Captivating Connections.

let's go to the movies.

" The summer haul was the biggest ever at the worldwide box office as 3-D dinosaurs, the maturing boy wizard and oversized 'bots smashed through the records set in summer 2007.

Early estimates show ticket sales for the overseas B.O. clocking in at $5.8 billion, with the majority of those revenues coming from Hollywood tentpoles.

That's a 7% uptick over summer 2007, the previous record-holder for best summer thanks to beefy franchises "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Spider-Man" and "Shrek," as well as the first "Transformers."

Domestic box office revenues officially surpassed 2007 levels on Wednesday, when ticket sales reached $4.20 billion vs. $4.16 billion two years ago. That's a 1% uptick, but with Labor Day weekend still to come, that gain will increase."

pay-for-view on youtube?

Interesting..

"YouTube, the largest video site, is in negotiations with major Hollywood studios for a deal that would let its visitors pay to watch full-length movies, according to two people briefed on the negotiations.

If an agreement is reached, it would be a major change for YouTube, which has built a huge audience by offering an eclectic collection of free video clips and earns most of its revenue from advertising. It would also put YouTube, which is owned by Google, in direct competition with services from Netflix, Amazon and Apple, which allow users to buy or rent movies online.

YouTube, which already offers some older movies on its site free, is talking with Lionsgate Entertainment, Sony and Warner Brothers about making newer ones available, said one person briefed on the talks, which were intended to be confidential."

tweets with a purpose.

Cool new site alert:

"Twitter's ability to affect box office results — fast and furious tweets helped sink 'Brüno' and buoy 'The Hangover' — just got a shot in the arm.

SkinniPopcorn.com, introduced last week by the British interactive design company called magneticNorth, bills itself as “the world’s first social media movie buzz barometer.” Go to the site, click on the “now showing” button, and see an unedited, unfiltered stream of Twitter commentary.

It is a twist on sites like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, which aggregate film reviews. Skinni Popcorn amasses tweets instead. The site focuses on mainstream Hollywood releases.

'Combing through reviews is such a pain,' said Brendan Dawes, the company’s creative director. 'We wanted gut commentary, a very quick snapshot. Is it worth seeing or not?'”

did twitter hurt bruno?

You'd have to be living under a rock to not know about Sacha Baron Cohen  or the movie Bruno that just came out.

There's an interesting question circulating, though, since the film did NOT do as well as expected:

Is Twitter to blame??

sprint looking to upgrade you.

How cool is this?

"This month through December, Sprint Nextel is sponsoring a cinema-centric marketing effort, placing kiosks in about 500 movie theaters nationwide. Sprint customers can scan in a code from their phones, and the kiosks will print coupons, like a free upgrade to a bigger popcorn or larger soda."

burger king & paramount have a summer fling.

BK & Paramount Pictures are coming together for some summer promo opportunities:

"With Paramount Pictures on the verge of kicking off its family-friendly blockbuster film slate, the movie house has joined forces with Burger King for a string of summer promos.

The release of Star Trek (May 8) will see a national advertising spot for kids featuring half-Klingon, half-King characters called Kingons, promoting new BK Star Trek drinking glasses. BK Kids Meals premiums will see star and bolt-shaped Chicken Tenders, which include one of 16 all-sound Star Trek toys that highlight the characters, technology, sounds and phrases from the film.

Then beginning June 22, with the release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the restaurant will switch over to a Transformers-themed BK Kids Meal, which will include one of eight character/vehicle toys from the film, with national, kid-targeted TV advertising helmed by director Michael Bay.

And to round out its summer Paramount promos, Burger King will usher in G.I. Joe BK Kids Meals premiums starting July 27 as G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra hits the big screen. Each Kids Meal will include one of eight toys, ranging from gadgets, action figures and vehicles.

doing it for the kidlets.

Movie studios are quickly learning that, these days, they need to bank on kidlets to fill seats, not grown ups...

"Pricey, star-driven thrillers and dramas will struggle for profitability as the recession intensifies a trend toward youth-dominated movies that can open big...Older demographics may be resisting the recent enthusiasm for moviegoing. Certainly it's been months since anything has caught fire at the art houses.

But it's the ill-fated outings of studios' highest-profile adult fare that has stirred the most concern.

'Not as many adults are going to the movies because of the recession,' a highly placed studio executive lamented. 'More and more, it's the kids who come out and support the pictures over opening weekend, and not as much the older adults.'"

It's interesting, because there was recently an article about how movie ticket sales are up but DVD sales are down. We've also seen plenty of talk about the 'cost per entertainment hour' and how people are staying in and entertaining more at home. Tweens and teens, though, by nature, while they may be more comfortable staying in, still have the 'go out' itch. Movies may be expensive (I seriously spent $34 last weekend for my friend and I all in!), but, in comparison to eating out or going shopping with money they dont have/want to spend, maybe this makes more sense than we initially thought.

dvds down, movies up. huh?

Interesting....

"Despite suffering from all the woes that other businesses are experiencing, in addition to a drop-off in DVD sales as Internet downloads increase, the movie business is making tons of money. Box-office receipts are going bonkers, film critic Tom Long reports. 

'Movies are recession-proof because they are 'still a comparatively inexpensive event,' says Brandon Gray, chief analyst for boxofficemojo.com. But that doesn't guarantee a Hollywood ending for the industry. 

DVD sales dropped more than 5% in 2008 and are continuing to fall. Other foreboding shifts include Internet piracy (such as the early release of the forthcoming 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine') and the fact that superstars no long guarantee a big audience. Furthermore, money from Wall Street has dried up, as it has in other sectors."

up, up, and over profit making?

Some people (ahem toy stores & Wall Street) are worried that Pixar's new soon-to-be-masterpiece, Up, isn't commercial enough to make money.

Psh, whatever, yo. I'll be there opening night (oh yes, at midnight. It's going to be a bunch of kidlets and me.)

can movies and brands be beneficial for each other?

Movie studios and brands are trying to figure out how to best work together, which may soon lead to a change in the standard model...

"Hollywood this week gave up even trying to understand the true cost of marketing its films. But consumer brands facing shrinking marketing budgets and the weakest economy in decades are more anxious and determined than ever to leverage the movie studios' marketing efforts to their own advantage.

What brands are demanding from studios, and what studios are prepared to give in return, is changing markedly. But unlike so many marriages ruined by arguments over money, the union of Hollywood and Madison Avenue seems to have grown fiercer and more interdependent in the firelight of the economic meltdown.

'It was counterintuitive to me,' said Marc Shmuger, co-chairman of Universal Pictures, of brands' continued ardor for Hollywood in such a dire economy, because marketing budgets 'are under great scrutiny. They're going down, not up.'

And the studios are practicing a bit of quid pro quo. 'We understand the days of a studio using a large chunk of money from a partner, and giving only the glow from that film in return, are over,' said Universal's marketing chief, Adam Fogelson."