Digital Cinema Media and UM London has facilitated a deal for  Prime Focus World to convert the Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey creative to immersive 3D for Brown – Forman.  It will play in cinemas before Star Trek Into Darkness 3D, which is predicted to take over £25m at the UK Box Office and generate over 4m admissions.

The creative, developed by Arnold, uses the surround sound capabilities of cinema to make the audience feel enveloped by a swarm of bees and then opens on a highly detailed visual of a Jack Daniels stylised bee, in fully rendered 3D.

Brown – Forman describes the product as “Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey is crafted with Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 Tennessee Whiskey. The whiskey is mingled with a honey liqueur resulting in a taste that is authentically Jack and naturally smooth…”

“Cinema provides us with an opportunity to reach our target audience in a highly immersive atmosphere. We loved the original creative we ran in cinema, converting it to 3D was the next step to get even more of a wow factor,” said Andrew Watson, Brand Manager Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey UK.

Joe Evea, Commercial Director at DCM said: “I am delighted that Brown – Forman has chosen to tailor their creative to maximise the impact of the cinema environment. We know that 3D advertising in cinema drives higher engagement and increases propensity to purchase. This conversion helps to showcase that 3D is an accessible and relatively cost effective way to make a product stand out amongst its target audience.”

Kamal Korpal, Head of Radio & Cinema at UM London, said: “Last year our 40” cinema advert was a huge success, but this time round we wanted to take it a step further. Partnering with DCM and Prime Focus World to bring 3D into the mix adds an extra layer of entertainment, excitement and screen innovation, which will hopefully appeal to our 18-24 male audience around films we know they love.”

Andrew Bishop, Agency Lead at DCM, organised the deal for screen time in partnership with UM London. Lucy Stern, Head of Content and Distribution at DCM facilitated the 2D to 3D conversion deal, produced by Prime Focus World. The original creative for this campaign was provided by Arnold.

Digital Cinema Media (DCM) joined more than 5,000 movie industry professionals from around the world in Las Vegas last week for the annual CinemaCon event. It was inspiring, energising and slightly scary to spend a week in the company of the biggest stars, producers, directors, studio executives and cinema owners, with all of us coming together to preview upcoming films and debate all facets of the motion picture and cinema industry – from exhibition, concessions, technology and distribution, to marketing, advertising and social media.

The tone was set on Day One when Paramount kicked off the event with writer and producer Damon Lindelof introducing the new Star Trek Into Darkness 3D film and its star cast members including Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, John Cho and Alice Eve. The famous Caesar’s Colosseum was kitted out with the latest Dolby Atmos sound system which combined with 18 minutes of exclusive 3D footage from the upcoming film really showed off the latest cinema technology.

Brad Pitt then sauntered on stage to a solitary scream of ‘I love you’ (not me, I promise) to introduce his upcoming 3D Zombie epic World War Z. Talking to the crowd he said, “We got a little carried away…” and some of the exclusive scenes showcased were truly jaw-dropping.

Baz Luhrmann was not present at the event but sent in a video note to introduce stunning new Great Gatsby 3D footage. This included striking, bold imagery and emotive close-ups that took full advantage of the 3D format. “F.Scott Fitzgerald was a great fan of new technology,” said Luhrmann, who realised 3D’s potential when he had an opportunity to watch Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder in its original 3D format.

As well as inspiring presentations from all the major studios, there were also a number of panel discussions including award-winning directors Guillermo Del Toro, Sam Raimi and Oliver Stone highlighting the importance of the cinema experience.

Discussing the heightened emotion of film in the cinema environment, Del Toro said: “It’s a great communal experience. The real reward [for a filmmaker] comes from seeing it with an audience. The ultimate goal is to get excited yourself. Most of us are social freaks. I go to see my movies with 500 of my closest friends. It’s a beautiful thing.”

