The Studios are Attacking the Little Man Red Box Now

The movie rentalwar has always been seen as a 2 way battle between heavyweights Blockbuster and Netflix. But there is another up and comer who has made strides in the niche and has won over the hearts of many. Red Box releases movies from kiosks for $1 and can usually be found in many local grocery stores and Wal-Mart’s around the country. The low price and general convenience of having the kiosks where people generally shop anyways makes it easy to rent from without the cost of a monthly subscription.

Things may be changing though with Red Box. On February 1, 2010, Wal-Mart put a 5 limit cap on new release purchases at a time. This may make things very different for Red Box to keep new releases stocked in their kiosks. In the end, this could end up really hurting Red Box from succeeding in this large and very competitive industry, especially if more restrictions are made.

Why?

Studios are putting more pressure on rental companies to delay the release of new movies to rental services. Warner Brothers delayed new releases with Netflix for 28 days, and rumors are more studios will follow. With decreasing DVD sales, studios are looking for ways to boost sales. If rental companies are limited to the amount of new releases, especially in the kiosks, then the studios will end up lowering the selling price of DVD’s in an attempt to lure those customers into buying the DVD’s instead of waiting.

Personally I think that’s a load of crap and a small decrease in a DVD is not going to suddenly grab a consumers attention to make them buy it. Especially if they already have a movie subscription or love the convenience of the local kiosk in their grocery store. Why would a consumer spend close to $20 instead of just waiting a month and paying $1 at Red Box? They won’t.

But while a lot of people use Netflix to rent older movies with their huge selection, Red Box is mainly filled with the newest releases. Any restrictions could jeopardize the company and slowly push them into being extinct which would be bad for the consumer. Hopefully Rex box could push through and figure out a way to stay afloat and successful and grow their name in the marketplace.

Do you use Red Box? What do you think about the restrictions limit on new releases?

Comments : Post a Comment | Category : Movie Marketing, Movie News, Netflix | Tags : Netflix,Red Box

Oscar Movies – Best Picture Run Down

Posted by Matt on February 8, 2010 at 12:30 am

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The month of February is commonly considered a dark period for movies. Nick mentioned that it is the graveyard for film. New releases are basically overshadowed by the award season. In fact, Oscar nominated films get a distribution boost in February in order to milk the buzz they get from the nomination.

So, we know that you are not going to hit up the theaters for new releases. Instead, we know that you all are going to try to catch up on the Oscar movies that you didn’t get to see the first time around. Get this, “An Education” went from 100 theaters before being nominated for the award, to over 700 after receiving the nod for Best Picture. However, Summit’s “The Hurt Locker” was sent to DVD, which went from being in theaters to being completely removed. Theaters will not show movies that get sent to DVD FYI. So, Summitt messed up.

As we are in the Oscar season, there is trophy talk everywhere. We have a year where 10 films got nominated and lots of movie hooplah to go through. Since we know you all are trying to play Oscar catch up, we wanted to help you out. Here are the 10 films nominated for Best Picture and our review for each one.

1. The Hurt Locker

2. Avatar

3. Up in the Air

4. Precious

5. Inglorious Basterds

6. The Blind Side

7. District 9

8. An Education

9. UP

10. A Serious Man

Keep Bantering

Comments : Post a Comment | Category : Movie Reviews, Oscars | Tags : A Serious Man,An Education,Avatar,District 9,Inglorious Basterds,Precious,The Blind Side,The Hurt Locker,UP,Up In The Air

2/07/10 Box Office Results: ‘Dear John’ Trumps Cameron, Award-Centrics Get Their Due

Posted by Nick on February 7, 2010 at 10:29 pm

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Oscar season is among us, and like I previously mentioned people are finally giving the nominations a chance. However, if you didn’t see any of them odds are you saw Dear John, the latest adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel. It knocked Avatar off its seven-weekend #1 spot to debut in primary with $32.4 million. The romantic drama starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried as a couple who communicate with each other through letters trumped Nights in Rodanthe’s opening weekend of $13.4 million, the last book-turned-movie of Sparks. It also topped The Notebook’s bow of $13.5 million in 2004.

Not so far away from Dear John, James Cameron’s Avatar took a 24.6% dive to second place with $23.6 million. Its domestic total last week finally beat Titanic’s lifetime of $600.8 million with a massive $630.1 million cumulative. The next film from Taken director Pierre Morel From Paris With Love opened with $8.1 million. The action/thriller starring John Travolta may have suffered from the fact that its targeted audience of men was too busy preparing for Sunday’s Super Bowl game, with no time to go to the movies.

