Lionsgate and Warcon Records promo ‘Saw III’ with Live Musical Event

Lionsgate and Warcon Records teaming up next month to put on a ‘Saw III’-themed live music show in support of the upcoming feature film and soundtrack.

“A Musical Evening Inspired by the Soundtrack of SAW III” will kick off at New York’s Webster Hall on October 19th. The evening will feature appearances by bands from the film’s soundtrack, with headlining acts to include Helmet, The Smashup and Hydrovibe. Shawnee Smith, who stars as “Amanda” in all three ‘Saw” movies, will emcee the show, and other cast members will be on hand for appearances as well.

A special ‘Saw’ museum will also be set up on the premises, which will include actual film props, torture devices, and the creepy ‘Billie’ puppet. There’s also an opportunity to join a “Circle of Blood” fan club, which will entitle members to gain early access to the venue for a meet and greet with cast members and the bands and a big bag of ‘Saw’ swag.

The informational site for the event is here. Advance tickets are also available through Ticketweb.

The ‘Saw III’ soundtrack will drop on October 24th, and the film hits theaters on October 27th. The ‘Saw’ franchise has grossed Lionsgate over $247 million to date in worldwide box office and has sold-through over 1.8 million DVDs, according to Nielsen Videoscan.

Lionsgate Announces Nationwide Public Word of Mouth Screening Event for 'The Descent'

Lionsgate has teamed up with in-theater ad & promo outfit National CineMedia and Horror rag Fangoria Magazine to launch a one-night-only advance screening event for the upcoming horror thriller 'The Descent.' The special screening will take place next week on July 26th at 8:00 p.m. - nine days ahead of the film's August 4th wide release. The event will be held at 47 participating Regal, United Artists, Edwards, and Cinemark around the country in key markets including New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Miami and Atlanta, among others (a full list of markets is available here). A regular admission charge will be in effect, and tickets can be purchased either online or at the box office the day of the screening.

The producers of the film have created exclusive behind-the-scenes content created especially for the event, and Fangoria has created a microsite to promote the screenings as well. Lionsgate has also linked to the advance ticket sales site from the film’s homepage.

Based on the numerous positive early reviews from fan boy and genre sites such as AICN, Joblo.com and bloodydisgusting.com, the potential for good word of mouth arising from this effort are high, especially since the structure of the event is designed to cater to the "mavens" of the horror genre – Fangoria readers eager to see both the previously-unseen U.S. cut as well as the exclusive extras. Collateral for the film has also been exceptional, with one of the most compelling one-sheets, trailer and web sites of 2006.

This isn't National CineMedia's first foray into movie marketing promotions – Last year, they conducted advance screenings to promote MGM’s 'North Country', as well as a one day re-release of New Line's 'The Wedding Crashers' earlier this year in support of the DVD release. Both screenings also had "special features," including a live satellite Q&A for 'North Country' and exclusive "uncorked" extras for 'Wedding Crashers.'

Fox Searchlight Sends Severed Ears to Promote 'The Hills Have Eyes'

Marketing horror films has always required a mix of creativity, brashness, and the occasional gross-out. Fox Searchlight followed the latter to a tee this week when they sent out fake severed ears in a clever styrofoam clam-shell to promote the upcoming release of 'The Hills Have Eyes'.. You can check it out here, if you dare.

Before you congratulate the marketing team at Fox Searchlight for their originality, however, you should know that the guys at Lionsgate sent severed hands out to journalists when they promoted 'Saw' a year and a half ago.

Three times a marketing trend makes, and we're waiting to see what the Weinsteins do with the next Dimension release...

Found via the incomparable Adrants

High Movie Marketing Costs a Factor in Lions Gate 2Q Loss

Lions Gate's $14.1 million loss for the Second Quarter of 2005 is mostly attributed to a $26 million dollar loss from marketing the late summer releases 'Lord of War' and 'The Devil's Rejects,' Reuters reports.

According to company statements, Lions Gate spent a combined $35 million to market both titles, but neither of them generated the theatrical revenues to make up for the spend. However, the studio is still confident that they can make up the deficit on the home video front. That is, of course, if they can keep the additional marketing spend required for the home video release under check.

In analyzing the marketing-to-production spend for these movies, you can see why the industry is freaking out about rising marketing costs. The combined production budgets for both of these films was approximately $49 million dollars (roughly $42 million for 'Lord of War' and $7 million for 'The Devil's Rejects' according to IMDBpro.com). That would put the marketing costs at around 71% of the production budget -- an alarming figure at any rate.

Consider for a moment what Dawn Taubin was quoted as saying when interviewed for in article about the recent Warner Bros. layoffs:

"Marketing costs are just skyrocketing, and if we don't address this we are going to put ourselves out of business"

Consider this: the average cost to market a film domestically in 2004 was $34 million, roughly half the $64 million average price tag to make one, according to the Motion Picture Association of America. Blockbusters cost even more to market: as much as $60 million.

Studios Clamoring For Trailer Slots in Front of 'Star Wars: Episode III'

According to the Los Angeles Times, the highly-anticipated 'Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith' is bowing in 3,700 theaters, and movie marketing executives are jockeying for coveted trailer slots. Further exacerbating the demand is Lucas' demand that no more than five trailers bow before his feature. Given how lackluster the box office has been so far this year, many films are banking on this added push to help get butts in seats:

Others in the mix, according to another studio: New Line's 'Wedding Crashers,' DreamWorks' 'The Island,' Universal's 'Cinderella Man' and Warner Bros.' 'Batman Begins.' And some studios are also sending trailers for other films directly to exhibitors in hopes of screening with 'Revenge of the Sith.' Sony, for example, is distributing a new "teaser" trailer for 'The Da Vinci Code,' even though the movie doesn't come out for a year

The article mentions that the only film guaranteed placement is 'The Fantastic Four.' Of all of these films, the films that probably need the marketing boost most are New Line's 'Wedding Crashers,' and Universal's 'Cinderella Man.'


[Via the Los Angeles Times]