faces.

The movie will also feature feather Star Wars actor Samuel L. Jackson as Cox, the man who wants to kill Davey. Fresh off from his box office bombs Snakes on a Plane and Black Snake Moan, Jackson might able begin to build his credibility back up so long as this movie begins to equal its anticipation.

As for marketing, the movie has yet to really set in stone the kind of placement in viewers minds I think it should have. Marketing for the movie has seem dismal to non-existant. The only thing the company has released so far is it trailer and movie poster. The company has set forth making it known as the "President's Day" movie, but as Devin Faraci from chud.com explain, who actually marks that day on their calandar?

Doug Linman will be directing the movie, so I guess in the end there is hope for it yet. With movies from him like The Bourne movies as well as Mr. and Mrs. Smith, I dare say there is hope for the movie yet. Hopefully Twentieth Century Fox will "Jump on" the marketing train here before the movie's hype slowly speeds out of the station (that is the corniest thing I have ever written).

The Knight is Coming

So unless you have been living under a rock for the past few months you may not know about the huge sequel summer the movie studios have in store for us. Moviefone.com recently did an online poll of 2,000 movie goers to rank their interests in upcoming movies on a scale from one to five. The number one movie to clock in was Indiana Jones, but seeing as how I have never really watched a single one of them (I know, I know), we are going to talk about number 2 (which I'm very excited about), The Dark Knight.

The Dark Knight is the sequel to the 2005 summer hit Batman Begins which brought in over $200 million total. The story continues along the same trail as before following Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) in his heroic attempt to rid Gotham City from evil. The second movie will see two bad guys, including the all time favorite villain made famous by Jack Nicholson, The Joker. Harvey Dent, aka Two Face will also be in this film and is portrayed by Aaron Eckhart.

So far the movie has be producing a lot of buzz but with no real marketing campaign. The main website only features a political campaign poster for Harvey Dent and the studio has yet to release anything beyond a teaser trailer. The original viral marketing campaign set up by 42 Entertainment allowed users to piece away the political poster to eventually reveal the face of Heath Ledger as the joker. The site has since be taken down however.

Another viral marketing campaign entitled "Anticipation" was launched for the movie shortly after its release of the teaser trailer at the 2007 Comic Con. Apparently Warner Bros. created a mini scavenger hunt for all their loyal fans at the convention where they could view the new trailer as well as see teaser photos for the new film.

Of course it wouldn't be a Batman movie without the Mattel toys that follow, but what is most interesting is what Six Flags seems to be doing with their amusement parks for the movie. Chicago's (where the movie was filmed) very own Six Flags Great America, Jackson NJ's Six Flag's Great Adventure, and Six Flag's New England in Agawam MA will all be constructing and debuting its newest roller coaster entitled...thats rights, you guessed it, the Dark Knight in May of 2008. The ride will strap in riders as Gotham City patrons who are caught in a battle between Batman and the Joker.

Move Over Lord of the Rings

So I have to admit I have been saving this blog for some time now because of all the excitement I have inside of me for this movie. I remember in high school when I first read The Golden Compass and was enthralled by the world Phillip Pullman created. It seems New Line Cinema has bought the rights to this film and are planning on releasing the first installment, The Golden Compass, this December. The film actually has some big name actors including Nicole Kidman as Mrs. Coutler and Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel. I am just hoping this movie leaves a lot better taste in my mouth than the last book-to-film movie I watched, Eragon.

It seems New Line is definitely selling out quite the pretty penny for this film. The studio is spending $150 million dollars on the first installment , which is more than half of what is cost the studio to produce all of the LOTR films . Showing of the trailer began six months prior to its release during the summer at Pirates of the Carribean: At Worlds End, and has showed no signs of stopping yet.

Since you can expect not to any brand tie ins since the movie takes place in an entirely different world, New Line has used their web site as their biggest marketing tool. The site allows you to customize it among sixteen different languages showing the broad range of audiences it hopes to attract opening day. The site begins by allowing you to explore Lyra's world as well as the people and their daemons that populate it. The site also explains to users what the movie is about just in case someone enticed by the trailer hasn't actually read any of the books.

