CINEMA BuzzFEED - 10 November 2013

SUPERHERO 'BRO'MANCE

Shanghai's Bona Insun Cineplex has decided to use a 'Thor 2' movie poster depicting Thor and his sibling superhero brother, Loki, in a romantic embrace.  The image was Photoshopped from original images of Thor (Chris Hemsworth) protectively hugging Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and a picture of Loki (Tom Hiddleston) standing with eyes closed.

Why the image was Photoshopped is weird but even stranger is why it was used by a movie chain to advertise the film.

My take: People just have way too much time on their hands and besides Thor is a revengeful God and I wouldn't want his wrath visited upon me.

'HUNGER' THEME PARKS IN THE WORKS

 


'Hunger Games - Catching Fire', the second of a four-part film series is due to be released in the U.S. on November 22nd.  The first film, 'The Hunger Games' grossed over $700 million and the franchise is valued at over $2 billion.  Given this success, Lionsgate Entertainment, the owner of Hunger Games, wants to build theme parks based upon the HG's premise (a society where people watch children fight to the death for fun). 

Variety Magazine, reported last week that Lionsgate is considering setting up at least two theme parks following the very successful launch of merchandising and clothing lines.  Among other products, Lionsgate teamed with a Chinese manufacturer to produce China Glaze, a line of nail polish, while also introducing a line of clothing, Capitol Couture - which has been very well received by teenage girls.

Whether or not the parks will be realized is iffy given that there has already been claims that the themed parks encourage children to be violent.  CMG will keep you informed.

The last two sequels of the franchise, Mockingjay Part 1 & 2 are due out in the fall of 2014 and 2015.

DCDC IS ALL ABOUT 'YESTERNOW'

"Historic", "Groundbreaking", "The culmination of years of complex work", "Visionary".  These were the terms being used by Boxoffice Magazine and other media outlets to describe the Digital Cinema Distribution Coalition (DCDC) - None of it is TRUE !

DCDC, a consortia composed of large U.S. cinema chains and major film studios, is charged with the distribution of films and other content via satellite. However, none of what is being said regarding DCDC's historic significance or groundbreaking work is valid.  The groundbreaking of satellite distribution of movies digitally took place in 2001.  Back then, the Boeing Company (yes, the airplane manufacturer) with assistance from  Entertainment Equipment Corp. (the company I then and still manage) did what DCDC is doing now - transmitting movies digitally via satellite to cinemas.

The Boeing/EEC project centered around the transmission of  'Star Wars - Attack of of the Clones' to six movie locations in the San Diego, CA area.  The results of that experiment were great. The transmission of the movie to the theatres and the on-screen presentation went without a hitch and the system worked flawlessly with movie after movie for weeks after without one glitch. Unfortunately, the studios, driven by paranoia, didn't trust Boeing with their content and would not participate with further development.  Now, 12 years later, the studios and large exhibitors are calling their satellite distribution system "historic" and "visionary" - this could not be further from the truth. What DCDC is doing has all been done before, but by touting their 'service' as new and incredibly historic it hopes to get as many exhibitors to subscribe to as possible.

Does movie distribution via satellite work - YES. Is it the best way to distribute movies - NO.  The best way is via a secured internet feed - this is the cheapest, most effective and efficient way to distribute movies to theatres and in the future all movies will be distributed this way. 

Best
Jim