Too many movies??

Well this weekend was yet another awesome weekend for movies. Elizabeth: The Golden Age; We Own the Night; Lars and the Real Girl; Sleuth; and Across the Universe all opened around the country this weekend. These are just a few of the movies that came out. I am not even going to go into the tons of indy films that came out too.

Professionals are saying that now more than ever, there are a lot of movies. Chalk it up to more indy studios like Fow Searchlight and Warner Bros Indepent, or chalk it up to studios trying to release their films at the same time of year in order to set up their films for a better chance at producing a good Oscar buzz, but whatever you chalk it up to, know that it is harder than ever to get your movie noticed.

And with so many movies, it doesn't have more than two weeks in a theater to work its magic. Theaters are getting movies in and out as fast as they can.

This weekend I went to see Across the Universe, the new tripy Beatles movie. Wow was it amazing. But I will admit, if it wasn't for my friends being crazy about the Beatles, and getting high, I probably wouldn't have chosen that movie. So the moral of the story is that you have to get a few people fired up about your movie. If you can appeal to someone so strongly that it cuts through the clutter for them, then they will get their friends to go to. There are so many choices, people will gladly take a little guidance from someone that garuntees a good movie experience.

Assassinating Movies

Did you know that "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" is coming out this Friday? Neither did I. There are lots of others that didn't know either. It turns out that the distributor, Warner Brothers Studios has just released the movie all willie-nillie-like. Little advertising and almost no promotion.

The trouble with deciding to release a movie quietly and neglecting to announce it until a few days before it is released is that there cannot be press screenings for the movie. And in the places where the theater scrambles to put together a press screening, they have to do it after many of the writers miss their deadlines.

Perhaps Warner Bros. did not think that Jesse James would do very well and decided to just wash their hands of it and let it go. But come on WB! The least you can do is release it in a normal way to encourage the usual publicity a movie gets. They didn't even get Brad Pitt to go on Conan to promote it.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but critics are giving it pretty good reviews. This might be robing people of a good movie experience. That doesn't bother me very much though, its not there is a noble cause promoted in the movie. But what does make me mad is the fact that it is someone's art being treated like a piece of crap. WB, I am disappointed in you.

"Thanks Blockbuster," says Netflix

There are three categories of movies in my life. I'll see it in theaters, I don't even want to talk about it, and of course I'll rent it. But that used to mean a lot more than it does now. My system was developed during the ice age when you had to walk down the streets of Reynoldsville, PA to go to video store, pick it out and tote it home. Then you had to worry about taking it back.

Now-a-days we are accustomed to just adding a movie to our Netflix list and wait for it to show up at our door. That's how Good Luck Chuck made it onto my list of renters seeing that I wouldn't have to actually exert effort to see it.

But it is not just Netflix's system that caters to lazy couch potatoes that has boosted its stock to about $22. Blockbuster is helping out. Noticing the new trend to buy and rent movies online, blockbuster started its Total Access campaign to tap into the online market. This proved to not be profitable at all. The only thing that happened was it took away business from the walk in store buyers. Now enter the genius move. Blockbuster saw the non-value of advertising for its Total Access, and oops more online business goes to Netflix. The old bait and switch. Only not on purpose.

So if you are looking to invest in the movie renting industry, may I suggest the $22-a-share netflix as opposed to the $5 Blockbuster.

Convenient Advertising!

Well we have all heard of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. Well Leonardo DiCaprio is hosting the next installment in the the-world-is-going-to-hell-unless-we-do-something-to-stop-it series. The new movie, "The 11th hour" picks up where Gore left off and talks about global warning thanks to the industrial age. But wait, there's more! The 11th hour goes on to talk about what we can all do as individuals in order to turn our worst hour, into our finest. That is some good stuff.

And they are teaching us to fight g-warming with style. The marketing plan for 11th hour is making it easy to spread the word about the movie, about the issues it talks about, and get involved in the solution. AdWeek.com reports that the great organization behind the film, along with this cool widget, is revolutionary for a movie like this.

This little widget features the trailer, links to environmental sites like its sponsor Gaiam, the option to mail to a friend, and even the embedded code to make it supper easy to place in a blog or social networking site. If you care about green issues, you can spread the word like hot butter on toast!



The widget technology also allowed non-profit websites to post it on their sites with their logo instead of the trailer's. This makes them look better while spreading word. Basically, the trailer can be distributed by individuals AND organizations. I love the cause, I love the fact that the marketing reflects the cause, and I love the environment.

And in honor of World Vegetarian Day, and National Vegetarian Month, I want to remind everyone that eating vegetarian conserves energy and helps turn the 11th hour into our finest.

And here is a funny video about veggies.