October 25, 2005

Left Behind Movie Debuts in Churches

Kirk Cameron and Louis Gossett Jr. star in the third movie in the Left Behind series, World at War, the movie version of the best-selling book series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. World at War came out on DVD Tuesday, but not before opening at more than 3,000 churches across the U.S.

Cloud Ten Pictures, the studio behind the film, opted to open film in churches rather than movie theaters to promote the DVD release. Churches bought public showing licenses that varied in cost depending on their congregation size and had the choice of offering the movie for free or charging admission. Most churches that charged admission donated the money to hurricane relief efforts or local charities.

Christianity Today interviews Producer Peter Lalonde (including details about Lalonde's inspiration from Billy Graham movies) for the full story on the Left Behind movies and the details on the World at War strategy:

Tribulation Force had had a small theatrical and church release, and that's where this church release idea was first born. When we were speaking to churches about Tribulation Force, I realized how desperately we needed the return to the "church film nights" of the early '80s. I sensed a hunger there. I also began to see the exploding technology in the churches that made it possible.

Doing something new for the sake of it being new is seldom worthwhile. But spotting an open door—an opportunity—and doing something new, something that makes sense, captures people's imaginations. There is this mystique about a theatrical release, but the fact is that most films lose millions—and most Christian films open on so few screens as to serve no real purpose. We are not trying to "go Hollywood." We make soul-winning movies.

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August 24, 2005

Billy Graham Movies: World Wide Pictures

Long before The Passion of the Christ there was World Wide Pictures, Billy Graham's movie division. They've been making Christian movies since 1953 and Christianity Today recently covered the success of Billy Graham's movies over the past 50 years.

Continue reading "Billy Graham Movies: World Wide Pictures"

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July 5, 2005

More Commercials in Theaters

You can expect to see more commercials before your next summer blockbuster. The ads grew 23% last year and are a $438 million industry. With the luster of TV advertising fading, companies are enjoying the captive audience of the movie theater.

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June 20, 2005

73% Would Rather Watch a Movie at Home

A new survey showing that nearly three-fourths of Americans would rather watch a movie at home isn't helping the troubled movie industry. It's all focusing attention on the continued box office slump. This year's revenues are down 6.4% from 2004, though if you don't count the unexpected blockbuster The Passion of the Christ, revenues in 2005 are actually up 2.9%.

If success is only measured by continually beating yourself, it seems inevitable that the industry will have a slump. Movies just don't get that much better.

You'd also think the movie industry would learn from the music industry and take advantage of that 73% who would rather watch a movie at home.

Posted by kevin at 8:17 AM | TrackBack

June 19, 2005

Batman Begins with $46.9 Million Failure

Batman Begins opened in theaters this weekend, raking in $46.9 million, falling $10 million below analysts' most conservative estimates. Studio execs are hanging their heads and thinking about writing off the 2005 movie season.

Warner Bros. is trying to be positive, looking to the $71.1 million it has made since it opened on Wednesday. Of course that still falls short of the dismal 1997 Batman & Robin that practically killed the series.

On the other hand the critics seem to enjoy it.

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June 9, 2005

Average Movie Loses Money

Movies from the six major studios earned an average of $20.6 million at the box office, while the industry spent an average of $34.8 million to promote each of those movies. Yep, Hollywood is losing $14.2 million per flick.

They used to make it up with overseas sales, video rentals and TV showings, but that's becoming harder and harder, primarily thanks to DVDs. While the new format does offer some profits, studios also have to content with unsold DVDs being returned (like the 7 million copies of Shrek 2). (link via Tim Bednar)

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G-Rated Movies More Profitable

Between 1989 and 2003 G-rated movies produced an average of 11 times more profit than R-rated movies. Yet the industry created 12 times more R-rated movies than G-rated movies.

Though the industry is beginning to wake up. Production of R-rated films has dropped by 12% while the production of G-rated films is up 38%.

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May 18, 2005

Star Wars: Darth Vader & Yoda Cheetos

Why am I even surprised any more? I just stumbled across another frightening Star Wars product tie in, this time it's Frito-Lay's Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith Cheetos. You just can't make this stuff up:

New this year, and for a limited time only, Frito-Lay is launching Star Wars-inspired Twisted Cheetos snacks that temporarily change the color of your tongue. Star Wars fans who bite into the ordinary looking Cheetos cheese flavored snacks will be surprised to discover that they are crunching on either "Darth Vader Dark" or "Yoda Green" colored Cheetos snacks. While Star Wars fans' mouths will mysteriously turn either black or green, fans from both sides of the Force will get the same dangerously cheesy taste.

The Darth Cheetah on the package is a hoot. At least he looks better than the M&M. How many more classic brand characters will get to dress up as Darth Vader? You could be next.

Posted by kevin at 9:10 AM | TrackBack

Forget About the Box Office

It's all about the DVD. Theater releases and the big weekend sales figures we hear all the time from Hollywood mean squat. Less than 20% of Hollywood's profits come from theater releases.

The marketing involved in scoring big weekend numbers eats up most of the profits. In essence, Hollywood studios are buying the number one movie spot in theaters and waiting to cash in on home entertainment, which accounted for 82% of 2003 revenues.

Posted by kevin at 8:56 AM | TrackBack

May 12, 2005

Worst Movie Query Letter Ever

Query Letters I Love is a blog devoted to the worst Hollywood queries ever. And there are some doozies. My favorite is What Would Lucifer Do?, a change of heart tale where the devil tries to tempt people to be good in order to get back into heaven. It's so different and so stupid I can't help but laugh.

The site gives no background as to who's behind it, which is annoying (who links to their Blogger profile but then doesn't enter a profile?). But it's still funny.

Posted by kevin at 7:01 PM | TrackBack

Faith-Based Movie Marketing

Thanks to the $370 million take for The Passion of the Christ, Hollywood has learned how to gear movies for the church-going crowd. While Mel Gibson's success is drawing attention to the phenomena, it's not the only one. It's been happening with films like Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, Raising Helen, Diary of a Mad Black Woman and The Polar Express.

Upcoming projects like The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and One Night with the King plan to tap the Christian market as well. Though especially with Disney's involvement in the Narnia film, Christians are becoming more and more aware of Hollywood's pandering, and it could prove a dangerous line to walk.

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May 10, 2005

Pixar's Profits Triple Thanks to The Incredibles DVD

Pixar, the animation studio behind Toy Story and Finding Nemo, saw profits triple in the first quarter of 2005, thanks primarily to the DVD of their latest movie, The Incredibles. Not too shabby.

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April 29, 2005

Movie Poster Site

Check out the movie poster blog, PosterWire. Very cool analysis of movie posters, including a lot of the behind the scenes stuff like the MPAA's control over poster content. (link via Kottke)

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