The coolest part about the web site however adheres to coolest part about the books. In Lyra's world, each person is accompanied by a daemon (pretty much your soul that lives on the outside of your body). As a child, you daemon can shape shift from animal to animal depending on how you are feeling, but settles into a phase as you get older. The web site allows people to figure out what their daemon would eventually settle into if they lived in Lyra's world and what this means about their personality.

New Line has also tied in an agreement to show the trailer at the Rockefeller Center are the opening of the ice rink on October 9th. This promotion will eventually end in November which will result in one lucky fan to win a trip to England.

New Line has actually went as far as debuting and extended five minute long preview at the Comic Con held back in February. This clip gives viewers a much deeper look into the movie and a better glimpse at what is to come. Check it out below!

Disney and Pixar are back for more

Ok, so I'm not really sure if it's ok for me to like cartoons being that I'm at the age of 21, but I have to tell you when Disney and Pixar get together to make a movie, I can't help but go and watch it. Well the fearsome twosome are at it again. After the release of their smash hit Ratatouille which brought in over $200 million, the gang will now shift from Paris to space.

The newest movie to be added to the ranks is Wall-E, the story about a robot who is literally, the last thing alive on earth. The story takes place in the future when humans have destroyed the planet. To solve the problem of cleaning up all the junk they create cleaner robots. The humans leave earth in hopes of returning. The problem occurs when the programming fails, and the robot program fails. Well, that is, all except for Wall-E, whose programming didn't fail. Watch out ladies and gentlemen, he's a one man cleaning crew. The surprising thing is this is actually a love story about Wall-E and another robot named EVE who was sent back to earth to see what was happening.

Disney showed off their first trailer way back in June , allowing it to follow the common trail of being advertised during the premier of their newest creation. Their brand new trailer, which was freshly released on October 1st, gives viewers a slightly better view of what the movie will look like. Disney has also slapped in a nice little advertisement in the beginning of the Ratatouille video game introducing the movie in an infomercial style about the Wall-E robots. The advertisement prompts you to visit the corporations site at Buy N Large to find out more about their Wall-E line of robots. I highly recommend checking out this site. You can tell Disney and Pixar definitely put out a pretty penny to make this extremely nice site.

Check out the preview below of the newest Wall-E trailer. I have to admit, the little guys is pretty cool so I think this will be another movie I will have to kidnap my little cousins for to go and see (that way I don't look weird in a movie theater full of ten year olds. Everyone wins in this situation).

The Time and Place

Unlike most of the American public this weekend I traveled to the cinema to check out the last installment (or is it?)in the Resident Evil movies. Right off the bat let me just tell you one thing, it was a good movie. I'm tired of the movie getting bashed over and over because of some of its short falls. Come on people, its a video game movie, it's not supposed to be some Oscar Nominee. It's a movie about zombies and viruses. So, if you like those kinds of movies, I highly recommend it. If not, save your money and your views.

The biggest thing I noticed when reading the reviews was the consistent bashing people did about the apparent product placement throughout the movie. Watching it I did notice one company in particular, Sony, who had a few products included in the movie, most dominately their VAIO computer which is used by every lab scientist. I thought this might be a fun idea to explore and demote as best I could.

It's funny how people were extremely apparent to it in this film when pretty much every movie ever made has some product tie in somewhere. Resident Evil clocked in with a total of 11 products being shown throughout the entire film. To the avid reader, this may seem like a lot, but is actually a relatively low number when you look at other films. Take for instance the low budget hit Superbad that clocked in with 34 different product placements or The Bourne Ultimatum with 59.

While most people complain that they hate being bombarded with these images from corporations, I think everyone need to keep in mind the fact that movies aren't cheap. Those high tech CGI scenes that we all know and love cost the company a pretty penny. The company needs to do whatever it possible can to reduce these costs, as well as combat the costs of promoting the movie once it is done. A studio can spend anywhere up to about 18 million dollars just to get the name of its movie out there. Slap that on to 35 million dollar budget and you got a pretty hefty charge on your credit card.

