Filed under: COOL SHT, Feature | Tags: Android, Angry Birds, Bird, Carrie Bradshaw, Flight, Frans Johansson, George Zimmerman, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Instagram, Katniss Everdeen, Lionsgate, Man, President Obama, Social Discovery, SXSW, The Dark Knight, The Medici Effect, Trayvon Martin, Twitter
THIS WEEK: HUNGER GAMES & THE MEMORY OF TRAYVON
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Katniss Everdeen and her Hunger Games blazed through theaters this weekend bringing in $155 MM in the box office, the third highest box office opening weekend in history, behind sequels including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 at $169.1MM and just shy of The Dark Knight at $151.6 MM. Of all the five films in the top 5 for largest opening weekend, it should come as no surprise that each film is based on a book. A film does best when it has an established audience already interested in the story. A book series accomplishes the initial stages of marketing for a film. I hate to use the buzz marketing word transmedia, but the novel-to-film strategy is the original in transmedia and still one of the most successful use cases.
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I was a bit closer to this particular film, being that I worked previously at the ad agency which placed its media. The incredible thing about the Lionsgate team is their nimbleness in the digital space. While others are belaboring whether or not to try one initiative or the other, Lionsgate seemingly tries it all. As Frans Johansson pointed out in the book, The Medici Effect, the sign of success is a direct correlation to how many times you have tried and failed. In other words, it takes a lot of attempted failures to arrive at the top. In my experience with Lionsgate, this is what I admire about them. They are small and volatile at times, but they attempt to do it all and find their footing somewhere along the way. So to that entire team, I say congrats. Keep moving at the speed of light.
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(AP Photo/The Seattle Times, Greg Gilbert)
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In other more serious news, crowds have turned out across the US calling for the arrest of George Zimmerman, the man who shot and killed the unarmed Trayvon Martin (President Obama weighs in), Instagram is finally coming to the Android platform, Twitter turns 6 and begins to drop promoted tweets in your mobile feed (which as a user, I despise), Carrie Bradshaw gets a new face, and Angry Birds’ latest game Space has racked up 10MM downloads since its Thursday release. One last thing…after SXSW and writing about the top trends from the week, I did an in-depth review of the social discovery trend as well. This is one to watch.
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Some more Cool Sh-t:
Filed under: GAMING | Tags: Console Platforms, GAME, Lions Gate Entertainment, Lionsgate, New York, Nintendo, Video game, Wii
Nintendo Wii may do more than deliver games in the future, according to Lionsgate President Curt Marvis, who said the Wii offered opportunities to movie studios. For the Japanese market, Nintendo already has a video-on-demand service in development for the Wii. The New York Times/VentureBeat (3/13)
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Filed under: Feature, TECHNOLOGY | Tags: 3D, Concurrent Versions System, DreamWorks, inTru3D, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Lionsgate, Monsters vs. Aliens, My Bloody Valentine, NBC, PepsiCo, Real3D, RealD, South Beach Beverage Company, Super Bowl
3D FILM AND TV: THE HOTNESS OR THE WACKNESS?
Last night, I headed out to Union Square in NYC to catch My Bloody Valentine, the horror re-make of a 1981 Canadian film of the same name. This film is the first R-rated film to be projected in Real 3D technology. 3D film used to require 2 projectors to create the visual. Real 3D only uses 1 projector. My Bloody Valentine 3D was released on 1,033 screens nation-wide, the highest number of screens in distribution of a Real 3D film. It was released both in 3D and its standard format although viewers have chosen so far 6:1 to see it in 3D. So, people seem to dig this 3D stuff.
But the question still remains, is it really the hotness? The film and television studios sure think so.
This Sunday, during the Super Bowl, viewers who remembered to pick up their nifty glasses at one of these retail locations will be able to watch 2 ads in 3D. The first is a trailer for the animated DreamWorks film Monsters vs. Aliens debuting in March in theatres. The second is an ad for PepsiCo‘s SoBe LifeWater energy drinks. Both will feature inTru3D’s technology which features a high-powered chip from Intel. The difference between Real 3D and inTru3D? DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg would say that this technology provides more vibrant colors than others. Katzenberg is so dedicated to this new technology that he has proclaimed (yes like God) that all feature films from DreamWorks will be authored in 3D this year. You tell it Katz…
And here I thought I was being slick by keeping my RealD glasses from last night to use for Sunday. Yahhhh…turns out they won’t work. Awesome. I can’t wait to walk into my local 1st Avenue CVS and calmly ask for some 3D glasses. Keep in mind that on former occasions at this same pharmacy, employees weren’t sure where the cotton balls were. Great.