The importance of the moviegoing experience for all ages was a consistent theme with director of upcoming blockbuster reboot Man of Steel, Zack Snyder passionately stating: “Movies are my religion, movie theatres are my church.” Todd Phillips, creator of The Hangover trilogy, added: “I think comedies need to be seen in theatres with groups of people who can laugh together.”

The week-long conference ended with cinema icons Morgan Freeman and Harrison Ford taking the stage to introduce clips from their upcoming films Now You See Me and Ender’s Game and accept awards for Cinema Icon and Lifetime Achievement respectively. Both shared their enduring passion for their craft and their unquenched desire to keep on making hit films with new talent.

The commitment of the stars and the studios to this event and their presentation of the great film slate we can look forward to for the rest year and beyond was truly inspiring. Being even closer to the movie world for just a week reminded me that we can showcase advertising to the same technical excellence as these movies that cost an average of $1.4m a minute to make.

According to these amazing storytellers, we provide the best platform for their stories. It’s now our challenge to ensure we continue to tell brands our story about the unique storytelling power of our medium.

Olympus Has Fallen has risen to the top of the Box Office with a decent £2.2m opening (including £651k from previews). The first of the year’s White House set action films has set a solid benchmark which September’s White House Down will be looking to beat. It was the best opening for a live-action Gerard Butler film since 300 in 2007 (£4.7m).

Oblivion dropped to second spot with a further £1.7m, a total which would have been enough to hold on to the top spot had it not been for Olympus Has Fallen’s previews. The stylish Sci-Fi epic has now grossed £8.1m and should have no trouble overhauling the final total of Tom Cruise’s last star vehicle, Jack Reacher (£9.5m). Evil Dead possessed third spot with £1.4m (including £288k from previews). In terms of recent horror remakes, that’s above Texas Chainsaw 3D (£1.2m), The Thing (£486k) and Fright Night (£682k).

Now the Easter holidays are a distant memory The Croods is starting to slow down but another £676k takes its cume to £23.7m and it has now overtaken Wreck-It Ralph (£23.4m) to become the biggest animated film of the year so far. We may have to wait until Monsters University in July to see it surpassed. The Place Beyond the Pines completed the Top 5 and had the strongest hold of the weekend, easing just 13% to £581k. The Gosling-Cooper drama now has a cume of £1.6m.

Overall, the clement weather meant that the Box Office was down 31% from last weekend and 9% from the same weekend last year when Battleship topped the box office and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen made a strong start. Expect the Box Office to receive an Iron Man 3 3D sized boost next weekend.

Across the Atlantic, Oblivion opened with $38.2m which is Tom Cruise’s fifth best opening ever. The audience was 57% male and 74% were 25 years of age and older. Baseball drama, 42 fell 34% to $18.2m and after 10 days has grossed $54m. The Croods had a decent hold easing just 28% to $9.5m this weekend and has grossed a strong $154.9m. Scary Movie 5 fell to fourth with $6.3m and has now earned $22.9m and will struggle to match Scary Movie 4’s $40.2m opening weekend during its entire run. G.I. Joe: Retaliation completed the Top 5 with $5.8m and has a cume of $111.2m.

The next three months have some absolutely barn storming Sci-Fi releases to satisfy every fan of the genre, from the casual to the hard-core.

First up on 9 May is JJ Abrams’ hugely anticipated Star Trek sequel, Star Trek into Darkness 3D. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, battling against the unstoppable evil of Benedict Cumberbatch.

June sees the return of one of the biggest stars on the planet and this time he’s brought his son along. The sci-fi thriller After Earth stars real-life father and son Will and Jaden Smith on a mission to return to Earth 1000 years after cataclysmic events forced humanity to abandon the planet and colonise mankind on Nova Prime. Will also produced and co-wrote the adventure through outer space that sees the Ranger Corps crash land on Earth where they face unchartered terrain.

