River Island made its big screen debut with the brand’s first ever cinema advertisement scheduled around the release of Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 on November 16th.
The 30” ad, featuring lots of cars and attention grabbing clothes was filmed at the iconic Pinewood Studios to showcase star pieces and trends of the season, bringing the fashion retailer’s autumn/winter collection to life. River Island worked with a world class team for the shoot, including director Jacob Sutton, who has worked for the likes of Burberry and Stella McCartney, as well as model Eniko Mihalik who has starred in campaigns for Gucci, Ralph Lauren and Givenchy. Read more
“It’s not where you take things from, it’s where you take them to”, wise words from Jean-Luc Godard. Hollywood has never been afraid to take a successful novel and translate the magic to the big screen.
There’s a good reason for Hollywood adapting novels, attracting an upmarket audience. This is good news for advertisers as research shows that these audiences prefer premium products, have a 10% higher than average income and are predominately AB consumers. They are early adopters and key influencers in their peer groups. Read more
Mindshare’s Huddle session tabled a great debate: is new technology distracting us (the audience) from the main event?
In our case we were there to understand reactions to the movie on the cinema screen, but much of the debate was relevant to other ‘events’ around which social media and virtual experiences are growing – sporting occasions and concerts for instance. Read more
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. Read more
Digital Cinema Media (DCM), the UK market leader in cinema advertising, has appointed Clear Channel International’s Head of Communications Zoe Jones as its new Director of Marketing.
Jones joins DCM on 29th October with a remit of commissioning and producing marketing communications that add value to DCM’s strategy for the business, as well as developing a dynamic, responsive and high quality continuous campaign. Read more
The film we’ve all been waiting for is finally here and it didn’t disappoint. Skyfall opened with £20.2m, the highest opening weekend of all time for a 2D release (Friday – Sunday) and the second highest of any film, behind 2011’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 3D (£23.7m). That’s the highest opening for a Bond film, comfortably beating Quantum of Solace (£15.4m) and Casino Royale (£13.4m). It’s also by some distance the highest opening of 2012 beating The Dark Knight Rises (£14.4m) and Avengers Assemble (£13.2m) In fact, Skyfall had taken more than Avengers Assemble’s entire weekend after just Friday and Saturday (£13.5m).
Saturday was Skyfall’s most productive day grossing £7.2m, which is the second biggest Saturday performance of all time behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2 3D (£7.6m). However, Harry Potter had the extra ticket price that 3D entails and distributor Sony are proclaiming Skyfall now has the all-time Saturday attendance record (source: Hollywood Reporter). Skyfall also made up a whopping 75.2% of the top 15’s box office and its location average was £34.4k, over £10k more than The Dark Knight Rises’ opening weekend location average (£24.2k). Read more
Film fans and stars took to the red carpet on Sunday 21st October for the BFI’s glittering closing gala at London’s Odeon Leicester Square featuring the European Premiere of Great Expectations.
With a stellar cast showcasing Britain’s next generation of acting royalty, this home grown remake of the Dickens classic was a fitting conclusion to the London Film Festival 2012. David Lean’s 1946 version, starring John Mills, is viewed by some as one of the most perfect films ever made and there have been numerous TV and film adaptions since. The challenge for any director taking on the costume drama was therefore to bring something new and fresh to the Big Screen. Director Michael Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), however, draws on the rich tones and production values we see in Potter, reuniting some of the franchise’s stars Helena Bonham Carter (Miss Haversham), Ralph Fiennes (Magwitch) and Robbie Coltrane (Jaggers). This production style, combined with strong comedic performances from a supporting cast, including the superbly Pumblechookian David Walliams, delivers a movie that encapsulates the very best of Dickensian characterisation and spirit in a real, but raw environs. Jason Flemyng is likeable as the kind, but modest blacksmith Joe Gargery, who reminds Pip of his lowly origins as his city life of a gentleman distances him from those who brought him up. Read more
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. Read more
Sequels monopolised the top of the UK box office this weekend as the top three places all went to high profile franchises. The number one spot was taken by Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted 3D with £6m (including £2.4m from previews). When the previews are removed it shows the extremely consistent performance of the series. The first Madagascar opened with £3.6m in 2005 and Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa opened with £3.9m in 2008. Both those films went on to a final total in excess of £22m.
Second place was possessed by found footage chiller, Paranormal Activity 4 with £2.5m (including £806k from previews). It’s a solid start but comfortably the lowest of the series, with PA2 opening with £3.8m, PA1 with £3.6m and PA3 with £3.4m. The low production costs of the series though has ensured that a fifth instalment is on the way in time for Halloween 2013. In third spot, Taken 2 continued its remarkable run with a further £2.3m taking its cume to £18.6m. Although it’s likely to take a hit with the release of Skyfall on Friday, it’s possible that The Bourne Ultimatum’s final total of £24m is within reach. Read more
You attend the opening of a showcase such as this knowing you are going to witness something special but never truly expecting what your about to see.
Having seen the film at its premiere the previous week and loving every minute of it, seeing the ideas, creations and the making behind the film was even more fascinating (note to all potential attendees - see the movie first). Read more
Billy Connelly (nearly Headless Nick), Maggie Smith (Professor McGonagall), and Michael Gambon (Professor Dumbledore)...no I'm not talking about a top secret Harry potter project but Quartet, the directorial debut from Dustin Hoffman (aka Captain Hook for the 90s kids out there).
The film centres on a retirement home for the old and extremely talented. From the start, you instantly get a taste of the characters and what's in store as Gambon, head of the choir, shouts and instructs, the choir sing at the top of their lungs and Billy Connelly takes the mick! Read more
The young characters of My Brother the Devil live in a world of perpetual violence, gang feuds and abuses both chemical and physical. It’s a world where a legitimate road to success is all-but invisible, and brash machismo – often backed-up by cold steel – is an ugly substitute for ambition. They’re pawns to their generals, men in their late-20s whose council houses are decked out like City Boy bachelor pads, except that for every set of iconic black-and-white photographs in a frame cluster, there’s a pair of antique machetes.
This is the world that Sally El Hosaini presents, and it’s one we’re all familiar with. Over the last decade, British cinema has indulged in something of an angry love affair with ‘the endz’, pushing out a steady stream of ‘gritty crime dramas’ with a tendency to feel like washed-out retreads of Boyz N the Hood with more muddled Afro-Caribbean patois and fewer barbeques. This recent tradition is carried over into My Brother the Devil but, thankfully, there’s something else going on underneath… Read more
