And I Want All the World To See

Ok, so let me tell you flat out, I'm not a Beatles Fan. Never have, but I can't exactly say never will be. Last January I attended the OLD movie theater here in the beautiful town of Ithaca, NY. It was there that I saw the first preview for Across the Universe. Now I have to admit, I had seen the movie poster online, and thought "oh here we go, another ridiculous movie". But it wasn't until I began seeing more and more clips, did I actually become excited. The song "I've Just Seen A Face" has become my new favorite song. I was especially excited today, because after months and months of waiting for the films version of the song, it is finally available!

So why exactly did the movie take so long to come out? Well kiddies, here is where I am going to tie in my o-so-awesome movie marketing knowledge to explain the circumstances. Revolution Studios apparently did some things behind director Julie Taymor back that she didn't appreciate at all. Turns out the chief of Revolution Studios Joe Roth created a shorter version of the film and tested it out without letting Taymor know. When Taymor caught wind of this, she was furious, and who wouldn't be? It would have been a different story if they would have let her known, but instead the movie studio apparently felt they could generate more profits with a newer version, so they recut it the way THEY liked it. But what Revolution Studios forgot that although they might have funded it, it wasn't THERE movie. It's Julie Taymor's movie, and I agree with her getting so angry. I'm personally happy that in the end they decided to stick with the original version. I just wish it didn't take them all those months to do it.

In the end, I guess it's not a bad thing. The anticipation for this movie certainly has to have built tremendously. We have all seen the preview before the movies with Sonys "First Look" that they now offer ( Am I the only one who wishes they could find the guy who invented commercials before movies and tell him EXACTLY what I think of him?) This current spot has been running for months while Revolution Studios and Taymor have been trying to figure out what cut to run. I remember seeing the preview in January, not hearing about the movie for a while, and then seeing the First Look in May. I remember thinking to myself "Oh sweet, that movie again, but when is it coming out?". Well after 9 months of anticipation, all I have to say is that its about time.

I've attached the YouTube video of the song I love so much. I hope everyone likes it too!

Saw This One Coming......

Well its October and everyone knows what that means. Thats right ladies and gentlemen, its Saw time (Saw IV to be exact). After its intial debut in 2004, the Saw movie franchise has been able to spin off three sequels with rumors of two more in the works.

It amazes me that even after Saw III the multiple industries funding these grotesque pictures continue to spill out money for them. Sure, the first Saw was great. It was a movie that wasn't only full of horror, but also played with your mind. Who knew that at the end the dude in the middle of the floor was the one actually running the show (I called it about 30 minutes into the flick, but I don't want to brag).

The problem with these movies is once you've seen one, you've SAW them all (ahahaha, I had to, it was just to easy). The Saw movies are famous for their huge twist at the end but face the problem of not reoccuring the same climax in each film. The original movie was so great because you didn't expect the major twist at the end. Now when people watch the movies not only are the expecting it, but they are searching for it (who didn't notice that Amanda was the only one not coughing blood in Saw II? Maybe I'm just a smart little detective like that).

The coolest thing about these movies is something many people might not know. Each year Saw teams up with The American Red Cross to sponsor a blood drive. This event in turn has raised over 38,000 pints of blood that has helped to save over 112,500 lives. This event has seen a positive increase each year, going from collecting only 4,200 pints in 2004 to 23,493 in 2006. With the numbers jumping up substantially each year, both the American Red Cross and Saw expect to reach record numbers once again.

Although the American Red Cross is participating in the event with the movies they have attempted to withdraw public knowledge of it. This first occured when the Saw III Blood Drive posters were realased showing gothic nurses with packets of blood. The Red Cross apparently didn't want people to associate them with sexy, scary nurses, so they asked that the Red Cross symbol be withdrawn from all poster ads. You can see examples of both below.


The advertisement on the left is the remodeled version of the Saw III Blood Drives. As you can see, the Red Cross symbol had to be cropped out. Photographs for every years campaign have been snapped by Liongate's Palen. Also watch the tube for PSA featuring Tobin Bell, better known as Jigsaw, advertising the events.