Faster than a speeding bullet, Man of Steel crashes on to our screens on 14 June, with a new Superman (Henry Cavill) and Christopher Nolan on writing duties, this is a good bet to replicate the success of Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy and be massive hit.

Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy 1&2) returns on 12 July with Pacific Rim, an epic mash up of monsters and giant robots that duke it out for dominance of Earth. This is a very different direction for Del Toro but this is a passion project for him, so expect him to pull out all the stops on the visual and effects side of things.

Sparring no expense, Jurassic Park roars back into cinemas in a full 3D conversion on 30 August, are you ready for a 3D T-Rex in your face?

Elysium, the eagerly awaited follow up to District 9 from Neill Blomkamp, starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, will be in cinemas from 20 September. Portraying a dystopian future where the rich live in luxury on a space station above the Earth and the poor are left to die down below, Elysium will tell how one man’s actions may bring balance back to the human race and heal the divide.

Tom Cruise is back on top as Oblivion flew to an impressive £5m five day opening, with £1.6m coming from Wednesday and Thursday previews. This is further confirmation that audiences still love to see Tom Cruise headlining major films.

The Croods had yet another strong hold, falling just a measly 15% to £2m and a spectacular cume of £22.7m. By this time next week it should have overtaken Wreck-It Ralph to become the highest grossing animated film of the year so far. In third spot, is the fifth installment in the Scary Movie franchise. An opening of £1.1m is the lowest in the series and a long way off from Scary Movie 3’s series best £3.5m debut.

Fourth place was taken by hugely ambitious Ryan Gosling drama, The Place Beyond the Pines. Although £671k (with £11k from previews) may not seem that impressive, the crime thriller had the second highest location average in the Top 15 (£5.9k), beaten only by Oblivion (£9.5k). With more screens promised next weekend, this title should have legs.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation 3D rounded out the Top 5 with another £525k taking its cume to £6.9m and surpassing the original G.I. Joe (£6.5m) in the process.

A couple of other notable performers were Danny Boyle’s brain-teaser Trance crossing the £4m mark and teen sci-fi The Host crossing the £3m mark. Overall the box office was up 34% from last weekend but down 11% from the same weekend last year when Battleship and The Cabin in the Woods opened. This week, both Evil Dead and Olympus Has Fallen will be hoping to replicate their US performance.

Across the Atlantic, Oblivion is not out until next Friday so it was left to baseball drama 42 to take the honours, with a strong $27.3m debut. That’s a good deal better than Moneyball’s $19.5m start in 2011. As in the UK, Scary Movie 5 could not repeat the performance of its predecessors, opening with $15.2m, which is miles away from Scary Movie 4’s $40.2m bow.

Another $13.2m for The Croods in third place took it to $142.5m and now making it the second biggest film of the year to date. G.I. Joe: Retaliation 3D crossed the $100m mark with a further $10.8m and last week’s number one Evil Dead experienced a sharp drop off with $9.5m and a cume of $41.5m.

Yes, we have a spectacular selection of summer blockbusters on the horizon but this summer is also a dream for comedy fans. Fans of 2005 hit The Wedding Crashers will be particularly interested in The Internship (4 July). Reuniting Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn as two salesmen who  take an internship (hence the title) at Google. It also features a cracking support cast including Rose Byrne and John Goodman, so expect box office to rival Vaughn and Wilson’s previous outing.

A buddy comedy with a more female slant hits right at the end of July as Bridesmaids director Paul Feig re-teams with comedy star of the moment, Melissa McCarthy for The Heat. McCarthy plays an uncouth detective who has to team up with FBI agent Sandra Bullock. The two couldn’t be more different and many laughs ensue, you know the drill. However, with that line-up and a big screen return for Tom Wilson aka Biff Tannen, it can’t fail to be funny.

