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Oct
19
ComingSoon.net has confirmed that 20th Century Fox will debut a new trailer for James Cameron’s Avatar in theaters this Friday, October 23rd! The trailer, which clocks in at roughly around 3 minutes and 30 seconds, won’t be coming online until October 29th. You should really see this in theaters anyways as we’ve learned that this is THE trailer, the one that will show you much more story (as opposed to the teaser trailer previously released). Read more @ ComingSoon.net Aug
21
If early reports from the East Coast are to be believed, this is not the happy Avatar Day that James Cameron and Fox wanted. Reading Twitter feeds is not quite an exact science, but people are saying that they attended screenings in theater that were half, or less, full. Aug
21
source: Hollywood Insider “We think the official trailer and this alternate version are both great,” says Dimension’s EVP of Creative Marketing Jeff Elefterion. “They both represent the picture well, but we feel the cut we went with was the right choice and it has done a fantastic job of getting the fans excited about this sequel.” The new trailer features many of the same clips as previous spots for the movie, but a slower pace and the prominent use of the Moody Blues’ song “Nights in White Satin,” which gives it a distinctly different feel. “The Moody Blues song is very important within the actual movie,” Zombie says. “That trailer, that’s our movie.” This isn’t the first beef Zombie has had with the marketing of his films. “It was a huge problem when I made [2005's] The Devil’s Rejects for Lionsgate,” he says. “That was from start to finish a wonderful experience – until it came time to market the movie. I go, ‘We kinda made this weird post-modern Western. They go, ‘We don’t care, we’re marketing it like it’s Saw.’ I go, ‘Well it’s not Saw. People that would like it are not gonna go see it, and people who think it’s Saw are gonna be so disappointed.’ For years and years afterward, people would be like, ‘I finally saw that movie. I love it. It’s totally not what I thought it was. It’s like this weird Peckinpah movie.’ I go, ‘I know!’ Ugggh. Now I’m going through the same thing again. What pisses me off is when you see something like District 9. When someone finally does a really interesting marketing campaign, it works because people are so jaded you need to give them something interesting.” We’ll have to wait to see if the leak pays off in box office receipts (2007’s Halloween, Zombie’s first crack at reviving the franchise, grossed more than $80 million worldwide). But for now, there is a bit of a happy ending: “I wrote the marketing guys a thank you note,” Zombie says. “I said, ‘I don’t know if you guys leaked this, but thank you if you did.’” Jun
25
The 50 Greatest Trailers of All Time
IFC.com has released it’s list of the 50 greatest trailers of all time. * indicates a Movie-List Classic. 50. Night of the Iguana (1964) 40. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999) 30. Femme Fatale (2002) 20. She’s Gotta Have It (1986) 10. The Shining (1980) * 5. Comedian (2002) 1. Alien (1979) * Jan
30
Source: Miramichi Leader Laura of all arts – Laura MacInnis
Underworld 3:Rise of the Lycans, The House Bunny, and most recently that annoying Mall Cop movie feature an even stranger new breed of movie advertising and one that bothers me a whole lot more than revealing the best scenes. The makers of these ads have chosen to place a bar at the top of your TV screen featuring the name and release date of the movie. And this bar remains at the top of the screen throughout the clips from the movie and voice over telling you the name of the movie. At no point can they allow you to forget what you are watching – that girl in the bunny ears acting like a ditz? Don’t forget she’s in the House Bunny. Clearly these ads are focused on the lowest common denominator – their audience must be too stupid to remember the name of a movie, right? The other popular commercial style I’ve noticed, particularly in the last couple of weeks, is just as manipulative but is aimed at a much different audience. Films with the benefit of generous accolades and reviews have always taken advantage of throwing up words like “four stars” and “two thumbs way up” and “nominated for five Academy awards.” Now, in a 30-second spot, ads have also shoved in interviews with the actors receiving all the praise as if five seconds of them speaking to a camera could encompass all the work and love they poured into a production. But apparently it works. In an excerpt from a recent article from the New Yorker about modern movie marketing suggests “a chorus of critical praise for a movie aimed at older women can increase the opening weekend’s gross by five million dollars.” Scary. But things weren’t always so rigorously structured. Watching one of my all time favourite movies last week, Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), I was struck by one of the extras on the DVD featuring an old trailer for the movie. The soothing deep voice of the narrator introduces the actors and the brilliant story of the illustrious Truman Capote. And then the trailer continues, showing lengthy scenes from the film – whole scenes of dialogue, fleshing out characters and developing plot lines right there in the trailer. While I can quote most of the movie off by heart from watching it so many times, it is none the less jarring to think how much of the movie would have been given away to a person who had never seen it before. Today advertisers have the added challenge of selling the movie without giving away too much of the plot. There has been a change in the audience mentality over the years – they don’t want to know the twists or turns to a screenplay. We even have a name for the release of too much movie news – spoilers. This term didn’t even exist in the early days of cinema, but today directors and producers often choose to be as tight lipped as possible before a release date so as not to give anything away about what they’ve been working on. It is hard to believe such things are necessary – if the only good thing about a movie you’re going to is a plot twist, it probably isn’t worth seeing. Yes, today I would be livid if Breakfast at Tiffany’s came out for the first time next month and I saw a trailer revealing the whole movie, but that’s only because I am a product of my generation, not wanting anything spoiled. In the end I’d still see it because I would have been wowed by the stylish Hepburn and the witty writing of Capote – though still equally annoyed by the racist interpretation of Mr. Yunioshi played by a squinting Mickey Rooney. |
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© 1997-2009 Jean-Pierre Bazinet
Halloween II writer and director Rob Zombie tells EW he doesn’t know how the unused trailer for his movie (in theaters Aug. 28) leaked to the website Bloody Disgusting on Wednesday, but that he is grateful that it’s out there and that it has been so well-received by the public. “When I first saw the trailer [cut by the company Buddha Jones], I went, ‘This is the f-ing movie we made.’ And then [Dimension Films] was like, ‘We don’t want to use it, we don’t like it,’ and they just threw it away. Then they cut all these other trailers that just look like generic, stupid f-ing slasher movie trailers, and I was f-in’ pissed. In fact, I wrote this long letter to the promotion department: ‘I hate these trailers and these TV spots, and I f-in’ hate you.’ You spend forever trying to craft something special and they’re gonna market it like a generic piece of ’80s slasher movie sh- because they think audiences are so f-ing stupid they can’t understand anything else. That trailer leaked from wherever, and I’m thrilled. The response has been like, ‘Wow, I didn’t want to see this movie until I saw this trailer.’”
No question, commercials for movies – like everything else – have changed over the years. Finding ways to break through all the other din in advertising and persuade a customer to see your movie has evolved dramatically since the days of Audrey Hepburn kissing George Peppard after tearing off her cat mask.