In fourth place, Martin Campbell’s Edge of Darkness fell a steep 59.3% from first place with $7 million. The revenge thriller’s total is up to $29.1 million in ten days, trying to make back an $80 million budget. Tooth Fairy finishes us up at #5 with $6.5 million, falling 35% from last weekend. The Dwayne Johnson-starrer has a grand sum of $34.3 million in three weeks.

Out of the top five-

Like I said, the Oscar baits are finally getting the cash they rightfully deserve. Scott Cooper’s Crazy Heart, starring a likely win Jeff Bridges, increased 58.1% over football weekend and entered the top ten, expanding onto 580 more screens. The country-western weeper has a total of $11.2 million.
It was funny seeing Lone Scherfig’s An Education came back to the marquees in Connecticut this weekend. The coming-of-age flick, with best actress nominee Carey Mulligan (deserving a win), found its weekend total go up 668% as it amplified an extra 686 screens. The two-day expedition total: a healthy $915,000. Its complete epitome: $9.8 million.
Tom Ford’s A Single Man was playing on another 137 more screens, resulting in a weekend total of $631,000, a 14.1% increase from last weekend.
Michael Hoffman’s Leo Tolstoy biopic The Last Station came onto 42 more screens and inherited $371,000, 337.8% more than its last check-in.
Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon entered four more theaters and came out with $132,000, a 12.9% increase.
IFC’s Red Riding Trilogy, three films from author David Peace following an English serial killer in the ‘70s and ‘80s, debuted with $15,500 on one screen.
Henrik Ruben Genz’s drama Terribly Happy, about a relocated cop after a mental disruption, managed $13,000 on one screen.
Meanwhile, The Hurt Locker was sent to DVD by Summitt, which removed it from theaters. Summit, revenue wise, messed up.

Here are the box office results according to studio estimates Sunday-

1. Dear John…$32.4 million
2. Avatar…$23.6 million
3. From Paris With Love…$8.1 million
4. Edge of Darkness…$7 million
5. Tooth Fairy…$6.5 million
6. When in Rome…$5.5 million
7. The Book of Eli…$4.8 million
8. Crazy Heart…$3.7 million
9. Legion (2010)…$3.4 million
10. Sherlock Holmes…$2.6 million

Comments : Post a Comment | Category : Box Office | Tags : Avatar,Box Office,Crazy Heart,Dear John,From Paris With Love

Avatar Will Win Best Picture Because of Patrick Ewing

Posted by Craig on February 5, 2010 at 2:30 am

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Patrick Ewing entered the 1985 draft as the best player in the country. this also happened to be the first year that the NBA turned to their new ping pong ball style way to determine the order for the draft. Sure enough out of nowhere, the New York Knicks, a struggling team, ended up with the #1 overall pick and selected Patrick Ewing who went on to have a Hall of Fame career with the Knicks. A lot of people thought that in 1985 that there was a conspiracy behind the fact that the biggest market “somehow” got the #1 pick in order to select Ewing.

Now it’s 2010 and Oscar season. This was a very weak year of movies, so the Academy decided as a way to create more buzz to extend the Best Picture category to 10 nominees. This isn’t out of left field being at times in the 20’s and 30’s there were years that had up to 12 nominees. But suffice it to say, there are more movies that although may be fun and entertaining, have no shot at winning.

So how does Patrick Ewing and Avatar have some sort of weird connection?

With a long running time for the Oscars, poor movies, the rise of MTV, and a viewership that cares more about the red carpet than the actual event, the Oscars have been hurting over the past few years with ratings. They have looked at ways to get the audience and generation Y demographic more interested, and even with hosts like Chris rock and Jon Stewart, they still failed.

I think The Hurt Locker should win the award for Best Picture. This little war movie that came out of nowhere has made a big push and has grown a huge following. The unique perspective of the war following a bomb squad in Iraq and the psychological repercussions they have unfortunately won’t win.

Avatar will win Best Picture.

It shouldn’t. Many believe it shouldn’t have been nominated, that it’s not an Oscar movie. Although it has unbelievable visuals and is an extremely fun and exciting movie, is it really in the realm of a Best Picture movie? Many think that if Avatar got a nomination, how come Star Trek got snubbed?

Because the Academy is going to use Avatar the same way the NBA, David Stern, and the NY Knicks used Patrick Ewing.