UK comedy gets in on the act in August with two potentially HUGE titles. First up on 7 August  is the big screen debut of one of the all-time great comedy characters, Alan Partridge. Details on the plot are sketchy but all the best people from the TV show are involved and the title alone is enough to generate mirth, Alan Partridge:  Alpha Papa. A week later sees the release of the final part in the unofficial cornetto trilogy (Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz), Edgar Wright’s The World’s End. Once again, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost take the leads but this time they’re joined by Martin Freeman, Rosamund Pike and Paddy Considine. With that pedigree, the film could fly. On 23 August, it’s back to the US as Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston join forces for Dodgeball director Rawson Marshall Thurber in We’re The Millers. With a supporting cast including Ed Helms, Nick Offerman and Emma Roberts, hopes are deservedly high for this one.

Older comedy fans are catered for too with the all-star The Big Wedding (29 May), featuring a cast that includes Robert De Niro, Susan Sarandon, Diane Keaton and Robin Williams. Shakespeare makes a comeback too in the unlikely hands of Avengers Assemble director, Joss Whedon with Much Ado About Nothing (14 June). It’s been a hit at every festival it’s played at and features a cast of Whedon regulars. Finally, Bridesmaids star Kristen Wiig returns with black comedy Girl Most Likely (26 July). With such a strong line-up, we’re going to spend the summer alternating between awe at the blockbusters and clutching our aching sides.

Alternative cinema is a growing genre that is now worth around £12.5m in the UK alone, encompassing ballet, opera, sport and theatre events.

Recently, DCM partnered with Sony Digital Cinema and The Comedy Store to bring The Comedy Store Raw and Uncut to the big screen, with performances from Paul Tonkinson, Imran Yusuf and Hal Cruttenden.

Now, fine art is coming to a cinema near you, Manet: Portraying Life, produced in collaboration with the Academy and Seventh Art Productions, will be screened in more cinemas up and down the UK including Picturehouse, Odeon and Cineworld.

Read the full story from BBC News below.

At your local cinema this weekend you might enjoy a night at New York’s Metropolitan Opera or the dancing troupes of the Bolshoi Ballet, but would you pay money to watch an art exhibition on the big screen?

A new film, Manet: Portraying Life, hopes to start a trend and tempt audiences from the galleries into the auditoriums.

“The last thing we want is for people to consider this as an alternative,” says director Phil Grabsky, whose production gives a behind-the-scenes tour of the Royal Academy of Art’s latest sell-out show.

“But most of our audience don’t have the opportunity to get to London or get a ticket.”

Produced in collaboration with the Academy and Seventh Art Productions, the Manet film will be screened in more than 29 countries, including Guatemala, Chile and Hungary.

“Manet is proving to be one of our most successful exhibitions that we’ve ever mounted,” says Kathleen Soriano, director of exhibitions at the RA.

“We always knew the exhibition would be incredibly popular – we want to make sure as many people as possible can see it.”

Grabsky, who has been filming exhibitions for more than a decade, tested the format with his film Leonardo Live in 2009 and now wants his name to become synonymous with art in cinemas.

“My objective is to bring the biggest exhibitions from the biggest galleries,” he says.

Funding the projects himself, Grabsky is hopeful his productions will prove as popular as other event cinema.

“It’s clearly a risk and it ultimately depends on bums on seats,” he says. “It’s costing me a lot of money.”

Manet: Portraying Life film will be for people who want to “dig a little deeper” into the exhibition

Alternative cinema is a growing genre that is now worth around £12.5m in the UK alone, encompassing ballet, opera, sport and theatre events.

The National Theatre’s live broadcasts, first introduced in 2009, are now shown in more than 700 cinemas in 22 countries around the world.

Analysts predict the growing popularity of event cinema is set to continue, anticipating two million Britons will watch live events every year by 2015.

“It is an expensive genre,” says David Hancock, head of film and cinema at IHS Screen Digest.

“But the Met Opera’s last season took $60m (£39m). That was definitely making money. It’s early days for the arts side of things but I can see it being a success.”

