U.K.'s Secret Cinema turns 'Prometheus' into an interactive experience

Spending $54 on a movie ticket is a tall order. But Secret Cinema in the U.K. has convinced people to do just that, by combining a movie screening with a pre-show of interactive theatre and a touch of a theme park ride. What's more, people sign up without knowing what movie they'll see--to add a layer of surprise to the experience. Secret Cinema typically does one-month runs of shows that may involve over one hundred cast members and intricate sets and visual effects. Lawrence of Arabia and The Third Man have previously enticed viewers. For the past month, the secret film was Prometheus. Although production costs were high, the run earned $1.1 million from 38 shows in 28 days. As this video shows, it was a pretty immersive experience. It reminds me a bit of Universal's Terminator ride in Los Angeles, or what I've heard of Sleep No More, an interactive riff on Macbeth that's been selling out $105 tickets in NYC for over a year.

Secret Cinema is planning to move to NYC this fall, so we'll have a chance to see how the production fares in the Big Apple, where there are hundreds of events each evening aiming to capture the attention of the city's residents. Fox's involvement in this Secret Cinema event is unclear. The founder, Fabien Riggall, says that other studios and distributors have come to him with ideas about partnerships, suggesting that he teamed up with the Prometheus distributor for this event. People aren't allowed to tweet or Facebook the actual name of the film featured during its run. Could that dampen Secret Cinema's potential as a way to build buzz about a movie? Or will it lead to more informal word-of-mouth recommendations and an outpouring once the run is over and the embargo is lifted?

If any film was a good fit for Secret Cinema, it was Prometheus, which is a prequel to the Alien franchise and his an intricate mythology that goes deeper than the films reveal. Still, it surprises me that a film with enough backstory to warrant what's essentially a pop-up theatre/theme park experience hasn't done better. Prometheus has earned  $118 million in the U.S. and $165 million abroad, with a reported $120 million production budget. I'm sure boxed sets and promotional tie-ins will make the sci-fi pic even more of a winner, but the current box office can be fickle when it comes to quality films.

 

Animated pic 'Rio' loads up on promotional tie-ins

By Sarah Sluis

Lately, the animated box office has reminded me of a nursery rhyme (by Longfellow!) I used to hear as a girl:

And when she was good
She was very very good
But when she was bad she was horrid

The horrid? Mars Needs Moms, the motion-capture film that resulted in Disney shutting down its production company, ImageMovers, not just after the movie flopped, but a few months before it even released. Disney must have known it had a stinker on its hands, and its $150+ million investment was rewarded with just $7 million its opening weekend.

The very very good? By all indicators, Rio is going to do very well. First there were the SuperBowl ads featuring a tie-in to the smartphone game of the moment, Angry Birds. Then there were plans for a videogame. Today, at the top of Variety, is an article detailing the 82 brands Fox signed on as promotional partners for Rio, the most that have ever been attached to a single film. With all this side revenue, the box office for Rio just becomes another part of the picture. The tie-ins include not only the typical McDonald's Happy Meal toys, but custom paint colors (Benjamin Moore), blue-filled Oreos, Chiquita ads, car manufacturers, Gap, and more.

I'm not knocking tie-ins, but it's worth noting that the amount of money they can bring in has affected movie studios' production strategies. Disney, for example, has explicitly stated it's focusing on fewer, better films that can be leveraged across all its areas of business--from tie-ins to direct-to-video sequels to videogames to stuffed animals. It's caused some unusual side effects, too. AMC and Regal, frustrated with the declining amount of movies made by the biggies (as well as studios putting films on DVD closer and closer to their theatrical release dates), have gotten into the movie distribution business themselves. That's a new one. Good companies will create great product and then find a way to promote it, not the other way around. From what I've seen of Rio, the movie is sure to entertain both kids and adults, and is comparable in quality to the best animated films.

There's another golden egg of optimism hidden within the Variety piece, which opens with an expression of disbelief: Rio "isn't an obvious magnet for marketers" because it "isn't based on a popular property." If original ideas can generate this kind of advance excitement, maybe Hollywood can feel more confident developing new ideas, especially since the summer of 2011 looks like it's shaping up to be the summer of sequels and comic book heroes.

Anne Hathaway flees 'The Opposite of Love' for another 'Fiance'

By Sarah Sluis

Warner Bros. announced today that Anne Hathaway will star in the romantic comedy Fiance, about a
woman who suddenly calls off her engagement to the "perfect" fiance.  The project will be receiving a rewrite before going into production in March, squeezed in before the shoot for her fellow Warner Bros. picture, Get Smart 2.

Only a month ago, the trades reported  that Hathaway would star in The Opposite of Love at Fox, also about a woman who breaks her engagement to the "perfect" fiance.  The plots were so similar I had to check to see if the script had merely changed studios, but it looks as though Hathaway jumped ship for a look-alike plot.  Based on the similarities between the two, it seems likely that Warner Brothers was able to poach Hathaway from Fox based on an offer of better scheduling or salary.  Certainly, the fact that her upcoming shoot for Get Smart 2 is set up at the same studio minimizes any tension over scheduling conflicts.

The trailer for Hathaway's next romantic comedy, January's Bride Wars, released in theatres a couple weeks ago.  She and Kate Hudson co-star as best
friends turned bridezillas who go to war after a scheduling error
leaves them to fight over one remaining slot at the Plaza.  I imagine this film will be popular among bridesmaids who have "been there" with a demanding friend, but I think the stereotype of a bridezilla is just that, and the prospect of seeing two women fighting with each other for an hour and a half about something stupid and meaningless depresses me.  I am slightly more enthused about Fiance than Bride Wars.  Rachel Getting Married, the first part of the Hathaway wedding trilogy, I heartily recommend.

The busy actress will also be seen in this weekend's limited release Passengers, a supernatural thriller about a post-trauma therapist whose patients, including one with whom she has a romantic entanglement, start disappearing after a plane crash.