And finally, keep those inTru3D glasses you painstakingly located at CVS after a heated discussion surrounding their existence, for the season premiere of Chuck coming to NBC Monday night at 8. Check out the preview below.
Now, I’m not gonna lie, I’m pretty excited to see what 3D looks like at home on my own television. But the jury’s still out for me on whether this will be cool for a minute in theatrical time or go the distance. From what I saw last night from My Bloody Valentine, it’s intriguing but not enough for me to pay extra for. Yup, that’s right. I didn’t really answer the question. That’s just how I roll.
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- DreamWorks to hand out 150 million 3D glasses for Super Bowl ad (cbc.ca)
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Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Showtime, Television program, The Hollywood Reporter, Tudors, Viacom
“The Tudors,” Showtime’s popular series about King Henry VIII and his many, many wives, will be back for a third season, which begins production June 16. During its second season, the show averaged 912,000 total viewers for its first-run episodes, according to Nielsen. (The Hollywood Reporter 4/22)
Mark Greenberg, former Showtime veteran, may be tapped as CEO to lead the new premium TV channel start-up from Viacom, Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate and MGM, reports Business Week. The new channel, which remains unnamed, is set to launch in 2009. Mark left Showtime after 17 years in 2006 to pursue other career interests. (Cynopsis 4/23, http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/apr2008/db20080422_287056.htm 4/22)
Larry King will continue with CNN at least until 2011 according to his new contract extension with the network. The deal calls for no major changes and Larry will be at the helm of his Larry King Live show, which averages 1 million viewers per night, M-F at 9p. (Cynopsis 4/23) Yahoo!/Reuters/The Hollywood Reporter (4/22)
In the same week that the public learned that CBS and Katie Couric had held secret talks about her future as anchor of “CBS Evening News,” the third-place newscast sank to a record ratings low. The “Evening News” averaged a mere 5.39 million viewers for the week of April 14. (Iwantmedia 4/23, http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/04/katies_evening_news_ratings_hi.php 4/22)
The Nickelodeon kids series “iCarly,” launched in September, aims to break ground in combining scripted television with viewer participation via the Web. The show is a hit in both mediums, says both Nielsen and comScore. And iCarly.com is produced by a staff of three. (Iwantmedia 4/23, http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/04/kids_cotton_to_web_extension_o.php 4/20)
BBC America has picked up two seasons of the recent BAFTA winner, Gavin & Stacey. The 30m romantic comedy will make its U.S. premiere this August with 13 total episodes over two seasons. The series is produced by Baby Cow Production and is distributed by BBC Worldwide. Much like The Office, NBC is considering making an American version of this series sometime in the future. (Cynopsis 4/23)
Gavin & Stacey Clip
If you enjoy James Blunt, you will enjoy this clip.
Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane which opened its second season this past Sunday (8p) on the Style Network, averaged a .63 rating among W18-49. (Cynopsis 4/23)
Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane Promo
As he nears completion of a deal to acquire Newsday, Rupert Murdoch appears likely to pose the first challenge to the media ownership rule that the Federal Communications Commission recently adopted. Even without Newsday, Murdoch was in the process of seeking waivers. (Iwantmedia 4/23, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/business/media/23ownership.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 4/23)
Rupert Murdoch
Liberty Global, John Malone’s cable television company that operates outside the United States, probably won’t bid for the assets of Virgin Media, says Michael Fries, Liberty Global’s CEO. “We have so much opportunity in front of us.” Liberty earlier said it may bid for Virgin Media. (Iwantmedia 4/23, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=a7llDc1_jb4k 4/23)
Fox wants the Federal Communications Commission to rethink its decision not to consider its challenge to indecency fines for a 2003 airing of “Married by America” that showed pixilated body parts. Fox says the rejection was a ploy to “avoid examination of constitutional and factual arguments.” (Iwantmedia 4/23, http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6554131.html 4/22)
