VOD, Facebook, Netflix...What ever happened to going to the movies?

The delicious buttered up smell of popcorn when one enters the doors of a theater. Arguing with friends in the middle of a dark room to decide which row to seat on. Not the last one, she forgot her glasses, what about the first front seats? Someone always gets motion sickness. After standing there blocking everyone´s view, the middle is always chosen as the fair choice for everyone. If you manage to get a good seat and avoid a line of screaming girls behind you or the guy that decides to share his director commentary on the movie with the rest of the audience, you´re safe. Lights go out, trailers start and magic happens. There´s nothing like it.

The days of movie going are not over but more than ever, the movies are coming to us. Tribeca has recently acknowledged the importance of social media and digital platforms.  Some panelists are convinced that watching movies will be soon something ordinary in Twitter. Hollywood will start fishing where the fish are and these social platforms full with potential moviegoers. According to them, digital distribution will take form when: the devices are easy to use and content is available at a reasonable price.  Some of these prerequisites have already been solved but others, such as price, are still trying to find what works. Lets take a look at the recent digital distribution events that have been WOM these past couple of months.

1.  Netflix has become the largest subscription entertainment business in America: 

  

Netflix

Nowadays, six out of ten movies are streamed out of Netflix and 7% of Americans are subscribed. Dethroning Comcast, the red envelope has proven that it´s here to stay. However, competitors have not waited to counterattack. In February Amazon announced it will allow their Amazon Prime clients (who pay 79$ a year) to stream shows and movies free of charge. HBO has launched its HBO GO app this month that will show every episode of every season of their cable channel in mobile devices and TVs, subscription required. 

Netflix, however, has an ace up its sleeve. Earlier this year it announced the launch of its first original and licensed series: House of Cards. 26 episodes directed by the great David Fincher and with Kevin Spacey as the leading role. This one hour drama will debut in late 2012 and will talk about the ruthless world of British politics in the Thatcher era. Netflix takes a risk after recently acquiring successful deals for the rights of: Mad Men ($1M per episode), Glee, Sons of Anarchy, The Wonder Years, Fraiser and Cheers.  

2. Facebook is the first social platform to rent movies

 

Dark Knight on Facebook

Warner Brothers took the lead making the Dark Knight available for 3 dollars or 30 Facebook credits. Type the name of the movie in your search bar and the page of the movie will immediately pop up. You don´t even have to LIKE it, just click on watch, pay, and you´re ready to go. The movie is available for 48 hours, during which Facebook still has full functionality. The interesting part about streaming in a social network is that it makes the experience more interactive for users. Now the audience can post comments, talk with their friends, quote the movie, at the same time they are watching it. For a generation full of digital natives who can´t seem to concentrate and need to be doing three things at once, this seems ideal. WB has recently added the Harry Potter franchise to the list, Inception, Life as we Know it, and Yogi Bear.

Four studios in P-VOD

3.The Premium VOD Controversy

Las Vegas´s Cinemacon was in for a big surprise when it was leaked that the four major studios( Universal, Sony, Fox, WB) planned to shorten the theatrical window 90 days and make their movies available in Premium VOD (for $29.99) just two months after their theatrical release. Exhibitors were outraged and studios defended themselves saying that their movies made most of their money in the first 4-5 weeks anyway. Read this interesting article that explains the 7 Key questions surrounding the controversy.

A list of 23 high recognized directors and producers such as James Cameron, Todd Philipps, and Peter Jackson have already spoken against it in their manifest. You can read the complete version here

Question is, will it work and will it severely affect the movie business? I personally think they will have to reduce the price gradually till the audience at home is willing to pay. For now, $30 seems too much, but what about when it´s $15? We´ll just have to wait and see how this turns out.

The audience is overloaded with options. Where should I see a movie? Facebook so I can talk to my friends? Netflix so I don´t have to drive and find parking in the theater? Premium VOD? People should remember even though more and more platforms will be invented there will never be something quite like an dark room full of strangers laughing and crying at the same thing.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Rise of Planet of the Apes poster

Haven´t we learned already that using monkeys for scientific research leads to opening Pandora´s box? Every time a trailer or movie starts with some kind of chimp in a cage you know hell is about to break loose. If we add an overly ambitious scientist who thinks making an animal more intelligent than humankind is the perfect solution( as if they weren´t already), we end up with an explosive combination. Deep Blue sea anyone?

Rise of the Planet of the Apes just released its first trailer in which we get to see James Franco as the scientist(not convinced about that), the beautiful Freida Pinto as his love interest, Draco Malfloy from HP, and Andy Serkis as Caesar, the chimpanzee that decides to start the uprising. It won't be the first time Serkis portrays a primate, remember him as the dangerous but cute King Kong?

