Movie Marketing and PR Notebook

Movie Marketing

While its nemesis Netflix continues to gain subscribers, Blockbuster has lost $360 million in the fourth quarter, but like a real trooper it’s not planning on going down. The retail movie rental company is refinancing loans, tapping deeper into the video game business, and lower in-store video rentals. [AP]

Has Hollywood been pushing for movie piracy all along?[P2P]

And speaking of piracy, NBA star Yao Ming thinks he can help. [THR]

Ok, just one more thing about movie piracy. Is there a link to terrorism and organized crime? [SM]

Even marketers for DVD packaging of TV shows are going all out. [TSOD]

International

Filmart is the place for Europe’s films. [THR]

Legal

The movie Sahara, based on a book of the same name, was released back in 2005, but the legal quagmire ensuing from its release is continuous.

The latest is that the book’s author Clive Cussler was ordered to pay $13.9 million dollars in legal fees to Crusader Entertainment, the film production company behind the low-revenue film. Cussler originally sued the company for failing to consult him on the film; Crusader Entertainment had countersued soon afterwards claiming that the author had misled them about the book’s sales. [AHN]

Web Marketing

Wireless giant Nokia’s social networking site Mosh is going bye bye, although the official elimination date has not yet been announced. The move is surprising many tech pundits who find it hard to swallow that Nokia is letting go such a highly-trafficked web property (180 million downloads). Some reasons being speculated upon include Warner Music’s taking way music catalog privileges away from the cell phone company’s grasp for use on the site, as well as its increasing attention on its upcoming store chains Ovi.

When the sales get tough, the marketing gets going. Now even food marketers are going the viral route. [R]