Come 11th May 2013, one third of the Digital Cinema Media workforce will be stepping out of our comfort zone to embark on the, quite frankly, horrifying Rat Race Dirty Weekend.
We’ll be switching our usual weekends of indulgence for two days of pain.
The film we’ve all been waiting for is finally here and it hasn’t disappointed. Skyfall took an extraordinary £37.2 million in its opening week, overtaking Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 to secure the biggest 7 day gross of all time in UK box office history. It’s also by some distance the highest opening of 2012 beating The Dark Knight Rises (£14.4m) and Avengers Assemble (£13.2m).
Many advertisers, including Omega, Heineken, Toyota and Guinness, anticipated this success and skilfully aligned themselves with one of the hottest releases of recent times.
Intrigued by how the online world had responded to the latest Bond phenomenon, we contacted our friends at Way to Blue. Way to Blue is a global digital communications agency for the film and entertainment industry, specialising in social media strategy, engagement and analytics. They fed our curiosity with the following presentations.
Last Thursday I was lucky enough to attend a media screening of the highly anticipated, 23rd Bond instalment, Skyfall. Whilst spending my lunchtime speaking to BT and reheating the previous night’s pasta bake was a flawless plan, I felt attending the screening was something I couldn’t pass up on.
Left with a sour taste in my mouth from the last bond venture, A Quantum of Solace, I was feeling sceptical about Skyfall. Whilst it’s been one of my most anticipated releases of the year, I was hesitant to throw my full enthusiasm into it in the interest of avoiding disappointment.
After entering the plush Sony screening room with dubiety squashing my child-like excitement, I am happy to confirm that I left the screening grinning like a 6 year old that’s overdosed on Sunny Delight.
Ask any cinema goer and they’ll agree that the immersive big screen experience provides complete escapism from daily life. It’s no wonder, therefore, that gamers are avid cinema goers.
Recent TGI (Q3 2012) data shows that 64% of cinema goers own a games console (with 32% of these bought in the last 12 months), spending above the UK average and making up a whopping 83% of the total £1.6bn spent on consoles, and 86% of the £1.4bn spent on games in the last year.
This explains the recent crop of video game to movie conversions and, in some circumstances, movie to video game adaptations. In the last couple of months it has been announced that Michael Fassbender will be arming himself with a hook blade and sword as he takes on the one of the biggest-selling games of the current generation in Assassin’s Creed.
A brand new batch of trailers arrived this week and excitement is already building for some of the biggest Autumn releases and beyond.
First up is Keira Knightly in Joe Wright’s sumptuous Anna Karenina. With an all-star British cast, the Leo Tolstoy adaptation looks as lush and regal as 19th century aristocracy should. Out on the same day as Anna Karenina is another potential smash hit with a host of British talent involved, Dredd 3D. This time Karl Urban plays the titular Judge Dredd and the film looks to have nailed the darker, grimier aspects of the comic.
Kicking October off with a bang is Taken 2. It would appear that the gang behind the kidnapping in the first film haven’t learned their lesson and are ready to incur Liam Neeson’s not inconsiderable wrath once again; this time in Istanbul.
Finally, we were treated to the first teaser for 2013’s most anticipated animated film, Monsters University. A prequel to one of Pixar’s most beloved films, Monsters, Inc., University covers how Mike and Sulley became friends and if this first teaser is anything to go by, we’re in for another laugh riot. If you need a refresher on the original you can catch it on the big screen again in 3D in January.
Mentos 3 is the latest innovation in chewing gum, combining 3 layers of different flavoured gum in a single stick. To support the product in the UK, Perfetti Van Melle are running a 30″ Cinema spot ‘High Rider’ around the film release of Avengers Assemble 3D. The ad is a visual metaphor for the product with a classic American lowrider turning into an awesome triple layered car.
As Avengers Assemble is being released in 3D, and the product has taken the physical form of gum into three dimensions, it was a natural step for Perfetti Van Melle to consider running the ad 3D. The fact that the triple layered car featured already existed as a 3D model made it an easy decision to go with 3D.
DCM in partnership with Prime Focus and AMS Media undertook the 2D to 3D conversion, using the existing footage from the ad and the 3D model of the car, to great effect.
The ad can be seen in cinemas now.
At DCM we love sharing the magic of cinema and on 17 April 2012 the inaugural DCM Tuesdays did just that!
DCM Tuesdays is a monthly free film club for selected figures from the media industry and after walking down the red carpet, our guests were treated to champagne on arrival before enjoying an exclusive screening of one of the year’s most talked about movies, ‘The Cabin in the Woods’.
The evening was a fantastic industry networking opportunity with more than 130 attendees from companies such as Walker Media, MEC Global, MediaCom, Carat and Mindshare and the critically acclaimed horror movie we screened had the audience jumping with fright in their seats as they tucked into their free popcorn.
It’s Super Bowl season again and 2012’s ad break extravaganza was far from disappointing. A handful of new trailers for some of 2012′s most anticipated films were featured during the Patriots Vs Giants championship game, providing the Hollywood studios with the perfect opportunity to show off their big cinematic offerings for the year ahead.
Below we’ve compiled a list of the featured trailers for your viewing pleasure!
In selected cinemas this Friday is Don’t Think, a new film documenting The Chemical Brothers’ famously hypnotic live show. Shot during one continuous live performance at Fuji Rock festival in Japan, Don’t Think is one of the few films to successfully capture the dance music concert experience. Featuring the psychedelic visuals that are an integral part of their live shows, intercut with shots of the duo twiddling knobs and triggering samples and fantastically honest close-ups of members of the crowd, the film does a terrific job of giving the viewer an experience akin to being at one of their shows. Key to the sensory bombardment that the film provides is the razor-sharp editing.
With hundreds of almost imperceptible edits in a single song, Editor, Mark Whelan gave some background to our film specialist, Tom Linay, into what it’s been like living and breathing Don’t Think for the past six months.
This weeks film schedule updates:
The film schedule has been updated to reflect these changes.
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