Movie Website Updates for August 19 - August 25
August 25, 2005
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner, Corpse Bride - Official Site.
The Baxter
The Brothers Grimm
The Cave
Corpse Bride
Cry Wolf
Dirty Deeds
Dirty Love
Domino
Emmanuel's Gift
Eternal
Everything is Illuminated
Get Rich or Die Trying
Lord of War
The Memory of a Killer
Oliver Twist
Pride and Prejudice
Saw 2
A Sound of Thunder
The Squid and the Whale
The Thing About My Folks
Thumbsucker
Undiscovered
Waiting...
The Weather Man
A fairly simple site with all the usual features but just a little bit of animation. And it's subtle animation to boot. A little more activity on the screen may have helped match some of the more manic action in the trailer, but as is it is still effective.
A lot of updates this week with even more added to the Gilliam on Grimm sections, three clips, more than a dozen interview clips, more images, etc., etc. etc. Like last week's winner, it almost feels like it would take more time to fully explore this site than in would to watch the movie it is promoting. And if it wasn't for the incredible competition this week, it would have surely won the Weekly Website Award.
There are two parts to this site, the cave exploration site, which is interactive and interesting, and the usual features section with is very standard and dull. Had the latter section been as imaginative as the former, then this site would have been an award winning site for sure.
The flash site launched this week and it didn't take long for me to know it was going to be the winner this week; the visuals alone almost guarantee that. However, it is also very interactive with the surfer having to explore to find the usual features and play games to unlock content. So far the site is mostly extras with very little in the regular features, or if they're there, I haven't found them yet. Character bios, production notes, (marked coming soon), trailers, clips, (also marked coming soon), music clips, illustrated art, downloads and possibly more. Add in a wonderful sense of style and you have the winner of the matrimonial Weekly Website Award.
Another flash site that launched this past week, and it is also excellent. Very interactive, sets up the mood amazingly, and even has a game based on the movie. The site has the synopsis, production note, cast & crew bios, image gallery, and trailer. There are also clips marked coming soon. Nine times out of ten this site would have won the weekly website award, but this week the competition is just too great. Maybe when the clips are added to the or the week it's released that will change.
A theatre guide was added to the site just in time for tomorrow's release.
Just the poster so far.
I do believe there's a new trailer on the site, and it was much more intriguing than the old one. I'm still not sold on the movie, but I'm a little more bullish on the film's chances.
Has all the features one would expect from a documentary site but without a lot of style.
This film is finally making it to theatres this week and the site was entirely redone to coincide with the release. However, the new site is not quite as good as the old one. It does have more information on the movie, but it lacks the nearly encyclopedic detail of the real life events that inspired the movie.
In addition to the usual features, (synopsis, cast & crew bios, extensive production notes, image gallery and trailer) the site has a small section for the characters and a link to Who Is Augustine?, which in turn has more links, mostly on Ukraine. The feel of the site works well with the movie, but it is too out there to attract a mainstream audience.
Another flash site that launched this week, but it's much weaker than some of the competition. Outside of the trailer for the video game there's not much here to make it stand out.
The flash site is up, but there's not enough here to judge. It does show some promise but I'm on a wait as see approach.
Not much as changed since the site first went live.
The characters section was added to the site, which contains useful information for those who have not read Oliver Twist.
Just the trailer so far, but since this particular Jane Austin novel has be made into a movie roughly 18 billion times, it's hard to tell from the trailer whether it will stand out or not.
The placeholder site has been redone to comply with a MPAA ruling that the two severed fingers were too much for the ad campaign.
Another new flash site that went live this week, it has all the usual features, (mostly on the placeholder site) and an usual hook. Ever 90 seconds the background image changes to reflect the changes in the timeline, while the menu section allows you to preview the next change. It's quite interesting, but doesn't sell the movie very well, at least not to me.
A fairly simple site with all the usual features, (the trailer is marked coming soon.) The falling picture design adds a little bit of style but was too repetitive.
Busy week for flash sites as yet another one went live. This one's pretty simple with just the usual features plus a video introduction by the two stars and a list of theatres that are showing previews. Previews start tonight, but the first shows have already started.
The gallery section was added to the site this week.
The movie hits theatres tomorrow and the Features section is still marked coming soon.
The movie release date has now moved to October 7th, which is certainly better than September 23rd and probably better than a undetermined Spring date. Also, the Blog was moved due to Rob McKittrick site due to the amount of swearing that occurs there. Apparently the MPAA was complained to Lions Gate about the content of the Blog, this is the same studio that was using severed fingers as part of its ad campaign for Saw II. Maybe they should rethink being part of the MPAA.
The site redone, but I liked the old intro better. The new intro is just a slideshow, something they use for the characters as well. There's a new trailer as well and it's better than the first and really helps sell the movie.
Submitted by: C.S.Strowbridge
Filed under: Movie Website Updates, Saw II, Corpse Bride, Pride & Prejudice, The Brothers Grimm, Get Rich or Die Tryin', Lord of War, Waiting..., The Cave, The Weather Man, Domino, Cry Wolf, The Squid and the Whale, Oliver Twist, A Sound of Thunder, Everything is Illuminated, Thumbsucker, Undiscovered, De Zaak Alzheimer, The Baxter, Dirty Deeds, Eternal