Movie Websites Launches for May 7 - May 13

May 13, 2004

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 the winner for the week, The Chronicles of Riddick - Official Site . If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.


America's Heart and Soul
Current Content: The flash site launched this week and it's a pretty simple site, no sound and light on animation. It has the synopsis, cast and crew bios, director's statement, image gallery, trailer and some material to help promote the film.


Anchorman
Current Content: Today's the day when the second section, Balls of Brass, is supposed to be added. So far it's not there but it's early in the day so I’ll check back again later. … It's 7:00 p.m. and still no update. It will hopefully be uploaded tomorrow, or by next week by the latest.


Beauty Shop
Current Content: Just the teaser trailer so far.


The Bourne Supremacy
Current Content: Just the placeholder site with synopsis, cast and crew (no bios), trailer, roughly half a dozen images and some downloads.


Breakin' All the Rules
Current Content: No changes since the flash site first launched, they haven't even fixed the problem in the cast bios. Not a good sign for Sony's commitment to this film.


Bukowski: Born Into This
Current Content: First feature you'll come across on this site are the audio clips. Each section has its own poem read by the late Charles Bukowski. Being a documentary, some of the usual features don't apply, but there is a lot of information about the man himself, so much so that even people who have never heard of Bukowski before stumbling on to the site should be intrigued enough to check out the film.


Carandru
Current Content: First of all, I've got a major problem with this site; some of the features only work in Internet Explorer. The features I can access are very well done with background music, plenty of audio clips and some animation.


Catwoman
Current Content: The teaser trailer was added to the placeholder site.


The Chronicles of Riddick
Current Content: The main site has been completely redesigned. There's a lot more sound and animation, as well as some all new content. Synopsis, image gallery, trailer, TV spots, downloads, etc. There is also a section for Mercs where you can sign up and earn points by spreading the word about the movie, grass roots marketing. The highlight of the site is still the Hunt for Riddick. I've talked about it in past columns, it is a very extensive, interactive feature with loads of background information. That feature alone is enough to make the site a contender for the weekly award, but put it all together and you have the winner of the combative Weekly Website Award.


Coffee and Cigarettes
Current Content: No changes since the site first launched.


Collateral
Current Content: Just the teaser trailer so far.


Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
Current Content: The flash site launched this week but there very little in the way of regular features. No synopsis, cast and crew bios or production notes. The trailer is on the site, as is one clip. There are extras like wallpapers and one of three games to play.


Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle
Current Content: Sound was added to the game, so there's a good chance it will be added to the rest of the site soon.


I, Robot
Current Content: The Internet exclusive trailer was added to the site.


Strayed
Current Content: Typical Wellspring site with plenty of information but no multimedia.


Raising Helen
Current Content: There's a new audio introduction be Kate Hudson on the site. A music video was added to the site, but the Mother's Day posting board was closed for obvious reasons.


Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Current Content: It has been a while since the placeholder site first launched, but we finally have an update. The flash site launched and while most of the current content was on the placeholder site (synopsis, teaser trailer) there are a couple of pieces of new information, character bios for one (as well as selected cast bios) and an image gallery for the other. The rest of the content, (production notes and two games) are marked coming soon.


Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Current Content: When the film was pushed back to a mid-September release I figured we wouldn't see another update till late August. But this week there was quite a major update with a lot of new features added, or at least marked coming soon. Synopsis, teaser trailer, character bios, downloads, and even a section called Xtras.


Sleepover
Current Content: There was another video message on the chat board, this time from Mika Boorem.


The Stepford Wives
Current Content: It looks like they gave up on the whole Stepford Men's Association / Day Spa formats for the site, which is too bad. However, the new site is good and the introduction is a nice touch. In fact, you learn more about the movie with the intro than with the synopsis and teaser trailer. Joining those features are the cast, crew and character bios as well as an image gallery. There are a few other features still marked coming soon like production notes and the Stepford Wives Guide to Domestic Bliss.


Troy
Current Content: The movie opens tomorrow but there are still sections marked coming soon. When the flash site first launched I loved it. There was enough content marked coming soon to have significant weekly updates. However, the first update after than was a month later and the rest of the updates were rather irregular. It's a case of good design but poor execution.


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Filed under: The Bourne Supremacy, I, Robot, Troy, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Collateral, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, The Stepford Wives, The Chronicles of Riddick, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Catwoman, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Raising Helen, Beauty Shop, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Breakin' All the Rules, Sleepover, Coffee and Cigarettes