Movie Released on Phone

If you want to track the impact of technology on an industry, it's always a smart idea to watch the trends in Asia, especially in Japan.

ScreenDaily.com reports that the first simultaneous movie release across multiple platforms has occurred in Japan for the first time: Kadokawa Pictures' romantic comedy Fujoshi Kanojo was released in cinemas, online, and was also available via mobile phone.

The film, which translates as My Geeky Girlfriend, launched on two screens in Tokyo and Nagoya on May 2, through distributor SPO Entertainment, as well as on pay-per-view broadband site, ShowTime, and Kadokawa-Docomo's i-Movie Gate mobile portal.

Online and mobile viewers will be charged $10 (Y1,000), which is the same price as the discounted advance ticket for the film. The film, which will be rolled out to a further ten screens by the early summer, has been adapted from a successful blog story and has also been developed in a novel and manga.

SPO said the innovative release pattern was developed from the film's online roots. This has been supported by a digital marketing campaign, including on content site GyaO, which hosts the film's website and has 22 million registered users. The blog's original author Pentabu has also been adding to the buzz by blogging about the film's release.

Online Screening

In June this year the YouTube Screening Room was set up as a platform for films from around the world to find a new audience.

Every other Friday four new films are featured in the YouTube Screening Room.

These films always appear with the permission and involvement of the filmmakers, so be sure to rate, share and leave comments. This is your chance to not only watch great films from all corners of the globe, but also to converse with the filmmakers behind them.

While the majority of these films have played at international film festivals, occasionally you'll find films that have never before screened for wide audiences.

All films playing in the YouTube Screening Room are displayed within our High Quality player to give you the best viewing experience possible.

Filmmakers can inquire about having their films featured in the YouTube Screening Room, however they must own all the digital rights to their films.

Europe Loves Cinema

This week The Hollywood Reporter offered information from a confidential MPA report sent to executives of the six major studios in Hollywood about the extent of the revenue stream from foreign box office and rentals of films.

The U.K. [which includes Ireland's sales] stood as the biggest consumer of U.S. movies for the seventh straight year in 2007, sending back $499 million in rental revenue to the Hollywood studios, 10% more than in 2006.

Altogether, the six U.S. majors brought home a record $4.5 billion in '07, with No. 2 Japan accounting for $396 million, up 2.9% year-to-year; No. 3 Germany, $384 million, up 15.8%; No. 4 Canada, $342 million, up 2%; and No. 5 Spain, $304 million, up 4.9%.

The U.K. has been the market leader since 2002, when it unseated Japan, which vied with Germany as the prime buyer of U.S. product in the preceding decade.

The overseas take of the Studios' films accounts for about 45%-47% of total grosses. Europe, based on the MPA stats, represented 53% of total international theatrical revenue. This means that for American films to be commercially successful they need to appeal and sell to international markets.

Self-Distribution

The New York Time has a piece today about why indie filmmakers in the USA are going the self-distribution route to have their films seen in the USA.

Horrible Online

During the writers strike in Hollywood last year screenwriter and director Joss Whedon began work on an online comedy series called Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

The first episode of the three-act series (written by Joss Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon, and Zack Whedon) debuted yesterday and promptly crashed the servers due to demand. After a couple of hours the show was moved onto servers that could cope with the pressure. The second and third episode will go online this week, also for free. On Sunday night all the episodes will be removed from free viewing, and after that Dr. Horrible will be available for download for a fee, and there will be the perquisite DVD later.

L.A. Times has run an article on Whedon's new show, and questions the writer about the ethos behind how it is being distributed.

Whedon's awareness of the Internet's prevailing mood also played into his decision to make "Dr. Horrible" completely free--and free of advertising--for the entirety of its first week. But really? You've got a show that even with zero paid promotion has generated enough buzz to crash servers during the first hours it was available, and you don't want use all that heat to mint some Whedon Dollars?

"Some brows have furrowed at the idea of putting it out for free," Whedon said. "But that was part of our mission statement from the first: to create an Internet event for the fans (and others) to enjoy because we enjoyed it so much."