Alternative content at Picturehouse Cinemas represented 12% of ticket sales in 2012 – a figure they are hoping to increase.

“I never thought I’d live long enough to see someone pay £25 to go to the cinema and watch something,” says Steve Weiner, chief executive officer of Cineworld and Picturehouse, the market leaders of cinema in the UK.

“But not only did they come, they came out in droves.”

Cineworld has now established a separate department dedicated to commissioning event cinema which it will screen in more than 70 locations across the UK.

But even Weiner is not expecting art exhibitions on film to be an instant success.

“You can’t expect it to be financially viable on the first try. If it does happen it’s wonderful, but even the opera was not an overnight success, it took a while for people to hear the word of mouth,” he says.

It may take time to catch on, but art critic and Warwick University lecturer Professor Jonathan Vickery thinks art exhibitions in cinema could become a new genre in its own right.

“I think these films can offer the kind of intimacy that you can no longer get in a gallery,” he says.

“Our experience of galleries has radically changed. You are usually standing with a crowd of people. I can imagine this spawning a genre of its own that may even substitute going to an exhibition.”

But at the Royal Academy of Arts, Soriano unsurprisingly disagrees.

“Nothing can beat standing in front of the original object itself,” she says adamantly.

“The Royal Academy has been here for nearly 250 years and if we didn’t embrace changes and fresh ways of looking at things, we wouldn’t be here for the next 250 years.”

The British Museum’s curator Paul Roberts will introduce Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum live to cinema audiences across the country in June.

The British Museum is also experimenting with film as it attempts a live broadcast of its latest exhibition, Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum, in June.

The event will see curator Paul Roberts and historians taking audiences along a Roman street and into a local house, in the first such major exhibition in London for almost 40 years.

“I didn’t know whether cinemas would take it,” says executive producer Tim Plyming. “It’s a pilot – it may work, but it may not. If we get this right, you’ll see lots of people doing this.”

But Cineworld, which is broadcasting the event to 60 of its 80 cinemas across the UK, doesn’t see this as a trial run.

“We like to take an educated risk, so if it’s something we think is good and the public could embrace it, we want to give them that opportunity,” Weiner says.

However visitors to the Manet exhibition at the Royal Academy are sceptical about the production.

“I go to the cinema to see a film, but I wouldn’t go to see an art exhibition because I’d rather come to the gallery,” Londoner Imelda Boyle told the BBC News website.

“I like to spend as much time as I want on each picture. I’d give it a go but I’m not sure I’d enjoy it,” adds Paul Garwood.

Grabsky insists that his knowledge of producing art documentaries will win his audience over.

“I want to share the amazement I have when I’m face-to-face with a painting. I can hold a picture for 20 or 30 seconds, and you have no choice but to look at it.”

Impassioned to bring art to the masses, the director is keen to support galleries while encouraging audiences to embrace new ways of consuming culture.

“You can’t beat the experience of going to a football match, but that doesn’t mean you can’t gain anything from watching it on the TV after the game – in high definition and with expert analysis.”

Whether the crowds will play ball and buy the tickets is yet to be seen, but an art exhibition is coming to a cinema near you soon.

Manet: Portraying Life will be shown at selected cinemas on 11 April. Pompeii Live from the British Museum will be in cinemas nationwide on 18 and 19 June.

Originally published on BBC News, by By Ellie Davis BBC News entertainment reporter, 9 April 2013

The Queen has been described as the ‘most memorable Bond girl yet’ for her role opposite Daniel Craig in the Olympics opening ceremony after receiving an honorary BAFTA award.

Actor and director, Sir Kenneth Branagh, presented her the award at a Windsor Castle reception last week in recognition of a lifetime’s support of British film and television.

“Several of my colleagues want you to know that, should you wish to take it further into the world of British films, they have a number of scripts with them here this evening,” Branagh joked.

“Of course we are happy to deal directly with your agent so Daniel Craig is here this evening.”