Avatar will win the Oscar to bring more buzz and controversy which will raise ratings for the show in future years, the way Patrick Ewing brought more attention and fans to the NY Knicks. Just the fact that it’s in the running, there have already have been tons of articles written about this, and more to follow. If it wins, this will be controversial, many believing it will be part of a conspiracy. Following the Oscars, articles, videos, and more will be posted on the internet, shared on multiple social networks and through email and will garner tons of PR. The Academy and Hollywood will benefit from all the buzz with increased DVD sales, and will lead to higher ratings for next years Oscars show. Because once they get away with this, they will certainly add another movie next year which will cause some sort of controversy, maybe even people will start calling it the “Avatar” affect. We may be having another conspiracy on our hand.

Do you think Avatar deserves to win Best Picture? Do you think it may be considered a conspiracy if it does?

Comments : Post a Comment | Category : Oscars, Rants | Tags : Avatar,Best Picture,Oscars,Rants

Star Trek Oscar Snub

Posted by Matt on February 4, 2010 at 12:30 am

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In a year that the Academy expanded the Best Picture pool to 10 films, they had an opportunity to really change the framework to which so-called popcorn movies are judged. The films up for Best Picture are The Hurt Locker, Avatar, Up in the Year, Precious, Inglorious Basterds, Up, The Blind Side, An Education, A Serious Man, and District 9. Of the 10 listed only the first 3 even have a chance. To go even further than that The Blind Side, Up, Inglorious, and District 9 are all great movies however they are simply there to receive the accolades of being nominated. Do they have a prayer? Nuh uh. Only Precious belongs to be in the category. I won’t say anything for or against A Serious Man or An Education because I do not know enough about either film.

Now, films that have no chance of winning are being grouped into this heavily coveted category. This gets me thinking that were there other films this year that were better than the 4 (The Blind Side, Inglorious, Up, and District 9). I do not want to diss any of these films so please don’t take this post the wrong way. I liked that the Academy is trying here but I’m not sure they got this right. J.J Abrams’s Star Trek masterpiece, a film that dominated the Summer and rebooted the franchise, belonged to be nominated.

Here is my analysis:

Star Trek > UP

Star Trek > District 9

Star Trek > Inglorious

Star Trek = The Blind Side

I really think what J.J Abrams did was brilliant. The ultimate finished product was a perfect popcorn movie that actually turned into something more. We had non-sci fi fans running to the theaters. The year’s Star Trek changed the face of the franchise entirely. Regardless of what it did, the film itself was amazing. The script was great, original and the movie was perfectly casted.

So, we come to the result that if there were certain popcorn movies being nominated, did the Academy get the right popcorn movies in the mix. I think they missed one. Star Trek really belonged in the mix here. Sure it would stand no chance of winning, but still the category expansion was to make things more exciting and entertaining, and not necessarily to win. Sorry Star Trek, you got screwed.

Star Trek was snubbed.

Comments : 1 Comment | Category : Oscars, Rants | Tags : JJ Abrams,Star Trek

Nick: Oscar Nominations Reaction

Posted by Nick on February 3, 2010 at 2:30 am

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The Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild Awards…no award quite compares to the consciousness of receiving an Oscar. We had a load of great movies in 2008, so I had numerous problems with last year’s show. Slumdog Millionare over Milk and you nearly completely ignore The Dark Knight, Academy? Please.

It was 2009, folks; a year of relatively decent movies. Let’s face it, compared to the past two junctures ’09 was nothing special. (Though really, when you have both No Country for Old Men and Gone Baby Gone in the same sun rotation, that’s something pretty damn unique.) The nominees for the 82^nd Annual Academy Awards were announced by Anne Hathaway and Academy president Tom Sherak Tuesday morning at 8:30 EST/5:30 PST. I guess even if you crap out as giant monstrosities as Bride Wars and (probably) Valentine’s Day, since you made that one good movie all sins are percolated.

Anyway, the usual flicks were nominated in their respectable categories. The Hurt Locker and Avatar lead with nine nominations each, including best picture. I’m not sure why Avatar is suddenly receiving Oscar buzz. It’s more of an event rather than an actual movie worthy of awards of other breeds than technical. Nine, for some bizarre reason, contends in four categories; and the Academy continues to tease by nominating Up in the Air for five awards including best picture.

What surprised me was that District 9, after being tragically ignored by every other determining awards group, is up for best picture. I loved the movie and I assumed all of its chances were no more. Speaking of pleasant surprises, Armando Iannucci’s fantastic political comedy In The Loop was nominated for best original screenplay. I went gaga over it after a special screening in July, but was saddened when I found that no one had even heard of it. What I love about the Academy’s announcing Oscar nominations in early February is that it gives people a chance to see all of the contenders before the big night. Hopefully everyone reading this will be smart and, if you haven’t yet, give In The Loop a chance.

