It was bound to happen eventually. After
a quarter-century,
26 Academy Awards, and an unparalleled streak of
eleven artistic and commercial triumphs, Pixar's latest project,
Cars 2, is
Certified Rotten. Critics have
assailed the film as a slick but hollow vehicle for Disney's
$10 billion-dollar Cars merchandising industry "lifestyle brand," replacing the original's serviceable tale of small-town redemption with
zany spy games,
hyperactive chase sequences, and even more
lowbrow aww-shucks potty humor from
Larry the Cable Guy. But it's not all bad news! Along with
a fun new Toy Story 3 short, preceding today's (3-D) premiere showings is a first look at next year's
Brave --
a darkly magical original story set in ancient Scotland featuring the studio's first female lead (and
director).
Evocative high-res concept art [mirror] is available at the official website, and
character sketches have leaked to the web, with the apparently striking teaser trailer sure to follow. Also, be sure not to miss the sneak peak of
Brave's associated short,
"La Luna"!
posted by Rhaomi
on Jun 24, 2011 -
263 comments
"What I'm asking is this: Are screenwriters now affected by "spoiler culture" before they even begin the writing process? If you know a twist will be unavoidably revealed before the majority of people see the work itself, and if you concede that selling and marketing a film with a major secret will be more complicated for everyone involved … would you even try? Would you essentially stop yourself from trying to write a movie that's structured like The Sixth Sense?"
Are Spoilers Flipping the Script?
posted by Brandon Blatcher
on Jun 17, 2011 -
128 comments
An unexpected corollary of the modern marketing-and-distribution model is that films no longer have time to find their audience; that audience has to be identified and solicited well in advance. The Cobra -
The New Yorker on the art and science of movie marketing.
posted by fearfulsymmetry
on Jan 21, 2009 -
36 comments
Using fine-art images to promote movies: "But it was Mr. Kessell's "
Florilegium" (or "collection of floral images") daguerrotypes that caught Mr. Palen's eye: each image is close-up of a surgical instrument, so poetically rendered that it seems almost organic. Some of the macabre implements resemble
exotic flowers. One, from a distance, could be mistaken for the
horns of a gazelle. "We were sort of blocked, and all the pieces fell into place once I saw that image," Mr. Palen explained. A deal was made to use that daguerreotype [to promote the upcoming Tarantino-produced film "
Hostel"], which actually shows a surgical clamp. [
The poster] now appears in theaters and on widespread promotions. [Side:
direct WMV link of Tarantino spazing out while introducing "Hostel's" director Eli Roth at a festival.]
posted by JPowers
on Jan 4, 2006 -
12 comments
Texting blamed for summer movie flops -Oh No! The good old days of 'Buying Your Gross' are gone. "No, the executives are not blaming such bombs as The Hulk, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle or Gigli on poor quality, lack of originality, or general failure to entertain. There's absolutely nothing new about that.
The problem, they say, is teenagers who instant message their friends with their verdict on new films - sometimes while they are still in the cinema watching..." What's an honest marketing executive gonna do?
[Via
Arstechnica]
posted by kodas
on Aug 20, 2003 -
35 comments
Hulking out. I don't know what is more overwhelming, the sheer number of products tied in with the new Hulk movie, or the amount of detail
kokogiak collected on the subject. I'm trying to remember another movie that had this variety of marketing tie ins (
Slim Jim? Shot glasses? Jello?)
posted by jonah
on Jun 17, 2003 -
48 comments
There is growing evidence that
Somalia may be the next target in the "war on terrorism". Let's hope that the military doesn't repeat the same mistakes it made in
the last intervention in Somalia chronicled in the book Black Hawk Down. All of this is great news for the upcoming movie based on said book. And you can't buy marketing like that.
Or can you?
posted by euphorb
on Dec 21, 2001 -
15 comments
As noted earlier this
month, there are slew of websites connected to Spielberg’s AI. As it turns out, they are all part of an
intricate game that stands to last long after the movie comes out. That game is called “movie marketing,” albiet terribly engrossing marketing.
posted by capt.crackpipe
on Apr 30, 2001 -
7 comments
