Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: The LIttle Mermaid re-release, with a theatre full of Ipads

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Posted by Geoff Jones (Member # 3668) on 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

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 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.

Posted by Jarod Reddig (Member # 6363) on 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.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 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.

Posted by John Roddy (Member # 7348) on 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! ^_^

Posted by Matthew McBride (Member # 6598) on 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.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 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.

Posted by Edward Havens (Member # 4715) on 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.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 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.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 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.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 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.

[puke]

Posted by Michael Kurtzke (Member # 7512) on 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... [Big Grin]

Posted by Peter Castle (Member # 1997) on 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.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 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.

Posted by Scott Jentsch (Member # 1681) on 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).

Posted by Edward Havens (Member # 4715) on 09-15-2013, 02:06 AM:

What made me think it was exclusive to the El Capitan in Hollywood is that has been the S.O.P. for Disney with their classic animated movies at the El Capitan Theatre in September for years. But as it turns out, it'll be twelve theatres, according to the Disney Movies website for the movie... including, ironically, a theatre I am being transferred to, as of Monday.

Posted by Edward Havens (Member # 4715) on 09-20-2013, 05:36 AM:

And, as it turns out, this is not a one-time deal.

Disney Second Screen: The Nightmare Before Christmas will be hitting theatres next month.

No. Really. It's gonna be a thing now.

Posted by Mark Ogden (Member # 43) on 09-20-2013, 07:54 AM:

quote: Scott Jentsch
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.

I doubt that any payout or number-running was necessary, given that Steve Jobs's widow owns something like 8% of Disney. There has been a back-channel business relationship between Disney and Apple for a long time now, dating from the Disney acquisition of Pixar and the relationship between Jobs and Robert Iger.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 09-20-2013, 11:08 AM:

I suppose a thing like this will be OK if it's tied to a movie meant for it...but I wish they wouldn't screw with classic movies by doing stuff like this.

Oh well, it's not as if Disney isn't known for being able to wring money out of their properties decades after they were first created. Other companies probably wish they had Disney's marketing finesse.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 09-20-2013, 12:41 PM:

A few months ago, a Dutch movie called App de Film (literally just "App the Movie") hit the theaters in the Netherlands and also had a very limited release in the Flemish part of Belgium.

As far as I remember, that was the first movie (at least in this part of the world) to actively promote the use of your smartphone or tablet.

The app synced with the stuff on screen by means of hidden sound imprints in the soundtrack. They're putting those same hidden audio signatures in many live broadcasts already (for on-demand in-context, "second screen" stuff and for future use) and seemingly are even playing those in some venues like sports arenas via the PA system, to give you stuff like instant replays on your iPad. The sound imprints are used to identify what you're watching and how far into it you are. That way, the app can serve you content for that particular moment.

I refused to watch this piece of crap movie, since I utterly detest the concept.

Where was the time that people could just concentrate on the stuff on screen for about two hours? You need to watch the "younger generation" in a cinema before the movie starts, sitting in their chairs and using their spartphones to communicate with each other, by sending IMs and texts, rather than just talk to each other...

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 09-20-2013, 03:55 PM:

sheesh - and I thought the ancilary light of phones were bad - really... ???

Posted by Carol May (Member # 4068) on 09-21-2013, 04:08 PM:

I love my tech toys as much as the next person (coming at you right now from a new Sony touch screen laptop, ooh ahh ooh ahh), but I'm also a classroom teacher and I really, really, reeeeeeally need kids to be able to focus on one thing at a time for more than 3 1/2 seconds.

Movies (or plays or music) seen in a theater are a shared experience, and as long as people are playing with their phones, the light distracting all other viewers, they're being selfish. Theater owners should expect appropriate theater behavior and parents need to teach their children how to behave in different situations, a movie theater being one of them, and that includes watching a movie through.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-21-2013, 04:37 PM:

Amen Carol!

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 10-06-2013, 05:47 PM:

^ What he said.