The White Ribbon was another standout. The more I contemplate Michael Haneke’s black-and-white period piece, the more terrified I become of it. The film has a serious chance at taking home the gold in March. I haven’t seen Un Prophete yet, which is also nominated in the same category and an added one I’m dying to see, however as of this writing I’m rooting for Ribbon. As happy as I am for Haneke’s film making the list, I know some people who really enjoyed Il Divo, which was for some reason snubbed.

Now onto the bad stuff on the nomination list. Number one, Marvin Hamlisch’s marvelous score for The Informant! is nowhere to be found. Glad that Up’s score by Michael Giacchino is up for an award, howbeit The Informant! was terribly overlooked by seemingly everyone. While we’re on the subject, Matt Damon is nominated for best supporting actor for Invictus? I know I’m not the only one who adored him as the pudgy Mark Whitacre in Steven Soderbergh’s corporate spoof.

(500) Days of Summer was one of the rare occurrences where I actually read the script for it. And wow, was I on the verge of tears. Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber’s screenplay is emotional and tragic. Above everything, it’s real. I wasn’t expecting a best picture nomination for (500) Days, but I thought for sure it would be up for best original screenplay. Sadly, it was not.

Star Trek only nominated for technical and makeup; that’s just not right. J.J. Abrams brought new life to the famed television and movie series, and opened it up to a larger, younger fan base. It’s a shame to see the Academy turn a deaf ear to it. One of my biggest concerns, the amazing Michael Stuhlbarg not recognized for his turn as a deteriorating devout Hebrew in the Coen brothers’ A Serious Man. Come on, people. You nominate Sandra Bullock and ignore this fresh face?

I’m not too big a fan of the expanded best picture category. Only if the year is full of enough phenomenal films should that change have taken place. I mean, filling leftover five spots with The Blind Side, Up, A Serious Man, An Education and District 9; the Academy knows as well as I that none of them have any chance of winning. As great as those films may be, it’s groveling to them. Nevertheless, I’m pretty excited for this year’s show. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin tag-teaming a three hour time slot? I’m so there.

Comments : 2 Comments | Category : Oscars, Rants | Tags : Academy,Anne Hathaway,Nominations,Oscars,Reaction

Snap Review of Edge of Darkness

Posted by Craig on February 3, 2010 at 2:30 am

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Edge of Darkness is a thriller that attempts to take you off of you seats, but fails doing so. When Thomas Craven’s (Mel Gibson) daughter is accidentally shot as the two leave their house on the way to the hospital, Craven vows his revenge for the horrific killing. When his initial thoughts that he was the real target are proven wrong, he discovers that his daughter was involved in trying to get the truth out about a government conspiracy. By himself, he tries to piece together the information and track down those involved to get justice for his daughter, and to learn the truth.

This movie was a poor man’s Taken, and was even more underdeveloped than that movie. We find nothing about Cravens past or why he ended up the way he is. All we know is his daughter is killed, and this one cop somehow drives everywhere finding out information and killing all of these hired thugs in the process unraveling it all. The brings no real dimension to it and is laughable at times. So many characters are underdeveloped and prove no real value to the movie. At times it seems like the movie is trying to be lead with some major twists, when in the end its just annoying its getting confusing for no reason. This was not a very good movie, no shocker it was dumped in January with the rest of the turd movies. It may be sad to say but Gibson is at the end of his career and pretty pathetic that this is the first movie he has done in years and this is what he gives the audience. Let me know your thoughts if you saw it and the video review is below.

Snap video review of the movie Edge of Darkness

Comments : 1 Comment | Category : Movie Reviews | Tags : Edge of Darkness,Mel Gibson

Indie Spotlight: Nobody

Posted by Matt on February 2, 2010 at 1:09 am

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Rob Perez, the writer of 40 Days and 40 Nights, makes his directorial debut in this creative, well-made character film about art school grad students. Josh Harnett, the star of 40 Days and 40 Nights, was also a producer on this film. “Nobody” is a clever piece that tells the story of these grad students and their dealings with quarter life crises. When you are at the end of your life in school, you always ask yourself the question, what is next? Do you know? I bet you don’t, especially if you want to be a starving artist.

