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Author Topic: The LIttle Mermaid re-release, with a theatre full of Ipads Geoff Jones Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 579 From: Broomfield, CO, USA Registered: Feb 2006 posted 09-10-2013 10:48 PM                        The Little Mermaid is getting re-released September 20th and Disney wants you to download an app and watch it in the theatre while you watch the movie. There's a Trailer showing how it works: http://movies.disney.com/the-little-mermaid/second-screen-live  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 09-10-2013 11:07 PM                     Oh for fuck's sake. What marketing person came up with this? There were a lot of people who worked really hard on that movie and here this marketing "genius" is blatantly disrespecting their artistic creation. Doesn't anybody WATCH a movie anymore??? This would be fine for a bluray release, but if this doesn't bomb then the entire exhibition industry is doomed.  |  IP: Logged Jarod Reddig Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 513 From: Hays, Ks Registered: Jun 2011 posted 09-11-2013 12:52 AM                     OMFG!! Dumbest thing ive ever heard in my life!! I agree this is a horrible direction for the industry to go. Really makes me sick.  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 09-11-2013 02:39 AM                        I have spent a lot of time stamping out cell phones in my auditorium. Do I really want to invite people to carry an ipad in? This is as bad as that Oogieloves thing where they were giving the kids chemical glow-sticks to wave around while the show was on. Interesting that the app appears to be ipad only, and excludes android tablets even though there are apparently over twice as many android tablets in use. (28.3% ipad vs 67% Android, according to this source). I wonder if that means Apple is paying for at least part of this somehow, similar to their ubiquitous product placement in every movie where a character uses a cell phone or a computer.  |  IP: Logged John Roddy Expert Film Handler Posts: 114 From: Spring, TX, United States Registered: Dec 2012 posted 09-11-2013 03:03 AM                        Ahhhh, so this is the latest effort in Disney's never-ending crusade to forever ruin the movie experience as we know it. Quite formidable. I was wondering how they were going to top aggressive 3D-conversions of classics. I guess they had to up the ante a bit since all of the other studios are doing that now. Let's hope this particular stunt doesn't get mirrored in a similar manner… quote: Frank Cox This is as bad as that Oogieloves thing where they were giving the kids chemical glow-sticks to wave around while the show was on. In all fairness, those glow-sticks provided hours of entertainment to my staff. They sent us two huge boxes of those things, and we sold like five tickets over the entire one-week run. Plenty of leftovers for our personal amusement! ^_^  |  IP: Logged Matthew McBride Film Handler Posts: 97 From: Tupelo, MS USA Registered: Oct 2011 posted 09-11-2013 09:06 AM                     Wow. This is such a horrible marketing scheme. This just takes away from watching the movie. Like Brad said, somebody worked hard on that movie, and it has been a classic movie for many generations and this is just going to ruin it.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 09-11-2013 11:02 AM                     quote: Frank Cox I wonder if that means Apple is paying for at least part of this somehow, similar to their ubiquitous product placement in every movie where a character uses a cell phone or a computer. As fanatical as many people in the entertainment industry are in worshiping the holy Apple brand I would not be surprised if Apple didn't pay anything at all for this iPad stunt, or for many of the Apple product placements I see in so many movies. Just look at all the free press coverage given to the release of two new iPhone models yesterday. It's an important development for the mobile phone industry, but there's no way to justify that getting mainstream national news coverage. Woo-wee! A home button that read my fingerprint! Let me get rid of the perfectly functional smart phone I already own and spend $200 plus tax, fees and accessories costs for that! Let's face it: a lot of people in the media absolutely worship the Apple brand. So if Apple even so much as changes the color of an existing product that is as big a news item as terrorists exploding an oil tanker ship off the coast of Cancun. quote: Frank Cox Interesting that the app appears to be ipad only, and excludes android tablets even though there are apparently over twice as many android tablets in use. Ignoring market realities is one of the things about brand worship and fashion. Some Disney executives might have tinkled in their shorts a little imagining the sheer beauty of hundreds of kids in a theater all using the same kind of Apple branded device.  |  IP: Logged Edward Havens Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 614 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Mar 2008 posted 09-11-2013 11:28 AM                     Since, to the best of my knowledge, this re-release is confined solely to the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, I doubt it's going to have much of an impact on how people go to the movies. Now, if Disney releases an app like this for Frozen, then we have an issue.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 09-11-2013 01:56 PM                        What makes you think that? It says "coming to theaters". Plural. As for the iPad interaction they say "Coming to select theaters". Once again... plural. Why would they advertise a re-release of a movie at just one theater? That's like my theater playing a print of Back to the Future and calling it a re-release. The iPads should be used to pirate the movie. Why else would you encourage kids to bring them in? I am wholeheartedly encouraging this and hoping that this happens. Also, I really want this movie (along with the iPad interaction) to be booked at all Alamo Draft Houses.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 09-11-2013 02:42 PM                     Now that would be funny if Alamo Draft House was showing this kind of crazy engagement. They'll kick you out of the theater for playing with your smart phone during the show. But whip out an even bigger device? That's just fine. Yeah, I don't see this iPad thingie just playing the El Capitan in Hollywood. If Disney went to the expense of developing an iPad app specific to this movie release I would guess they would intend for it to play in at least a few dozen theaters for at least a week or two.  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-11-2013 07:50 PM                     YouTube video of the ad for international members. Now I see what this is all about. What a dumb, dumb, DUMB idea. Interesting to note that comments are disabled for the YouTube video. With 115 thumbs up and 561 thumbs down I guess they got tired of people telling them what a stoopid idea it is.  |  IP: Logged Michael Kurtzke Film Handler Posts: 45 From: Ashburn, VA, USA Registered: Feb 2013 posted 09-12-2013 01:21 AM                     Bobby, I can assure you that us here at the Alamo will be passing on this. Kids + iPads + Alamo Drafthosue is not a good combination...  |  IP: Logged Peter Castle Expert Film Handler Posts: 220 From: Wollongong University, NSW ,Australia Registered: Oct 2003 posted 09-12-2013 05:03 AM                     Attended the session at CinemaCon this year where Disney used this procedure for "Nightmare Before Christmas". I found it dreadful, but many seemed to enjoy not watching the movie but answering questions and tapping the screen of iPads.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 09-12-2013 08:28 AM                     quote: Michael Kurtzke I can assure you that us here at the Alamo will be passing on this. Kids + iPads + Alamo Drafthosue is not a good combination... Joe and I were just joking about the absurd possibility of this kind of "movie experience" playing at Alamo Drafthouse. I agree, kids, iPads and any establishment serving alcohol would be a bad combination. If I was in a bar and some grown adult near me started playing with an iPad I might be tempted to pour my beer on top of his head.  |  IP: Logged Scott Jentsch Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1061 From: New Berlin, WI, USA Registered: Apr 2003 posted 09-12-2013 02:25 PM                        We're listing it as showing at 8 theaters nationwide on 9/20 so far: http://www.bigscreen.com/NowShowing.php?movie=170118&view=sched&showdate=2013-09-20&show=nearby&zip=53151 As far as the app being iOS only (vs also Android), I think it boils down to a recognition that the iPad is by far the most popular tablet out there, especially with kids. Aside from an actual payout/agreement from Apple, the Disney people surely ran the numbers and determined the platform that would reach the widest audience. One might question why they didn't just roll out apps for both? My guess would be time constraints. My understanding of app development is that it's harder to develop for all the varieties of Android out there than it is to develop for essentially one iOS for the iPad, but that's just my impression (no 1st-hand experience).  |  IP: Logged

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