In 1954, a group of worldwide cinema screen advertising contractors gathered together in Venice to celebrate great advertising. Inspired by the International Film Festival, which had been staged in Cannes since the late 1940s, they felt that the makers of cinema ads should receive similar recognition to their colleagues in the feature film industry.
To promote the cinema medium, the Screen Advertising World Association (SAWA) therefore established the International Advertising Film Festival. The first Festival took place in Venice in September 1954 with 187 film entries from the 14 countries competing. The Lion of Piazza San Marcos in Venice formed the inspiration for the coveted Lion trophy. The second Festival was held in Monte Carlo and then in Cannes in 1956 which became the festival’s permanent home in 1984. Read more
The cinema industry has warmly welcomed last week’s announcement that, in future, screen advertising will no longer be subject to dual regulation through the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and the Cinema Advertising Association (CAA).
Previously, cinema was the only medium subject to a dual clearance regime. With this change, the industry can fully embrace the opportunities that digitisation offers, while still maintaining the classification standards for film that the BBFC has delivered. Read more
I’m not sure at exactly what point over the last couple of years London became THE city for major film world premieres, but I’m delighted it has. Sunday was the turn of Brad Pitt’s apocalyptic zombie thriller, World War Z, to premiere in Leicester Square. Underlining the stature of the event, Pitt was in attendance with his wife, Angelina Jolie, and folks, it doesn’t get more A-list than that.
As for the film, it’s based on the brilliant book by Max (son of Mel) Brooks and covers the outbreak of a mysterious virus that has turned much of Earth’s population into zombies. The remaining survivors are left with a relatively short task-list: one, somehow survive and two, find a cure. After securing a safe haven for his family, former UN worker Gerry Lane, played by Pitt, is tasked with the second part of that list. Read more
A couple of weeks ago we looked at the upcoming big hitting male movies of the summer, now it’s time to look at something for the whole family. Why families? They account for a hefty 79m admissions per year, 49% of total admissions (Source – FAME 2013 ) and 92% make sure they are seated before anything is shown on screen (Source – FAME 2013).
One of the best ways to reach this eager and heavy consuming audience is via our exhibitors’ kids programmes. DCM is offering a brand the opportunity to sponsor the VUE Kids AM cinema screenings for the coming year. For more info, contact our sales team. Read more
As is often the case with Bank Holidays, the weekend featured a big Hangover. The Wolfpack returned in The Hangover Part III and topped the UK box office with a cool £5.9m, including £1.1m from previews. That’s more than the first Hangover (£3.2m) but less than The Hangover Part II’s £10.4m (including £2m from previews).
In second spot, Fast & Furious 6 fell a chunky 59% to £3.6m, but after its storming first week, it now stands on £16m and by next weekend will have overtaken Fast Five’s series high of £18.5m. This is an incredible result for a sixth installment. Read more
The Showroom Workstation in Sheffield is to host a special film industry weekend with screenings and conference sessions in partnership with Action for Children’s Arts on Saturday 6th - Sunday 7th July as part of its Showcomotion festival of inspirational children’s films this summer.
Bringing together industry professionals and key decision makers, the remit of the event will be to explore ways of increasing the diversity, quality and number of films available for young audiences on cinema screens in the UK and to look at strategies for encouraging more UK production. The sessions will identify and address current market challenges, inspire collaboration between sectors, agencies and creatives, explore new opportunities afforded by the BFI’s Film Forever strategy and encourage innovation in the sector. The weekend is a celebration of good practice and a chance for delegates to share their knowledge, experience and ideas. The discussion takes place against a backdrop of screenings of international films for young audiences throughout the weekend, providing valuable access for distributors and exhibitors to watch films currently available for UK sales. Read more
Digital Cinema Media (DCM) hosted a panel session on ‘The Future of Cinema’ today as part of its annual ‘Introduction to Cinema’ media training event at BAFTA.
The diverse panel, hosted by DCM’s Film Specialist, Tom Linay, included: Danny Barnes, Head of Investment at PHD, Michael Kalli, Head of Corporate Sales & Advertising at VUE Entertainment, Mike Bennett, CEO/Creative Director/Founder, Oil Studios and Joe Evea, Commercial Director at DCM. Read more
Fast & Furious 6 put the pedal to the metal this weekend past and achieved the second biggest opening weekend of the year, with an impressive £8.7m, this is over £3m more than the opening weekend of the 2009 Fast Five release from Universal Pictures.
The F. Scott Fitzgerald adaption from Baz Luhrmann, The Great Gatsby, took a strong second place in the top 10 on its opening weekend, with a potent £4.1m, which is almost quadruple the opening weekend of Luhrmann’s last cinema release, Australia. Read more
Last week, the DCM Superheroes descended upon Mindshare with one mission in mind, educate everyone in the building on everything they need to know about cinema in 2013.
The week kicked off with a photo opportunity starring Iron Man and Superman, with cinema tickets up for grabs via Twitter. Check out the entries by searching the hash tag #MindshareCinemaWeek Read more
Congratulations to Ely Cinema for being set to go digital seven months ahead of schedule, having secured funding to support the conversion.
The Cambridgeshire cinema, which has been fundraising since January to supplement its own resources has just received a grant from the Fens Adventurers fund, with a local businessman loaning the remainder of cash required. Read more
My penultimate film watching day in Cannes was notable for two things: I caught a brief glimpse of Marion Cotillard and Zoe Saldana as they arrived for the press conference for their new film, Blood Ties, which is screening out of competition. From what I could tell, both were wearing great dresses, which is the least you'd expect, I guess. The other notable thing was I saw a man walking around with two small pigs on leads. He was accompanied by another man who was singing a song on guitar that seemed to be called 'I Love My Pig'. I'd like to say this was unusual but after five days in Cannes, it isn't.
On the film watching front, bad news. I was beaten by the queues for the new Coen brothers film and left outside Llewyn Davis. The swathe of five star reviews published on Sunday amped up the anticipation levels across the festival and despite arriving seventy five minutes ahead of time for the main screening, I was unable to get in. Read more
The first weekend of Cannes is over and my celebrity spots have been off the scale, including Harvey Weinstein, a Thai princess, Olga Kurylenko and Sanjay from Eastenders, all within a few hours on Saturday evening. I've also seen some striking films, the best of which is Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring.
Out on 5 July, it tells the true story of a group of fame obsessed teens in LA who take to robbing celebrities houses. Their subsequent notoriety almost provides them with the kind of fame they crave. Starring Emma Watson and a host of newcomers, it's funny, inventive and bitingly relevant. It also features a number of amusing celebrity cameos. With a host of upmarket fashion brands pilfered by the group, perhaps it's a great opportunity to get some on screen? It would also make a great double bill with April's Spring Breakers. Read more
