Pernod Ricard has called on Academy Award-winning actor Jeff Bridges to star in its western-inspired four-minute cinematic ad for Kahlúa.
The four-minute ad, "the White Russian", will launch online and in US cinemas. Read more
The sky has a more frequent greyish tinge and rumours abound that at least one of the major retailers already has Christmas decorations for sale. Summer is officially over, which also heralds the end of the inaugural DCM Fantasy Film League. Just in case this is news to you, Autumn starts on 1 September and we asked participants to pick a selection of films from different categories that hit cinemas this summer. We then collated the opening week box office performance for each film and whoever had the highest total at the end of the summer wins a five star cinema experience in London. It might sound simple, but predicting film performance rarely is and this summer has definitely sprung a few surprises.
Perhaps unsurprisingly the biggest opening week came in August with the return of the four Rudge Park alumni in The Inbetweeners 2. It had the benefit of opening slap bang in the middle of the school holidays and it proved that public appetite for the characters hadn’t waned. Just behind was May’s biggest blockbuster and the most popular pick in the category with 211 people plumping for it, X-Men: Days of Future Past. Once again, it had the benefit of opening in a school holiday (make a note for next year) and it also helped that it delivered on the big budget spectacle front. Only just behind was Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, which didn’t have the benefit of opening during the holidays but was helped by the fact it was an absolute corker and the best reviewed blockbuster of the year. It still went big and is one of only three films this year so far to cross the £30m mark. Other strong performing blockbusters include Guardians of the Galaxy and Transformers 4: Age of Extinction. Read more
Lucy held the top spot for the second successive weekend, falling 37% to £2m and a very healthy cume of £8m. It’s already director, Luc Besson’s (Leon, The Fifth Element) biggest UK hit and signals a return to box office form after last year’s disappointing, The Family (£1.1m). There’s still plenty more to come too and it should finish its run north of £12m.
Let’s Be Cops was the highest new entry in second with £1.7m, £506k of which came from Wednesday and Thursday previews. On paper it didn’t look that promising, with a relatively unknown cast and a director with a patchy track record (Something Borrowed, The Girl Next Door) but it’s strong US performance hinted that the marketing was connecting with audiences and the UK opening confirms that. There also appears to be a strong disconnect between critics’ reviews and audience reaction. It has a rating of 30 (out of 100) on Metacritic, which aggregates prominent critics’ ratings, while on IMDB it has a much more healthy audience rating of 6.8 (out of ten). Read more
Hollywood studios have known there is money in tears since Walt Disney killed Bambi’s mother in 1942. Now they are using science to make people who love to cry at the movies very happy.
By manipulating an array of tricks known as “psychocinematics” — or what scriptwriters call “telling a good story” — they aim to get multiplexes ringing to the sound of teenage sobs. Read more
NEW TITLES ADDED TO SCHEDULE: Read more
Last month I highlighted the seven big titles that are set to fill cinemas for the remainder of the year. They were huge films, each of which is likely to be thrust into the public consciousness via the sizeable marketing budgets of the respective distributors. As an alternative, here are seven titles that aren't quite of the same scale but are set to be as notable in their own right.
Obvious Child (29 August) Read more
September is a great month for the discerning cinemagoer. Blockbuster season is over and the more thoughtful, some would say, intelligent fare begins to grab its share of the limelight. Literary adaptations rub shoulders with festival award winners and even an idiosyncratic family film pops up. Below are just a few highlights in an exciting month.
Obvious Child (29 August) Read more
A man was recently sentenced to 33 months imprisonment for recording a blockbuster film in a cinema, uploading it to the internet, and producing and selling copies to the public.
On the 17th May 2013 Philip Danks went to the Showcase cinema in Walsall and used a camcorder to record 'Fast and Furious 6', the first day it was released anywhere in the world. Danks uploaded this copy of the film onto the internet on the 18th May and the film was subsequently downloaded more than 700,000 times causing millions of pounds of loss to Universal Pictures and the audio-visual industry in the UK. Furthermore, Danks used Facebook to offer copies of the film for sale for £1.50 each, which he advertised alongside other well-known films such as Iron Man 3. Read more
*Exhibitor partners only*
DCM cordially invites you to the 2014 John Merryweather Memorial Stakes at Uttoxeter Racecourse on Wednesday 10th September. Read more
NEW TITLES ADDED TO SCHEDULE: Read more
Honda’s recent move to develop its own YouTube channel reflects a growing trend amongst brands to develop their own content, and was borne out of a desire to move beyond traditional advertising. While the decision to develop rich, bespoke content should be roundly applauded, perhaps there are additional formats to showcase such content and maximise Honda’s efforts.
According to the FAME (Film Audience Measurement Evaluation) study, which delves into the demographic make-up of UK cinemagoers, young professionals are the core target audience for car brands. Tellingly, when these findings are coupled with research from the freshly published 2014 BFI Yearly Statistical Yearbook – which disclosed that the sought-after target market of younger audiences are the most avid cinemagoers, making up 47% of admissions in 2013 – it makes a compelling argument for cinema advertising. Read more
Lucy topped the box office this weekend, opening with £3m from Friday to Sunday. Including bank holiday Monday it’s up to £4.1m, which is a terrific start for an original sci-fi title. Compared to other recent original sci-fi films the Friday to Sunday total is higher than Edge of Tomorrow (£1.9m), Elysium and After Earth (both £2.2m). It also continues lead actor, Scarlett Johansson’s amazing year, having starred in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Under The Skin, Her and Chef.
The Inbetweeners 2 dropped to second but still had a decent weekend, adding £2.4m from Friday to Sunday and a chunky £844k on Monday for a huge cume of £28.5m. It’s now the third biggest film of the year and has the pace to overtake Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and The Lego Movie, who currently sit in the top two spots. Guardians of the Galaxy had another strong weekend in third, adding £1.9m including Monday for a cume of £22.5m. It’s now Marvel’s third highest grossing release of all time, behind Avengers Assemble and Iron Man 3, and is the eighth biggest film of the year to date. Read more
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