Movie Marketing and PR Notebook: Blockbuster Money Troubles? + French Movie Audiences + University Students Screen Porn + and More

Movie Rental News

Is Blockbuster experiencing money troubles? According to the Wall Street Journal, the movie rental retail chain’s auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP evaluation expressed some concern about its financial situation:

“Blockbuster’s financial situation raises “substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern” or viable business. The company had warned investors last month that auditors were likely to raise those concerns.”

Observers like the NY Daily News, are predicting the demise of Blockbuster, while others are asserting that there is cause for alarm, but are no doubt waiting on further developments.

In a financial crunch environment where every industry—including the movie indsutry—is experiencing financial hardships, maybe there’s hope that Blockbuster will pull through.

International Movie Marketing

International films are gaining a streaming edge on the Internet. A string of Korean short films are now available on Rapid Share.

And if you’re talking movie marketing and PR, do think of one Edison Chen, please. Mr. Chen, a major movie star in Hong Kong was involved in a sexual scandal…or merely an awkward candid photo moment in a string of photos that leaked on the Internet (according to U.S. standards).

The actor ignored death threats from moral purists to get on the promotion trail for his latest movie The Sniper. Now that’s some really zealous movie marketing fervor.

French movie audiences are not apt to go watch a musical, according to a major French film director Christophe Barratier who tells the Boston Globe,

“French people are nervous about musicals. They say, ‘Oh no, will there be singing?’ ” He points out that Baz Luhrmann’s “Moulin Rouge,” while being something of a worldwide phenomenon in 2001, wasn’t a big deal in France. And “Les Miz?” Un flop.

So why is he slapping them with the movie Paris 36?

Movie Business

Peter Bart, the longtime editorial helmer for trade paper Variety, has stepped down.

Veteran movie publicist William McLeod passed away at 50. During his lifetime McLeod orchestrated many successful publicity campaigns for Terry Hines and Associates, Strand Releasing, before starting his own firm. Condolences to his family.

Marketing Movies, Collegiate Style

While some studios are having meetings about how to develop a sure-fire plan to consistently grab college students’ attention, certain developments in collegiate movie screening land would lead one to note that the best method is to have some sexy content and let the students come to you. University of Maryland students screened a pornographic flick on campus in spite of warnings from campus censorship administrators. The UM students are claiming that they’re screening the porn flick not for their viewing pleasure but for the gratification of first amendment rights.

Movie Marketing and Publicity

So is that X Men Origins: Wolverine full movie 100,000 illegal downloads going to be detrimental to the movie’s scheduled May release? Probably not if you give credence to Mark Colvin’s post about the leak doing more good than harm.

So the cult classic Toxic Avenger is getting new life on Broadway.

Cable

Will cable become a relic of the past in years to come?

Still Credit: AMP