The Queen received the honour in recognition of a lifetime’s support of British film and television (Picture: AFP / Getty)

Among the 300 guests were actors, directors, writers and producers including Homeland star Damian Lewis who attended the event with his actress wife Helen McCrory. “Our arts in this country and theatre and film and TV are some of our greatest exports,” said Lewis. “To have that recognised by your monarch is important.”

The Queen has supported the industry throughout her 60-year reign as the patron of a number of entertainment bodies and charities. Her patronages include the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts , the Entertainment Artistes’ Benevolent Fund, and the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund (for which money has been raised by Royal Film Performances ) since 1952.

Watch the world’s most famous Bond girl receive her BAFTA award from Sir Kenneth Brannagh at Windsor Castle, courtesy of Entertainment News on Her Majesty’s Service.

For the third weekend in succession, animated hit The Croods proved to be cinema’s biggest draw. A further £2.4m takes its cume to £17.7m and it now sits behind Les Misérables and Wreck-It Ralph 3D as the third highest grossing film released so far this year. With another week of the Easter holidays left, £20m-plus is a certainty.

GI Joe: Retaliation 3D held on to the second spot with £1.1m and has a cume of £5.6m. It’s now less than £1m behind the first G.I. Joe’s final total of £6.5m, which it should have overtaken by this time next week.

Dark Skies was this week’s highest new entry in third spot, taking £1m (including £323k from previews).

In fourth spot, Trance fell 38% (once previews are removed) to £722k and a cume of £3.3m and Jack The Giant Slayer rounded out the top five with £705k and a cume just shy of £6m.

There were two notable new entries at the lower end of the top ten, with Spring Breakers debuting at £345k (including £9k from previews) in ninth place and The Odd Life Of Timothy Green starting with £269k in tenth.

Overall, the box office was down 32% from last weekend and down 39% from the same weekend last year when both Titanic 3D and Mirror Mirror were released both titles had help from preview figures.

In the US, Evil Dead took first place with an estimated $26m, which is the 10th highest opening of all time for a horror remake. The audience was 56% male and 56% were 25 years of age and older. Estimates suggest that both The Croods and G.I. Joe: Retaliation 3D grossed $21.1m this weekend. That gives G.I. Joe a cume of $86.7m and The Croods a cume of $125.8m.

In fourth place and bucking the recent trend of disappointing 3D re-releases, Jurassic Park 3D opened with $18.2m. Completing the top five was Olympus Has Fallen with $10m and the Gerard Butler thriller has now grossed $71.1m.

The Croods was the big Easter winner, easing just 6% (when previews are removed) to £3.3m and a very healthy ten day total of £10.6m. This is ahead of the animation benchmark set by Brave 3D last year.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation 3D was the best performing newcomer, easily outstripping the first GI Joe film with £2.8m (including £890k from previews).

Current King of Britain, Danny Boyle, will be mildly satisfied with the performance of his new film, as Trance debuted with £1.6m (including £433k from previews). That’s Boyle’s fourth best opening.

Jack The Giant Slayer 3D continued to perform well, taking £1.2m, falling only 22% from last weekend.

Other new entries to the top 10 included, The Host, an adaption of the novel of the same name by Twilight author Stephanie Meyer (£991k) and Finding Nemo 3D, a 3D re-release of the original film from 2003 (£265k). Overall, the box office was up 12% from last weekend and a healthy 25% from the same weekend last year.

In the US, G.I. Joe Retaliation 3D was the big attraction, taking $40.5m. For its three major stars, this is a potent opening, third-highest for Channing Tatum, second-highest for The Rock, and remarkably, it’s the top debut ever for a Bruce Willis movie.

The Croods fell 38.8% from the previous weekend, banking $26.7m and Tyler Perry’s Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor added $26.1m to Mr. Perry’s coffers, proving how strong the niche for his releases is in the US market.