stedavies.com - communications consultant

Following on from a previous post on how the music industry is using Web 2.0, I decided to check out some recent Hollywood movie websites to see if they’re taking a similar approach. Analyst I am not, so this is only a sketchy look at what some movie companies are doing.

I decided to look at the top 10 movies in both the US and UK box offices at the present time. Things I looked for were the use of blogs, RSS, podcasts, video blogs, tagging etc etc. You get the picture.

Surprisingly, there isn’t a great deal of use in terms of the tools mentioned above. However, there is a considerable amount using…yes, you guessed it, MySpace. By my recent posts, I feel like I’m becoming a MySpace groupie, but the more I explore it, the more I think what a phenomenon it is and will continue to be.

Why the movie industry hasn’t embraced Web 2.0 as much as the music industry I don’t know. Maybe it’s a different audience? Maybe they haven’t discovered its benefits yet? Who knows? It’s early days still so I guess it’s hard to tell.

Number one in the US movie charts is V for Vendetta. The company behind it is Warner Brothers, who are usually on the ball when using new technologies as I’ve mentioned before. Not this time, all we get is an RSS feed (that isn’t working in Firefox) for news and a ‘talk back’ section which allows fans to give feedback. A quick MySpace browse, and there we are.

In fact, V for Vendetta is probably one of the best sites for using new social technologies. A lot of movie sites I checked didn’t use any Web 2.0 at all, including Failure to Launch, The Hills Have Eyes, Curious George and Ultraviolet. Nothing, no measly RSS feed, blog, nothing! Interestingly, they all have a MySpace page though:

Failure To Launch
The Hills Have Eyes
Curious George
Ultraviolet

She’s the Man website has video which can be downloaded to the Video iPod and PSP but apart from that, there isn’t anything else. Again, skimping on the Web 2.0 but not neglecting a MySpace page.

Perhaps the best use of a movie taking advantage of MySpace is Date Movie. On its website, it has a section called Pimp My Profile, which allows MySpace users to type in their profile name where a character out of the movie criticises how bad your profile is. He then suggests pimping it which, if clicked ‘yes’, it changes your theme to a theme of the movie. Brilliant! Very original and guaranteed to generate interest from the movie’s target audience. See for yourslelf.

Oh the movie has a MySpace page too, surprise surprise.

As mentioned earlier, I don’t know why the movie industry isn’t adopting Web 2.0 like the music industry. It could possibly have something to do with the longevity of a film from promotion to release? Once the intitial hype has been built and it’s released, then maybe they don’t see any need to continually promote it.

But this could be an squandered opportunity. The great thing about the Internet is that it doesn’t work the same as traditional media. Old news and information comes back around and recycles itself. This should be taken advantage of. And after all, it’s not like they can’t afford it.

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movies, movie+industry, web2.0, stephen+davies