Marvel-ous

When it comes to summer blockbusters, no one does it quite like Marvel. Using the cartoons and characters my generation (18-24) has grown up, Marvel has been able to revamp its image by taking their characters from the drawing board and into Hollywood.

I recently read an article posted on cinematical.com explaining the release of Marvel's newest movie Iron Man. A smart move on Marvels part, the release date for the actual movie isn't scheduled until early May of 2008. It seems marvel is already gearing up for the famous summer blockbuster wars by positioning themselves early on in the running, much like it did with Spider-Man 3.

The trailer is savvy, funny, an action packed; everything you would expect from a Marvel movie. Robert Downy Jr. plays Tony Stark, the newest super hero to move his way from the comic book pages and onto the big screen. Marvel has successfully been able to land big name stars for their movies ever since the release of Blade in 1998, which brought in close to $100 million dollar with only a $45 million dollar budget.

I also found it clever how right off the bat, Iron Man established one of its only corporate tie in that it allowed for this movie. In the movie, super hero Tony Stark will be driving around in luxory in Audi R8. As you can imagine, Marvel didn't ask Audi to use their car, Audi begged Marvel to make it Tony Starks shaggin wagon. After auditioning automakers to find the car that best suited the movie, the R8 was chosen due to its sleak elegant looks with its masked power under the hood. Filmmakers believed this fit the persona of Tony Stark perfectly. Audi went to great lengths to secure this deal, flying in two R8's for the production crew to view. Audi also remodeled the car somewhat to resemble the costume that Tony Stark wears when he is Iron Man; remodeling the headlight to look like his eyes and the engine housing in the rear that resembles the life support system Tony Stark creates to stay alive.

The best part of the Audi tie in is the fact that filmmakers wanted a car viewers could relate to, or in fact even own. True, you don't see many, or any, Batmobiles roaming the streets these days, but you may actually see one of two R8's, assuming you have $108,000 floating around in your wallet.

So with the release of the trailer, users are flocking to Quicktime to begin viewing their first glimpse at this major motion picture. Problem? I think so. One day after being released, the web site has been flooded by online viewers. Hopefully Apple will be able to fix the problem that they have run into, where the trailer stops playing within the last 15 seconds. On a lighter note however, this only instills more curiousity in its viewers. Marvel fans will keep returning to the site over and over until finally, they can view the whole trailer.....or we can just wait a day til someone eventually puts it on YouTube.

Swing and a Miss

So here it goes, my first official "movie marketing" blog. I wasn't exactly sure how to start, so I just began by surfing the net and looking at some of the marketing campaigns and techniques that studios are using for their upcoming movies. As I read through the millions and millions of dollars that these corporations are spending to try and convince us to get off the couch and go to the theaters, I couldn't help but think about how some of these movies are sure to be humungous flops at the box office.

We've all seen them. We go to a movie, after watching the trailer, expecting it to be a phenominal showing. I remember when Catwoman came to theaters. I was so excited. I mean, come on, Halle Berry (one of my favoritest actresses) running around, kicking the crap out of bad guys. How could that possibley be a bad movie?

Well for those of you who have seen it, you know how the end of the story goes. A sad plot line and poor execution on everyones part, I wonder what was going through the minds of the movie studio execs when they threw this movie out to the general public. Warner Bros gave this movie a $100 million dollar marketing budget, only to have it generate a $40 million dollar revenue. You do the math, thats $60 million down the drain. It would have been smart for the studio to begin pulling it marketing campaign once they saw a rough draft of the movie. It wouldn't have taken a rocket scientist to get up and say "Um, I don't think we are going to make any money off from this".

And the list doesn't stop there. Who can forget movies like Battlefield: Earth or Evan Almighty. Movies studios think that so long as they slap a big time star in movies, it should automatically begin to sell at the box office. To bad their numbers don't confirm that.

For a list of more movies that have tried and failed, check this out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_US_box_office_bombs