Lindeman, the main character of the film, played by Sam Rosen, is completely freaked out about the next chapter in his life. He has no direction and seeks advice from anyone who will give it. His close friends in the movie make for a very dynamic group of people, which makes for some extremely funny scenes. This is Rosen’s first major starring role and he delivers a good performance. He kind of reminds me of like a cooler Zach Braff – confident about his insecurities but not as awkward as Braff’s JD in Scrubs. Mark Margolis, from Ace Ventura – the crazy landlord, plays Lindeman’s adviser, and is a PG-13 verison of Donald Sutherland from Animal House. The relationship between Margolis and Rosen is incredibly funny with some scenes that are completely laugh at loud hilarious.

Perez does quite a good job at telling the stories of many personalities in this film. The driver of the film is that everyone is so different yet need one another for support. Thus, it was extremely important to develop each character’s role in the movie. We have the happy couple, the lost intellect, the goth, the beauty, the old washed up professor who lusts for students, the young up-and-comer, and of course Lindeman, who is more freaked out then any member of the group.

The music in Nobody adds to the ambiance of the film as well. Nobody is really a comedy about serious issues. From the moment the film starts the music kind of sucks you right in, delightfully changing to the mood of the story. We see the music following the path of our characters. Overall, Nobody leaves you smiling and feeling content with yourself. Sometimes you just don’t have the answers, and you know what, that’s ok.

Check out my video review as well.

On a side note, we will hopefully be doing an interview with Rob Perez within the next week. We might be able to swing some DVD’s as well and will be holding a give away. We will keep you all posted

Keep Bantering

Comments : Post a Comment | Category : Indie Spotlight, Movie Reviews | Tags : Nobody,Rob Perez

Ode to the Unknown Classic Actors: Alex Winter

Posted by Craig on February 1, 2010 at 3:00 am

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Last week as I was eating my daily enormous breakfast while getting ready for work, I decided to stray from the normal programming of watching the same Saved by the Bell episodes. You would think networks would realize people like to watch TV while eating breakfast, and frankly ESPN has become one giant soap opera that I’m not sure what the difference will be between that and the new TMZ Sports that will be launching. Getting basically all of my sports fix on news, commentary, insights, and scores online now, I usually go with Saved by the Bell in the morning. This day was different, maybe it was the new Fruity Cheerios I recently have taken a liking to, or some cosmic force, but I began searching through the HBO channels to see if there was any decent movies on. And sure enough I came across Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey. The sequel to the cult classic movie of 2 years earlier of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, about two brain dead guys from California whose dream of starting their own rock band is in jeopardy if they cannot pass their history test. Yes I know what you are thinking….classic!

Anyways, I was watching the movie for about 20 minutes, and everyone who watches this will automatically recognize one face in the movie. Ted, played by yours truly, awful actor yet somehow became a star Keanu Reeves. The typical story of events when someone watches this movie goes like this.

Person A: No way, isn’t that Keanu Reeves?

Person B: Yea, you didn’t realize he was in this?

Person A: No, I didn’t know, it’s so cool to see him in such an early movie.

Person B: Yea it is pretty cool, this movie was an 80s classic.

Person A: Yea, but who is that other guy?

How in a movie like this, at the beginning of their careers does one guy become Keanu Reeves, AKA Neo of the Matrix, Shane Falco in The Replacements or a number of other movies, and the other guy become known as “who is that other guy?” How did this happen? Was there any way to tell when this was being filmed that one would be the star, the other would be a nobody? I wonder if people originally thought the other. Well I am here to tell you who “the other guy is.”

Alex Winter

A forgotten hero in a classic movie. He will only be known as Bill Preston, and nothing else. Looking through his career highlights in IMDB I have found nothing else noteworthy that he could be known for doing. Maybe it’s because he is 5′7″ and British, or maybe that damn Keanu Reeves bad mouthed him on set, but his career is non-existent.

Although you may be interested in hearing that in 2007 he directed a Cartoon Network’s live action movie event “Ben 10: Race Against Time.” He is also writing the remake to the 70s movie Rock N’ Roll High School for producer Howard Stern and is working on directing the 3D horror movie “The Gate.” So I am glad to hear that he is making moves in Hollywood.

So to Alex Winter, AKA Bill Preston, a man who no one will know, but everyone will remember.

Bill: As you can see, Genghis very much enjoys Twinkies because of the excellent sugar rush.

Comments : 4 Comments | Category : Ode to Forgotten | Tags : Alex Winter

1/30/10 Box Office Results: No January Competition for Cameron

Posted by Nick on January 31, 2010 at 6:42 pm

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