Live Streaming Movie Premieres Allow Fans to Walk the Red Carpet

Hollywood studios are always looking for the next place to reach out to in order to gain awareness for their movies. Movies not only rely on reviews, but word of mouth buzz to gain traction which could lead to ticket sales for their movies. With social media, the doors are more open than ever for studios to become creative with online strategy to attract fans and help spread the word about their movies. The potential reach is limitless, and now studios are beginning online campaigns months prior to the release of a movie.

Alice in Wonderland the upcoming 3D blockbuster starring Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, and directed by the amazing and quirky Tim Burton comes out next Friday on March 5^th. Disney has spent months pushing this movie online and engaging fans with their Alice and Wonderland Facebook Fan Page and more. Recently they just had their movie premiere in London on February 25^th and live streamed the event to the world.

A few movies like Avatar have used live streaming techniques with their promotions, and this method which currently can be seen as a trend, will slowly become the standard. Live streaming a premiere is a great way for a movie studio to give a fan a personal front and center red carpet experience right from their home computer. It allows fans the opportunity to be part of the major event and see their favorite actors and actresses live, really making them fully part of the event. While watching the premiere through the Alice and Wonderland Facebook Page, fans also had the opportunity to connect in real time with other fans about the live events going on, making this a special and interactive event.

This strategy is a great way for studios to allow fans access which will only help spread the viral buzz for the movie, and likely lead to increased sales. Expect to see this become the norm for all big movie releases in the future.

Comments : Post a Comment | Category : Movie Marketing | Tags : Alice and Wonderland,Avatar,Facebook

The Studios are Attacking the Little Man Red Box Now

Posted by Craig Kessler on February 9, 2010 at 2:30 am

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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 : 2 Comments | Category : Movie Marketing, Movie News, Netflix | Tags : Netflix,Red Box

Avatar Will Become the New Mac N’ Cheese of Hollywood

Posted by Craig Kessler on January 29, 2010 at 2:30 am

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Source: Flickr

Gone With the Wind, Titanic, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings are some of the biggest money making movies of all time. In a very short time span, one movie proved that it belongs at the top of that list, and no shocker…..it’s Avatar. The 10 year James Cameron sci-fi epic is going to surpass Titanic in ticket sales to become the biggest movie of all time.

Who the hell is this James Cameron guy everyone talks about? Oh yea, I think he had some small cameo in Entourage and convinced Vinny Chase to do Aquaman, which became the biggest selling movie of all time. This guy cannot be stopped, even in a fictional movie he manages huge success. This guy is a directing legend.

But Avatar did have some help to push it to become #1 of all time, even help that wasn’t around for Cameron’s predecessor Titanic 10 years ago in 1999.

This movie was made in 3D, a technology that was not around 10 years ago. Now it is becoming the standard but growing up 3D was a cheap gimmick that was cool to see on rides at Disney World, not something you thought would enhance your standard flick. Besides the fact that movie tickets are at an all time high, 3D tickets are usually at least $2 more than a standard movie ticket. this obviously helps out the box office numbers especially when 80% of US gross and 65% of overseas grosses are from 3D box office sales.

Social Media is no longer a gimmick and trend but an automatic strategy for a movie when it comes out. It’s guaranteed that there will be online promotions for it. To capitalize on the success of past movies with their online campaigns, Avatar hit the web in full stride and utilized multiple social media channels to promote the movie. There was even a chat with James Cameron and some of the actors through Facebook, a live streaming video of the red caret event, and massive amounts of blog posts, contests, and tweets that were generated toward Avatar. The build up worked like a science and when it went viral online it stuck because people have the ability to share things with others through links, multiple social networks, and good old fashion email that you can’t do with traditional advertising.

Even in 1999 with Titanic, the web was still a baby with social networking. Things like Facebook and Twitter did not exists yet and blogs were in their infancy. Imagine if Titanic came out now, or Star Wars? The online promotion and buzz potential is endless and sci-fi movies seem to do a great job of establishing and building viral buzz online. Maybe that’s because the geeks who are active on the internet (banterers included) are the main demographic who see these sci-fi movies to begin with. There is no on reason but probably a combination of a few that will lead Avatar to surpassing Titanic to become the biggest movie of all time.

Do you think social media played a large role in Avatar’s sales or would it have been as successful prior to Facebook, Twitter, and social networking?

Comments : Post a Comment | Category : Movie Marketing | Tags : Avatar,Facebook,Twitter

Youtube Beginning to Diversify and Offer Streaming Movie Rentals

Posted by Craig Kessler on January 22, 2010 at 4:38 pm

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