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Film

10 of the Best Viral Movie Marketing Campaigns

By Alison Nastasi on

If falling in love with an android is wrong, then we don’t want to be right. The Prometheus team released a new viral video yesterday that captured everyone’s attention. We were already sold on seeing the upcoming Ridley Scott film — originally intended as a prequel to the director’s classic 1979 film Alien, about a space crew searching for the origins of humanity who happen upon something much more terrifying. The new clip featuring star Michael Fassbender has increased our anticipation tenfold. In the viral bit, Fassbender’s David makes an appearance in the form of an advertisement for sinister corporation Weyland Industries. Fassy plays an android indistinguishable from humans that promises he can carry out directives others might find “distressing or unethical.” Although the video is under three minutes long, it’s clear that the actor’s android transformation is flawless and delightfully creepy. We’re dying to see more. The video made us recall other fantastic viral marketing promotions that got us incredibly anxious for opening night. See some of our picks past the break, and check in with us below about your faves. … Read More

Film

Part Three Films That Performed Well Despite the Odds

By Alison Nastasi on

This weekend, the third installment in the Paranormal Activity franchise — a supernatural sensation since Oren Peli’s original film debuted in 2009 — rocked the box office, taking in $54 million for its opening weekend. The film also holds rank as the highest grossing movie for any October opening in history. While Paranormal Activity’s victory can be largely attributed to its successful grassroots marketing campaign and Halloween slot (it replaced popular spooky long-runner Saw), it’s still quite the feat for a part three film. Most threequels fizzle out by the third go-round, leaving their characters to dully ride the coattails of previous successes — but clearly that isn’t always the case. And with news about Sherlock Holmes securing a writer for its third installment, perhaps the action-mystery movie can follow suit. After the break, we took a look at several trilogies that buck the trend of bad things coming in threes — some third features even managing to outdo the films that started their respective series. … Read More

Art

Digital Sketches Inspired by Famous Films

By Caroline Stanley on

We just spotted the work of Massimo Carnevale, an Italian illustrator who creates digital paintings and drawings based on famous movies, over on The Swedish Bed. An artist for DC Comics since 2003, Carnevale has also painted covers for several of the titles in their Vertigo imprint including Y: The Last Man and Northlanders. Click through for his digital takes on a range of our favorite movies, from recent films like True Grit and Black Swan to classics like Psycho and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. … Read More

Film

2010′s Blockbusters as Judged by Kim Jong-Il

By Margaret Eby on

We all know that Kim Jong-Il enjoys looking at things. We just didn’t realize that those things included movies. Recently, a copy of the beloved leader’s book of film criticism, On the Art of Cinema, crossed our desk. It’s a basically unreadable blend of propaganda, theory, and all-caps commandments about the film industry that Kim published in the late 1970s. (One such missive: “COMPOSE THE PLOT CORRECTLY.”) We decided to judge the year’s top-grossing films, as best we can, using the North Korean leader’s formula. … Read More

Web

What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Caroline Stanley on

Today at Flavorpill, we wanted a pair of DeLorean-inspired kicks. We loved The New Yorker’s slideshow of airport security cartoons from 1938-2009. We discovered that “Ronald Reagan” is one of Sarah Palin’s favorite people to namecheck — right after God. We dreamed of a world where Cookie Monster would be… Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Kanye West apologized to Taylor Swift over Twitter yesterday for last year’s VMAs incident, and in the process, compared his life story to the plot of Wicked. Oh, and he also wrote her a very special song. [via BuzzFeed]
2. Other than a few standout films like Toy Story… Read More

Film

Awesome Infographic: The Tournament of Movie Franchises

By Paul Hiebert on

At times it seems like sports and the arts are mortal enemies — or, at the very least, two completely different types of culture that rarely interact. When was the last time you saw a sculptor conversing with a linebacker over a pitcher of beer at the local pub? If you think this just isn’t… Read More

Film

Pixar Characters Invade the Star Wars Universe

By Todd Van Luling on

With the recent release of Toy Story 3, high school teacher and creative artist, Sillof, decided to create a series of drawings infusing Pixar and Star Wars heroes. As sculpting is his usual artistic tendency, Sillof is planning on going back and making 3D sculptures of all of these, and to be honest we can’t wait to see how that turns out. Click through and find out what your childhood would have been like if Woody had been cast instead of Harrison Ford or if Boba Fett was never quite satisfied with travelling to some place called… Read More

Web

What’s on at Flavorpill: Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Caroline Stanley on

Today at Flavorpill, we vowed never to eat one of Friendly’s Grilled Cheese BurgerMelts — unless for some reason we’re trying to self-induce a heart attack. We wondered if it’s possible that True Blood has more bad accents than The Wire did. (Also: When and why did Sookie Stackhouse stop reading minds?) We… Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Judy Berman on

1. Although the New York Post reported that Lady Gaga was banned from Yankees clubhouse Saturday after drunkenly fondling herself in front of players, it turns out she is still welcome. Sort of. [via EW]
2. Toy Story 3 earned the biggest opening day of all time for an animated film. [via… Read More