For the second successive weekend Brave 3D hit the bullseye, falling a very light 9% to £2.4m (fall-off not including opening weekend previews). Including bank holiday Monday, Pixar’s latest smash now has a cume of £14.4m and is fast closing in on Cars 2 (£15.6m) and Cars (£16.5m). After that the next Pixar title in its sights is Toy Story with £22.3m, which is looking increasingly likely.
The remarkable performance of ribald bear Ted shows little sign of slowing down as a further £1.7m over the weekend takes its cume to £26.2m. It has now grossed more than any Austin Powers film and will probably finish around Meet The Fockers’ final total of £28.9m. It is also the fourth biggest film of the year so far, having just surpassed The Amazing Spider-Man 3D’s current cume of £25.8m. Read more
Every so often a documentary is released that emphatically proves the age old adage that truth really is stranger than fiction. The Imposter is one such film; an extraordinary tale of intrigue, deception and the nature of memory that will leave audiences opened mouthed with its twists and turns.
In 1993, thirteen year old Nicholas Barclay went missing after playing basketball with friends in San Antonio Texas. Three and a half years later Frederic Bourdin is found by police in Madrid claiming to be Nicholas Barclay. Despite bearing little resemblance to Barclay, indeed having different colour hair and eyes, and speaking with a strong French accent, Barclay’s family welcome Bourdin into their home, convinced he is their missing son/sibling. Read more
What is love? Baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, no more. The immortal words sung by 90s pop star Haddaway but they could just have easily been spoken by Seth Rogen’s character Lou in Sarah Polley’s wonderful and painfully honest drama Take This Waltz.
Lou is the kind, gentle (slightly boring) husband to Michelle Williams’ Margot. Margot and Lou have been happily married for five years and their relationship is all brilliantly observed affection and baby talk. However, after a series of coincidences, Margot meets their new neighbour, the handsome, spontaneous, Daniel (Luke Kirby). There’s an instant, electric connection between them that is in stark contrast to Margot’s relationship with Lou. Read more
The Expendables are back in The Expendables 2! The band of elite, muscular mercenaries led by Sly Stallone are once again causing mayhem in far flung places under the guise of maintaining international security. The first Expendables film brought together some of action’s biggest names but there were some notable stars either missing or in brief cameo roles. In this second instalment, out on Friday, a couple of those omissions are addressed and there’s bigger roles for Schwarzenegger and Willis. What’s not to like?
The plot is mercifully simple, leaving more time for wanton destruction and one liners. After accepting a straightforward job for Mr. Church (Bruce Willis), the Expendables are soon set on revenge after one of their team is murdered by rival mercenary, Jean Vilain (yes, Vilain), played with relish by Jean Claude Van Damme. Vilain also has plans on stealing large quantities of plutonium, which is never a good sign. Read more
Digital Cinema Media (DCM), the UK market leader in cinema advertising has partnered with the outdoor media owner Primesight to bring brands closer to their consumers by beginning the installation of 100 interactive 6-sheet panels across DCM’s cinema estate in Cineworld, Odeon and Vue.
The state of the art units will unlock even more creative opportunities for advertisers and deliver more effective, targeted campaigns through ground-breaking technology. Allowing for two-way communication with the cinema-goer, brands will be able to tailor messages to the user with touch, Wi-Fi, NFC (Near Field Communication) and QR embedded in the unit case. This means even more creative, more targeted and more effective campaigns in cinemas. Read more
Digital Cinema Media (DCM) has pioneered the world’s first ever sound activated cinema advertising spot in collaboration with Unilever as part of an experiential marketing campaign to launch the latest addition to the Lynx Shower Gel range.
Cinema audiences have been handed the power to control what they see on the Big Screen before new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises by voting with their voices for the outcome of the advert for Lynx Sportblast 2 in 1 Showergel & Shampoo. Targeting a young, active male audience and harnessing the Lynx effect to get guys ahead in the mating game, the creative from BBH features five very different, yet challenging “Lynx Mynxes” – Brainy Girl, Flirty Girl, Party Girl, High Maintenance Girl and Sporty Girl. The interactive ad runs for two weeks before The Dark Knight Rises and starts with a 30” clip on how to “keep up” with a brainy girlfriend. Four 5” previews of the other girls are subsequently teased, demonstrating how guys should keep up with each of the girls. The Batman fans are next invited to choose whichever Lynx Girl they find the “most demanding” and cheer for their favourite. The girl receiving the loudest response is then revealed to the audience as her advertisement is played in full. Read more
Cinema advertising is about to become faster, more flexible and even more creative than ever before with the advent of DCM’s Digital switchover this autumn, enabling advertisers to book campaigns by the day instead of by the week.
