Thompson on Hollywood

WATCH EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Ira Deutchman's Sundance Art House Convergence Keynote on Independent Marketing

Video

Anyone wondering about the future of the film industry should pay heed to Ira Deutchman's warnings about sticking to the same old ways. They aren't going to work much longer. Think local and consider appointment cinema, he suggests wisely. "There's too little commercial product chasing too many screens, and too much good product chasing too few good screens." And, he sums up: "Distribution is easy. Marketing is hard. Old fashioned showmanship has got to come back."

By Anne Thompson
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April 23, 2013 3:56 PM
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Digital Distributor Cinedigm and BitTorrent Partner to Promote 'Arthur Newman' Starring Firth and Blunt

News

BitTorrent, the peer-to-peer file-sharing program that has always been a source of discontent and controversy in the film industry, will now be used for the first time as a distribution platform. (Read here how HBO's "Game of Thrones" conquered the BitTorrent piracy record.)

By Ryan Lattanzio
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April 22, 2013 12:59 PM
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'Ender's Game' Teaser Poster Strikes Wrong Note

News

I've been excited about new sci-fi epic "Ender's Game" (November 1) not because I'm a fan of the original Nebula and Hugo-winning 1985 novel by Orson Scott Card, but because Roberto Orci, who wrote the two recent "Star Trek" movies with partner Alex Kurtzman, is producing.

By Anne Thompson
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March 26, 2013 3:06 PM
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Why 'Jack the Giant Slayer' Flopped

Features

The dwarfish $28 million domestic that Warner Bros.' “Jack the Giant Slayer” grossed over the weekend was what? A surprise? That the wheel-spinning Bryan Singer would make a soulless 3-D disaster film out of a timeless children’s story was hardly a shock. But the film’s anemic showing was indicative of something that has nothing to do with art and everything to do with commercial malpractice: No one – including audiences, ultimately -- knew who this big lumbering movie was for.

By John Anderson
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March 4, 2013 1:56 PM
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Interactive: The Music Behind 'A Late Quartet'

News

By Jacob Combs
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February 11, 2013 6:38 AM
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VIDEO: Paramount Creates 'Flight' Hybrid TV Spots Aimed at Academy

Awards

Paramount never gives up on trying effective new ways to reach Academy members. They've found in recent years that online video spots--like the one they created to show how Brad Pitt was transformed into Benjamin Button in the David Fincher film--are very effective with Academy members. They actually created a TV spot for "Transformers" highlighting the use of sound. Now they're broadcasting a brand spanking new Academy 90-second "Flight" TV spot that will debut this Sunday on "CBS Sunday Morning" and will also be the lead-in spot to "60 Minutes" on Sunday evening. See the spot below.

By Anne Thompson
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December 8, 2012 7:49 PM
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PR News: Longtime MRC Stalwart Blumberg Moves to Sunshine Sachs

News

Year in year out, press agents can make my life easy or difficult. Michele Robertson and long-time lieutenant Brooke Blumberg at LA boutique PR firm MRC, who work with Warner Bros., among other clients, have long been a pleasure to work with. Blumberg is now moving on to bigger NY/LA PR firm Sunshine Sachs. I wish her well. Here she is on "Cloud Atlas" junket day, at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

By Anne Thompson
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December 7, 2012 1:55 PM
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Bumble Ward Talks Leaving Fox

News

Bumble Ward is out as PR chief at Twentieth Century Fox. "It was a mutual parting of the ways," she says. Her contract expires February 29, 2013, but she left the studio Monday. "We had different approaches."

By Anne Thompson
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October 16, 2012 1:51 PM
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RIP PR Pioneer Lois Smith: Tributes from Kingsley, Siegal, O'Donnell

News

Lois Smith, who died last weekend from complications due to a fall, helped to define modern PR. Back in 1971, she founded, along with Pat Kingsley (who handled Tom Cruise for years), New York's Pickwick Public Relations, and went on to pursue production at Marble Arch and United Artists before returning to her first love.

By Anne Thompson
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October 9, 2012 1:44 PM
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Oscar Watch: Spielberg's 'Lincoln' Faces Marketing Challenges; Fiery New Trailer Targets Political Wonks During Presidential Debate

Awards

An intense and patriotic new trailer for Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" (November 9) premiered during the presidential debate. Political news wonks may seem an odd target audience for a Hollywood movie, but it makes sense for a period drama that is essentially about governing. "Lincoln" spends most of its time following the fierce battle waged by Abraham Lincoln to make his wartime Emancipation Proclamation into law.