I think no one said it better than Michael Bay, director of the newest summer smash hit Transformers. For a long time he had been receiving criticism for his product placement in his movies.


" There are products in everything in everyday life. Do people think there shouldn't be brand names or something? Everything is branded. I hate commercials when they take logos off of stuff. It's not real life."


I for one appreciate when I'm watching a movie and see the actually Pepsi logo on the side of a can, rather than one blotted out. It helps the movie flow. It's the little things in movies that make them believable, such as brands. It'd be funny to take them away and then see how much people start complaining.

Product placement is an extremely interesting topic when it comes to movies. A cool site to visit is BrandCameo, a site that actually counts the number of brands that show up in a movie. Another cool site all about product placement is Product Placement News. I highly recommend taking a few minutes to view each page.

That movie with the dragons in it...

So I'll be the first to admit I'm not the avid movie guy I used to be. College and sports have definitely taken a toll on the marketing messages I see and hear for new movies coming out so I feel if studios marketing campaigns can reach me, then they are good enough to blog about.

Well, that is...most of the time. Have you seen the trailer for Dragon Wars (or what people on the street are callin' it, D-Wars)? The answer to that is most likely. Have you seen the actual movie? The answer to that is most likely not. The movie was created by Director Hyung-rae Shim and stars Jason Behr (better known for his character of Max Evans on the WB's Roswell) and Amanda Brooks. What a lot of people don't know is that the movie was actually created in large part for the South Korean audience and is a sequel to the 1999 un-smash hit Yonggary, which was later brought over to the US and renamed Reptilian.

What surprises me about the movie is the huge marketing and creation budget they allowed it to have. The movie originally cost 33 million dollars to make, which is a pretty big chunk of change. It was able to make most of that money back however seeing as how the movie was highly successful in South Korea where it pulled in 55 million dollars so far. However, over here in the US where you couldn't turn a channel without seeing the movie preview, the movie has only made around $10 million in its first two weeks, which is what we refer to ladies and gentlemen, as a flop.

Shortly after its release, the movie was continually bashed and made fun of on virtually every movie web site. Rotten Tomatoes has given it a 24% and one out of four stars at my colleges very own newspaper The Ithacan (we are a film school, I trust they know what they are talking about). The even bigger shocker is that apparently the company has not learned its lesson in losing money in the United States. Hyung-rae Shim shocked the movie going world when he announced that a Dragon Wars sequel is already in the works for 2009. Apparently, he didn't get the memo.

The Grudge?.. Nope. The Ring?...Wrong Again. One Missed Call?...You got it

It seems that us fantastical Americans are having some trouble coming up with movie plots of our own these days. Following the release of The Ring in 2002, movie studios have been buying up Japanese horror movies left and right and creating their own remake.

The newest movie to join the ranks is One Missed Call starring Edward Burns and Shannyn Sossamon. This Japanese horror film remake centers around pretty much the same idea as its foreign buddy The Ring. People receive a voicemail from their future selves which describe the date and time they will die, only for it to come true. Shannyn Sossamon's character Beth witnesses her friends slowly being picked off one by one. As the police enter, most of them give her the cold shoulder thinking she is crazy. Edwards Burn's character Detective Jack Andrews however believes her due to a previous event in his past that claimed the life of his sister. Beth soon moves from the spectator position into the game when her cellphone shows that she has one missed call (duh duh duhhhhhhhhh).

Although I couldn't find any information on an apparent cell phone service they would use in the movie I began to think to myself the reason why for this. It being a horror movie I completely understand why some companies might not want to tie their name to it. It should be interesting however to see how much sales boost for the ring tone that plays when you get "the call" once the movie has been released.

So in closing, I leave you with a preview of the poster for the new movie. I've also attached the cover of the DVD for the original One Missed Call (Chakushin Ari) movie. Feel free to enjoy it or be repulsed, the option is up to you. One Missed Calls opens in theaters on January 4th, 2008 if you're interested in checking it out.