Something that caught my eye was that instead of highlighting the film's star names they decided on emphasizing the work of WETA digital, Avatar's special effects company. They're clearly trying to tell the audience that it's not about the people in it, it's all about the rise of the apes. Through its constant remakes Planet of the Apes has gotten a bad rep, especially with Burton's version, and they're trying to differentiate themselves from them.

Judging the trailer´s powerful images, it looks like they could. We will have to wait till summer comes to find out. Rise of Planet of the Apes, August 15th.

SCREAM 4: What is your favorite scary movie?

Looks like Wes Craven did it again. The movie that transformed the horror genre in 1996 and invented a new one of its own, is set out to transform (and mock) the new rules of horror 2.0.If Craven, once again, succeeds in making the audience scream and snort at the same time, he promises to continue the franchise with a Scream 5 and 6 in the makings. Unfortunately(for those hard core slash 3D horror fans) he refuses to shoot it in 3D, claiming that he considers it a distraction and is not fond of the glasses.  Lets take a look at its marketing campaign:

TRADITIONAL AV MEDIA

Teasers/ Trailers/TV spots

Dimension Films, The Weinsteins's brothers baby, started releasing the teaser in October of last year, which would be very similar to the trailer they would eventually pop out at the beginning of 2011. It all starts with a phone call and the rest, like they say, is history.They feature the old cast and introduce the new faces in the game. A young smart ass movie buff warns the audience about horror movie clichés. Ghostface makes people jump off their seats as the shots get faster and shorter. Deja vu perhaps? Scream 4 goes back to its roots in their AV campaign. Refresh your memory with their trailer for Scream 1.

To watch the four TV spots released, clips, and behind the scenes footage just click here


PRINT
On print they decided to focus on the most recognizable symbol of the whole franchise: the ghostface mask. After all, we've seen it in so many Halloween parties, parodies and even commercials that it personifies the movie itself.  Their tagline: New Decade, new rules. Even their cult fans will expect something new after ten years to spruce it up. The tagline makes that promise. Same old characters but new made up rules to kill them, perfect. 

Scream 4 poster

Take a look at the rest of the posters in here

The ones featuring Ghostface are the most appealing, the others  hide behind their 90´s precessors and are afraid to innovate. Notice how the international poster relies more on the different name actors bringing Adam Brody into the main picture.

INTERACTIVE&SOCIAL MEDIA

Since the self reflective horror film makes fun of the digital world we live in and how things have changed, it's not surprising to see they have spend their time on their website. It starts with a trailer, which you can skip or not, and then leads you to an intro main page. In it you can purchase tickets online, sign up for their newsletter and decide if you want to connect with them (Facebook, Twitter) or continue without connecting.  If you continue you're lead ( after a small clip of the film) to their final main page. There you can scan through the cast and crew's bios, read the film´s synopsis or download some wallpapers and buddy icons ( Icons for your IM chat). 

The website also has a feature called ¨ SCREAM 4 Soundtrack¨. If you click on it it'll take you to a Facebook fan page of the movie´s soundtrack, which you can listen to while you see still images of the film. If you're eye starts wondering off you can entertain yourself with  a five minute av clip of the film premiere in Los Angeles. It includes short interviews with every actor in the cast and is fairly entertaining. The site also includes a Fandango link to check showtimes, interviews of the cast in several talk shows, links to articles talking about the franchise and lots of photos.

The site´s most interesting feature is its Victims category. In it you can add Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell´s character) as a friend and she was she´s up to in her Facebook profile. Her status are mostly a countdown for the film's release and include inspirational quotes based on her new self help book. It includes photos of Neve and her character in the movie and still shots.  While they could have done something more with it, it seems like they already paid their dues with their Facebook fan page for their soundtrack. Plus the site has been up since February and has already accumulated more than 6,000 fans. You don't have to LIKE it to see all the site's information which I found interesting.

Scream 4 also used Twitter to get hold of their hard core artistic fans. Wes Craven posted a notice on hist tweeter announcing a poster contest. There would be two grand winners and ten finalists. The first two would get to go to the premiere in LA while the others got a signed poster and recognition. Check out the creative winners in Craven's flicker page. He used the same strategy for his movie ¨My Soul to Take¨ with great results. I think it was a great idea to engage the fans and make them win something out of creativity and not pure luck.

Overall I think it was a good campaign. It gave fans what they wanted and promised new changes. They´re staying faithful to what they know works but, like the movie, they´re also embracing the viral world and taken full advantage of it. Now we will only have to wait and see if Scream is the gift that keeps on giving. To make the waiting easier, I'll leave you with a reel of outtakes from Scream 3, laugh now soon you´ll be screaming at the theater.

Sara Ceberio