Congratulations to the Gala Cinema in Durham on its conversion to digital last week.
The centrepiece of Durham’s arts programme, the Gala Theatre, is situated in a beautiful, purpose-built, £15m building on the banks of the River Wear in the heart of this historic city. The venue houses a state-of-the-art modern theatre, spacious and comfortable café-bar, two cinema screens and superb conference facilities. Read more
DCM Tuesdays made it to event number ten this week and celebrated with our biggest screening yet. In conjunction with the inaugural London AdWeek, we screened stylish Brit thriller Welcome To The Punch to a packed audience at the May Fair Hotel and preceded it with a Q&A with the film’s producer Rory Aitken.
Punch is a muscular action thriller that makes fantastic use of its stunning London locations. Performances from the British cast, including James McAvoy, Mark Strong, Andrea Riseborough and David Morrissey, are strong and the ambition shown by a group of young British film-makers (this is director Eran Creevy and producers Ben Pugh and Rory Aitken's second feature film) should be given the highest praise. Read more
Oz: The Great And Powerful 3D had a solid hold at the top of the box office, easing just 30% to £2.6m and a cume of £7.7m. Alice In Wonderland also experienced a decline of 30% on its second weekend. A solid hold suggests strong word of mouth for Oz and bodes well for the coming weeks.
Side Effects was once again in second place, easing a very strong 16% with £759k for a cume of £2.3m. Over the next couple of days it will overtake the final total of Steven Soderbergh’s last thriller, Haywire, which finished on £2.34m. The highest new entry in third spot was stylish London-set thriller Welcome To The Punch with a well-known cast, including James McAvoy and Mark Strong, debuted at £460k. Read more
In the packed Run Run Shaw theatre at BAFTA, Andy Law of Fearlessly Frank led the DCM workshop, The Art Of Cinematic Storytelling, including Asif Kapadia, Director of Senna and The Warrior, Mike Bennett, CEO/Founder of OIL Studios and Ed Edwards, Creative Director, Writer and Director at Havas Worldwide.
The session was kicked off with a video showcasing the favourite adverts and moments in cinema from the panel, including two creative's from Benson and Hedges (Salvage and Iguana) and the Guardian “Points of View” creative, along with iconic moments from Goodfellas, The Godfather Part Two, Once Upon A Time In The West and Notting Hill. Read more
The WIRED global conversation panel, including DCM’s own Simon Rees, Sir John Hegarty, the H of BBH, and moderated by Rupert Turnbull, Publisher, WIRED, took place on The Agenda Stage in the Princess Anne Theatre at BAFTA this morning.
The conversation covered mobile advertising, creativity in education, “STEM v’s STEAM”, the importance of data, the role of the editor and transparency. Read more
Asif Kapadia is the visionary director responsible for hits such as Senna and The Warrior. He is highly regarded in the industry and has the "brass" to prove it (awards including the coveted London Film festival Sutherland Award and BAFTA's for Best Documentary and Best Editing).
Asif will be part of the DCM workshop, "The Art Of Cinematic Storytelling" at Advertising Week Europe. Ahead of this, Advertising Week's Doug Zanger interviewed Asif on his origins in film and what he loves most about cinema. Read more
Volkswagen has renewed its partnership with DCM to own the gold spot on more than 330 independent cinema screens nationwide, reaffriming the pledge that "Volkswagen supports independent cinema". The deal will run for two years and has been brokered by DCM and MediaCom, with creative provided by adam&eveDDB.
The gold spot is the last piece of content before a film begins in cinemas, making it the most highly sought-after position. Volkswagen will be running the latest idents from its ‘See Film Differently’ initiative alongside its national brand campaign idents e.g. the latest ‘Polo Dad’ campaign, both by adam&eveDDB. Read more
Oz: The Great And Powerful 3D dominated the box office this weekend with a fantastic debut of £3.7m, the third highest opening of the year so far. Compare this to the opening weekend of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory back in 2005 (£7.9m), Oz will be on release over the upcoming Easter break, giving it a chance to catch up with Charlie’s final box office taking of £37.2m.
In the second slot of the top five, Steven Soderbergh’s Side Effects began its run with a positive start, clocking up £905k. Soderbergh’s last thriller, Haywire, debuted with £864k in 2011. Read more
DCM likes to get out and about meeting our independent exhibitors and finding out what’s happening at your sites. Whether you’re running special events, alternative evenings or launching new facilities we’d love to hear from you. This week, DCM Close Up highlights the launch of Funky Fridays at the Genesis Mile End, a celebrity visit to the Hackney Picturehouse and the newly opened Komedia at Dukes space in Brighton. Send your news to Rebecca Rau for inclusion in a future DCM Close Up.
Genesis Mile End Read more
For the first time Advertising Week, which has been running for nine successful years in New York, is coming to Europe and making its debut in London from Monday 18 March. It’s testament to the talent and success of the UK’s creative industries that Advertising Week has chosen London as its base and DCM is proud to be a partner to celebrate and showcase the new power of cinema advertising.
Taking place at BAFTA, Advertising Week Europe will bring together more than 15,000 representatives from the creative industries and beyond with inspiring speakers such as Lord David Puttnam, Dave Brailsford, Sir Martin Sorrell, Lord Sebastian Coe, Frank Abagnale and DCM’s very own Simon Rees. Read more
Following the excitement of the London 2012 Games, the Olympic stadium will soon house music events with major summer concerts moving from Hyde Park in 2013.
Other venues including cinemas are looking for new and innovative ways to draw audiences. Using venues outside of their main purpose can attract new people, which means marketers can extend their brands’ reach through partnerships and sponsorships. Read more
Hutchinson 3 Mobile is on a roll with the new #Danceponydance creative currently playing in cinemas across the UK. The campaign has been created by Wieden + Kennedy, London and was booked by Mindshare.
The twittersphere is positively a buzz with people talking about a moonwalking Shetland pony called “Socks”, clocking up over 3,000 tweets so far using the hashtag “#Danceponydance”. Read more
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