An Unusual Marketing Tactic

Its seems like it was just yesterday I was heading over to the cinema to watch the highly anticipated summer flick Transformers. After watching the movie however, I didn't come home to look up things about the movie but instead facts about a movie preview I saw.

Anyone who saw the movie knows the movie preview I'm talking about. After it was done showing on the screen, I watched as everyone in the packed movie theater turned to the person next to them and began discussing what in the world the movie could be about, or more importantly, what the name of it was.

I'm talking about the new J.J. Abrams movie that doesn't even have a title attached to it yet. Since the human mind needs closure, the title 1-18-08 (its release date) has become the known name.

The movie preview opens up as we watch a farwell party going on for a man named Rob who is currently leaving NYC to live in Japan. The party seems to be going fine, that is until the power goes out. Pedestrians run to the street to see what the noise coming from the center of the city is caused by. The coolest part of the preview is that it looks like it is shot entirely through a home video camera. Then we hear another roar, and the Statue of Liberty's head comes flying into the street.

J.J. Abrams, who is most commonly known for his hit television series Lost, is partnering with Paramount in keeping the project extremely secretive. Many speculations have come out since the release of the trailer including the idea that the movie is perhaps named Cloverfield, all that the fans know is that the movie centers around a monster attack in NYC.

With such a simple idea of not putting a title to a good movie, Paramount has created one of the most highly anticipated movies of the new year. On its release date, searches for the movie spiked up an impressive 88% with fans trying to figure out what exactly the movie was all about. If you think about it, if they did attach a title to the movie, I don't think fans would have been equally impressed. I'm sure they would have still looked for it, but not like they have been. People are always intrigued to find the answers to secrets, which is exactly what this movie is doing. The studios even went as far as to not even release the trailer to any news corporations and tore it down for the internet, making the movie theater one of the only places to see the trailer. Paramount took a simple idea of buzz marketing and pretty much used it to its full advantage. Props to Paramount.

Want to know more? Hope on over to my bestest buddie Jovanna's Viral Marketing page for her interpretation on the buzz marketing sensation known as 1-18-08.

Lets Head Back Through the Wardrobe...

Disney and Walden Media have officially released the poster for their newest Chronicles of Narnia film, Prince Caspian. Although this film is originally the fourth book in the chronological order of the series, Disney and WM have decided to produce it next to adhere to the aging of the actors as well as try to follow the storyline C.S. Lewis intended.

The four Pevensie siblings once again find themselves in the enchanted lands of Narnia 1300 years after they left. The land they once knew and loved has been destroyed and it is up to them, along with the help of Prince Caspian, to tip the scales of good and evil.

The movie was originally intended to be released in December of 2007 but was pushed back to the summer of 2008 after conflicts arose. Walden Media will be releasing another movie entitled The Water Horse which was originally supposed to open around the same time as the Narnia movie. Since the company did not want its two movies competing at the box office, they figured that Narnia would have a good of shot if any in the summer running after becoming the number one selling DVD in 2006.
As part of their beginning marketing tactics, Disney opened up its door to run a fanart contest in which internet users could submit their doodles for the film. For a preview of all the fantastic work, click here.

Disney and Walden Media have also announced their intentions of beginning the filming of the Voyage of the Dawn Treader hopefully before the big Hollywood Strike takes effect. Supposibly the contracts had with Screen Actors Guild, Directors Guild, and Writer Guild will all end sending Hollywood into a scramble to produce movies. The companies hopeful release date for this movie will be one year later in May of 2009. Walden Media has also made the fourth movie in the series, The Silver Chair, top priority.

Its no doubt that the release of the poster is just the tip of the iceberg for these movies. With powerful funders behind them like Disney and Walden Media, items such as action figures, books, and DVD collectors items will be pushed onto the shelves in no time. I for one am excited for the movies since I was read them as a child, and am looking forward to all the Narnia movies Disney and Walden Media can shove in my face.