Movie Website Updates for February 10 - February 16
February 16, 2006
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. It's another busy week as the winter slump starts to subside. As for the best site on this week's list, it came down to the interactive feature of Freedomland - Official Site and the atmosphere of Night Watch - Official Site. After looking over the sites a few times, I still can't decided which one should get the award, so I'm giving it to both.
8 Below - Official Site
Alpha Dog - Official Site
Basic Instinct 2 - Official Site
The Break-Up - Official Site
Brick - Official Site
Clerks 2: The Passion of the Clerks - Official Site
Date Movie - Official Site
Don't Come Knocking - Official Site
Doogal - Official Site
Dreamgirls - Official Site
The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things - Official Site
The Hills Have Eyes - Official Site
Lovewrecked - Official Site
Mission: Impossible: 3 - Official Site
Rogue - Official Site
Running Scared - Official Site
Snakes on a Plane - Official Site
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days - Official Site
The Second Chance - Official Site
She's the Man - Official Site
Silent Hill - Official Site
Skinwalkers - Official Site
Stay Alive - Official Site
Take the Lead - Official Site
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby - Official Site
Ultraviolet - Official Site
V For Vendetta - Official Site
Winter Passing - Official Site
The links to the games were fixed this week leaving just the clips and behind the scenes marked coming soon. It is early in the day and I'll check back before I upload the site.
Just the synopsis, trailer, and two clips so far.
The site starts out as the official website for Catherine Tramell, Sharon Stone's character. Clicking anywhere on the screen takes you to the real site, but that only has the synopsis and filmmakers' list. The trailer is online, but you have to head over to Apple.com to see it. As for my initial reaction to the trailer, I couldn't even sit all the way through it. Any tiny amount of interest I may have had to see the movie before it now dead.
The placeholder site was redesigned, but that was the only change to the site.
As promised, the trailer went online this week, however, when I tried to watch it, it crashed my browser. The second time it did work, but a word of warning, it is a Red Banner trailer and that means really nothing. The movie is rated R, and there's nothing in the trailer that I would rate past PG-13. I've seen some Red Banner trailers that were definitively not safe for work; this wasn't one of them.
Another week, another video clip. This time on some of the preparation for a 360-degree shot. Next week part 2 should be online.
The movie starts tomorrow but the flash site only launched this week. Also, the only special feature on the site is the section called Happy Endings, which is marked coming soon. On the other hand, if you have a MySpace profile, you can get Lil' Hitch to Pimp it Out. It's more fun than the rest of the site and I didn't hear that infernal Milkshake song.
The trailer is on the site now.
The new site for the North American release is online, but with just the synopsis and the trailer, it is not nearly as exciting as the U.K. version.
The site is down at the moment, I'll check back later to see if it's back. ... It's back up. I thought it might have gone down because they were uploading a massive update, but that's not the case.
Freedomland - Official Site
No updates in a while, which means the video clips are still marked coming soon. However, the improved interactive section of the site is excellent and all the regular features are here. In the end, it is the co-winner of this week's indecisive Weekly Website Award.
Game 6 - Official Site
The site was fixed this week and I got a chance to look at the trailer, but I wasn't hooked. I'm not writing the movie off, but this first look didn't sell the movie very well in my opinion.
Just the synopsis so far, but I had some issues with the site and that made it difficult to read the text. I'm not sure if the problem is with the site, or my browser.
The game was added to the site, and it's a pretty good 3-D shooter. For each level you complete, you get to see an exclusive clip, however, the URL for the first clip is https://thhe.ign.com/exclusive1.html, so it's pretty easy to guess what the URLs are for the other clips.
The official announcement that Weinstein Co. has picked up the movie for domestic distribution is now on the site. A new site should be up soon.
There was a behind the scenes clip added this week.
Night Watch - Official Site
It has been a long while since there has been a major update, but this is to be expected since the movie was pushed back from late July to now. I would have been happier had there been more regular updates, but as it is, the site is still very well done. Even so, it is the co-winner of this week's indecisive Weekly Website Award.
The Peaceful Warrior - Official Site
Just an animated intro so far.
The only feature on the site after a short intro is the press release announcing the film.
The 'Not Safe for Work' video game is apparently becoming hugely popular. It will be interesting to see if the studio can translate that into a large box office. My prediction is no.
Just the name of the movie so far. Speaking of which, this movie has to have the dumbest name I've ever heard of.
There's a lot of information on this site including historical information and text based interviews. However, the site lacks enough sound and animation to make it stand out in a crowded field.
There's plenty of features on this site, (including half-a-dozen video clips), but it feels very cramped. Almost like it was designed for a much smaller screen resolution than most people use today.
Another special feature was added this weekend where you get to dress up Amanda Bynes while she makes random comments. Other additions to the site includes a whole lot of new images, however, some of the old ones seem to be gone. Also, another special feature called My Universe was added, but it is still marked coming soon. Lastly, I've got my hands on a series of video clips that are not on the site yet, but they should be soon. You can check them one here, here, here, and here.
The photo gallery was added to the site. While I was checking out the pictures, the site started twitching and changed to the dark version of the site. I'm hoping the moodiness of the site is a good indication of the way the film will be.
The movie doesn't open for more than nine months, which explains why the site only has two images as its only content. There are several other sections, (synopsis, cast & crew, trailer, etc.), but they are all marked coming soon.
Just the trailer so far. However, I couldn't actually watch the trailer since it took so long to download. Even the smallest res took several minutes just get just partway done. I assume it's a matter of too much traffic for the server to handle.
The flash site launched this week, but besides the Mix Master game and very extensive production notes, there wasn't much here to set it apart from the average site.
Typical Sony placeholder site with just the trailer and a link to the Ricky Bobby 'official' site.
The flash site is up, and the besides the usual features there is an excellent graphic novel that talks a lot about the background detail in the movie. I do have one concern that this background information in necessary to enjoy the movie. The other main unique feature is the game, but it moves too slowly to be enjoyable.
Another big group of updates this week including more storyboards, images, videos, etc.
No real changes from last week, but it's a good, but simple site.
Filed under: Movie Website Updates, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Mission: Impossible III, The Break-Up, Dreamgirls, Eight Below, V for Vendetta, Date Movie, Silent Hill, The Hills Have Eyes, Take the Lead, Snakes on a Plane, She’s the Man, Clerks II, Ultraviolet, Freedomland, Doogal, Running Scared, Basic Instinct 2, Brick, Nochnoy dozor, Don’t Come Knocking, Winter Passing, Alpha Dog