• Ben Fritz at the LA Times talks about a recent spate of studios announcing sequel release dates well before the original has even hit theaters, in some case a year or so out from when the first installment will be released. Yes, that’s in part studios trying to claim prime release dates well in advance and thereby taking them away from their competitors but it’s also, I think, about the studios telling fans that they’ve already made plans to continue the story so they should be sure to come out for the first one. The studios want to make audiences comfortable with their plans to continue the story and not just do a one-and-done.
  • Lionsgate is adopting a much lower price point for its speedy VOD release plans for Abduction.
  • Ben Stiller has plans to create and release a series of fake trailers under the banner “The Fake Trailer Project” since apparently he had so much fun with the ones that were part of Tropic Thunder. Fake trailers have been a trend in recent years, not just with Tropic Thunder but also, of course, the Grindhouse double feature that contained a bunch of them.
  • Foursquare is adding Events, including movies, to the things you can check in at using their app. That combines their previous focus on location-based check-ins and activity-based ones that have been the focus of other apps like GetGlue, Miso and others. It’s interesting but still not the killer planning/check-in combination I’d like to see someone develop. The movies portion of Events will be powered through a partnership with MovieTickets.com.
  • Miramax is the latest studio to launch some form of movie rental experiment with Facebook. The rentals will happen through an app but there are options for choosing where and when to watch what you rent.
  • While Stephen Baker is talking about books and how all sorts of proprietary platforms lead to the diminishing of choice (not that surprising) I think it’s safe to say the same holds true for movies.
  • ComicsVine has an interesting round-up of striking visual images that have been used to sell comic book movies that may be (based on your own perceptions) better than the movies themselves.