September 28th will mark the biggest change in the medium’s history and unleash a raft of new opportunities meaning that brands can book and schedule media in more tailored plans that are bespoke to their campaign and marketing requirements. The Digital Age has revolutionised the industry, with a new dynamism last seen at the introduction of “talkies” and technicolour. As part of this new era, innovations at DCM mean that advertisers can take advantage of slashed lead times, faster scheduling and more agile speed of response. Read more
London, 19 July 2012: From 28 September, Digital Cinema Media (DCM), the UK market leader in cinema advertising, will be able to offer advertising scheduling by the day instead of by the week.
This is the date when DCM will completely switch its advertising distribution, campaign delivery and scheduling to digital, offering cinema advertisers, who spent £169 million in 2011 (Source: Nielsen NMR), greater flexibility and improved speed of response. Read more
London, 28 June 2012: M&M’S characters ‘Red’ and ‘Yellow’ will be back on the big screen for a further year following the renewal of Mars’ exclusive sponsorship of Digital Cinema Media’s (DCM) ‘From The Red Carpet’( FTRC) show.
Introducing a new animation, the charming M&M’S characters, ‘Red’ and ‘Yellow’ are now seen joking around in a cinema environment. Read more
In an extremely close race for the top spot less than £90k separated the top four films but Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter just managed to come out in front. The historically inaccurate action horror opened with £1.1m but owes its number one spot to Wednesday and Thursday previews, which provided £375k of its total. The film feels similar in style and tone to the Underworld franchise and the most recent film in that series Underworld: Evolution also opened with £1.1m. A sizeable 81.2% of Abe Lincoln’s total was from 3D presentations.
For the third weekend in a row, Men In Black 3 secured second place holding off the challenge from The Five-Year Engagement by just £13k. The sci-fi comedy now has a cume of £19.1m and is the sixth highest grossing film of 2012. Also with £1.1m, The Five Year Engagement made a solid start. It is some way off the last Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller collaboration, Forgetting Sarah Marshall’s £2.1m opening, but a more apt comparison would be something like March’s Wanderlust, which opened with £491k. Read more
A brand new batch of trailers arrived this week and excitement is already building for some of the biggest Autumn releases and beyond.
First up is Keira Knightly in Joe Wright’s sumptuous Anna Karenina. With an all-star British cast, the Leo Tolstoy adaptation looks as lush and regal as 19th century aristocracy should. Out on the same day as Anna Karenina is another potential smash hit with a host of British talent involved, Dredd 3D. This time Karl Urban plays the titular Judge Dredd and the film looks to have nailed the darker, grimier aspects of the comic. Read more
The top 3 was exactly the same as last weekend with Prometheus 3D again coming out on top, and in doing so joining War Horse, The Woman In Black and Avengers Assemble in topping the box office for three successive weekends in 2012. Ridley Scott’s sci-fi brain teaser grossed a further £2m taking its cume total to £19.5m, making it the fifth highest grossing film of the year to date. Judging by its performance over the weekend, you would expect it to have the legs to overhaul The Woman In Black’s £21.3m total in third place. Now seventh on that list is Men In Black 3, which grossed a further £1.5m over the weekend and the family friendly sci-fi comedy now has a cume total of £17.4m.
In third spot was Snow White And The Huntsman, which managed a further £1.3m, taking its cume total to £11.9m. With the sequel already being given the green-light, the producers are clearly hoping for a Twilight style franchise and over the weekend SWATH eclipsed the original Twilight’s £11.2m total. In fourth spot and the big disappointment of the weekend was 80s jukebox musical Rock Of Ages. Adaptations of stage musicals have been big business recently with Mamma Mia opening with £6.6m, Fame with £2.4m and Hairspray with £2m. Rock Of Ages however couldn’t muster more than £1m (including £214k from previews) and Hairspray’s final total of £12.8m looks a long way off. Perhaps a more suitable comparison would be the recent remake of 80s hit Footloose, which opened with £460k in October 2011. Read more