Still, even if he takes a small hit in the short term, Whedon said that with merchandising, iTunes sales, and DVDs, he expects that Dr. Horrible "will go into the black within the first year."

On his Dr. Horrible web site Whedon further explains:

The idea was to make it on the fly, on the cheap--but to make it. To turn out a really thrilling, professionalish piece of entertainment specifically for the internet. To show how much could be done with very little. To show the world there is another way.

It will be very interesting to watch how this online programme evolves.

Universal Loss

According to the LA Times the recent devastating fire at Universal Studios in Hollywood has destroyed hundreds of classic 35-millimeter film prints. The original masters were safe in their vault in Philadelphia, but it takes $5,000 and several months to produce just one quality print. The studio had not yet assessed the total nature of its loss, but it's likely to affect several upcoming screenings of classic films at museums, festivals, and theatres.

The fire also ruined 5% of Universal Music Group's recordings: mostly big band and jazz recordings on the Decca label, and video copies of Universal movies and television shows. Universal Music Group is no longer part of the NBC, but it rents storage space from the studio.

Fairs and Deals

The deadline for application to the Galway Film Fleadh's Film Fair (10 - 12 July) is Friday 6th June.

The fair co-ordinates pre-scheduled meetings between filmmakers with projects in development and invited Film Financiers, Distributors and Major Producers. Last year, the Galway Film Fair organised 560 meetings over the course of two days where 80 Irish and European producers pitched their projects to the 63 financiers who attended the Fair.

Based on the success of last year's Real Deal, the Fleadh will be running the one-day film financing seminar on Thursday, July 10th. The deadline for entry to this event is Friday 20th June. Details and application forms are available from the web site.

Digital cinema in Ireland

Last week the Arts Council launched the report Digital cinema in Ireland (available from the web site), which was commissioned by the Cultural Cinema Consortium, the strategic partnership between the Arts Council and the Irish Film Board.

The Cultural Cinema Consortium commissioned Digital Cinema in Ireland, by Ron Inglis, in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the digital cinema environment and to inform policy development in this area into the future. The report details the technological advancements in the distribution and exhibition of film and it outlines a number of options for the Arts Council and the Irish Film Board to consider in order to provide new opportunities for audiences of cultural cinema in Ireland.

Blu-ray is Standard

The BBC reports that Toshiba has dropped out of the high definition DVD market, and will stop production of its HD DVD players and recorders. This leaves Sony's Blu-ray as the dominant market standard for high definition DVDs.

Toshiba said the tipping point came last month when Warner Bros' followed a number of other film studios in deciding to release its movies only in the Blu-ray format.

"It shows what a highly competitive market it is. When it comes to video, it is the person with the most content that wins," Gartner analyst Paul O'Donovan said.

Warner Bros' decision means an estimated three quarters of new film releases will be available on Blu-ray discs. Other major studios backing Blu-ray include 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney and MGM.

Last week, Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, announced it would sell high-definition discs only in the Blu-ray format at its 4,000 US stores.

It's not good news for anyone who bought a Toshiba HD DVD player or recorder, however.

Distribution by Download

The Associated Press reports that Universal Pictures is starting to experiment with HD digital downloads of movies with the release of The Bourne Ultimatum via the online distributor, Vudu.

The film was available for download yesterday, which was the same day the DVD came out.

Universal Pictures, the studio behind the "Bourne" movies, is the first to offer a downloadable HD version of a movie the same day as the DVD is released.

In addition to working with Universal, Vudu has signed deals to distribute HD content from Paramount Pictures and Lionsgate Entertainment Corp. Universal is owned by NBC Universal, a joint venture of General Electric Co. and Vivendi Universal, while Paramount is a division of Viacom Inc. Lionsgate is independent.

The Vudu box, which first went on sale in October, offers a catalog of about 5,000 standard-definition films, which can be rented for 99 cents to $4.99. Some films, including the HD editions of the "Bourne" films, can only be purchased, meaning they can be stored permanently on the set-top.

"The Bourne Identity," "The Bourne Supremacy," and "The Bourne Ultimatum" will sell for $24.99 each, though Vudu customers can get the two older movies for free during the holiday season.

Welcome to the age of digital downloads.