anti_gravitas goes brits_americans for one entry.
Edit: As Colin Boyd puts it, "This day only comes around every other year: It's 007 day." (http://www.getthebigpicture.net/blog/2008/11/14/james-bond-the-movie-posters.html)
Provided that the U.S. contingent here (members and off-comm loafers) hasn't been put off by the enormous number of 700Mb XVid .avi file and torrent versions of the film available out there in the wild, some of you might be off to catch Quantum of Solace at your local multiplexes tonight and over the weekend. Don't worry - there are no spoilers approaching. Just a few words about things you might not see, although I suppose I'd be vaguely interested to know just how "global" the UK marketing push experience turns out to be in other territories...
First, on the topic of piracy, ODEON cinemas in the UK have been running a specially-tailored appeal (narrated by Daniel Craig and featuring clips from the film) directed at cinema patrons not to damage the livelihoods of people in the movie business by making surreptitious copies of Quantum of Solace. Since Daniel delivers the lines in caring, softly-spoken tones, it fails to convey the impression (deliciously lampooned in the episode of The IT Crowd which poked fun at the now-extinct "You wouldn't go to the toilet in a policeman's hat" DVD anti-piracy warning) that James Bond is going to come and find you in your mid-circle seat, and blow your brains out if you've got a digital camcorder concealed in your hat...
This (to my knowledge) unique entreaty, however, follows a series of pre-film ads which are so nauseatingly blatant that they make the in-movie tie-ins for Sony seem subtle by comparison. Like the computer voice of "Jarvis" in Iron Man (English accent in the UK prints of the film, American accent in the U.S.-distributed versions), there may be variations upon the QoS-themed plugs for Omega SeaMaster wristwatches, Sony CyberShot camera-'phones, and...dear God, this is painful...Coke Zero, but frankly I'd be surprised if MGM miss any tricks in promoting this junk Stateside as well.
Finally, if - when you've got through all the noxious marketing - the film itself seems a little short, and possibly incoherent at times, there is a good reason for that: several scenes have been cut out to keep the running time down. Don't worry, though - they'll be turning up in at least one of the DVD releases of the movie, although probably not the first. After all...bad 007 in-joke approaching...you only pay twice.
Enjoy the film.
Bonus link: All about MK12, the company behind the new Bond titles sequence (and farewell to Danny Kleinman, holder of the Maurice Binder torch):
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/nov/14/bond_ambition/
Update: The figures are in...
http://www.getthebigpicture.net/blog/2008/11/15/box-office-solace-grabs-27-million-on-friday.html
...and confirmed:
"The $70 million weekend passes last week's Madagascar debut for the fourth-best debut of 2008, according to Box Office Mojo, and it now seems pretty clear that this will be the first 007 movie to exceed $200 million in U.S. ticket sales. We've been covering the film's performance overseas as well, and while the most recent weekend numbers have not been reported yet, we do know that Solace will likely be near $300 million in global receipts by Monday."
More here: http://www.getthebigpicture.net/blog/2008/11/16/box-office-quantum-of-solace-shatters-bond-record.html
No, Sarah Palin stole my wink. The cheeky cow... ;o)
Provided that the U.S. contingent here (members and off-comm loafers) hasn't been put off by the enormous number of 700Mb XVid .avi file and torrent versions of the film available out there in the wild, some of you might be off to catch Quantum of Solace at your local multiplexes tonight and over the weekend. Don't worry - there are no spoilers approaching. Just a few words about things you might not see, although I suppose I'd be vaguely interested to know just how "global" the UK marketing push experience turns out to be in other territories...
First, on the topic of piracy, ODEON cinemas in the UK have been running a specially-tailored appeal (narrated by Daniel Craig and featuring clips from the film) directed at cinema patrons not to damage the livelihoods of people in the movie business by making surreptitious copies of Quantum of Solace. Since Daniel delivers the lines in caring, softly-spoken tones, it fails to convey the impression (deliciously lampooned in the episode of The IT Crowd which poked fun at the now-extinct "You wouldn't go to the toilet in a policeman's hat" DVD anti-piracy warning) that James Bond is going to come and find you in your mid-circle seat, and blow your brains out if you've got a digital camcorder concealed in your hat...
This (to my knowledge) unique entreaty, however, follows a series of pre-film ads which are so nauseatingly blatant that they make the in-movie tie-ins for Sony seem subtle by comparison. Like the computer voice of "Jarvis" in Iron Man (English accent in the UK prints of the film, American accent in the U.S.-distributed versions), there may be variations upon the QoS-themed plugs for Omega SeaMaster wristwatches, Sony CyberShot camera-'phones, and...dear God, this is painful...Coke Zero, but frankly I'd be surprised if MGM miss any tricks in promoting this junk Stateside as well.
Finally, if - when you've got through all the noxious marketing - the film itself seems a little short, and possibly incoherent at times, there is a good reason for that: several scenes have been cut out to keep the running time down. Don't worry, though - they'll be turning up in at least one of the DVD releases of the movie, although probably not the first. After all...bad 007 in-joke approaching...you only pay twice.
Enjoy the film.
Bonus link: All about MK12, the company behind the new Bond titles sequence (and farewell to Danny Kleinman, holder of the Maurice Binder torch):
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/nov/14/bond_ambition/
Update: The figures are in...
http://www.getthebigpicture.net/blog/2008/11/15/box-office-solace-grabs-27-million-on-friday.html
...and confirmed:
"The $70 million weekend passes last week's Madagascar debut for the fourth-best debut of 2008, according to Box Office Mojo, and it now seems pretty clear that this will be the first 007 movie to exceed $200 million in U.S. ticket sales. We've been covering the film's performance overseas as well, and while the most recent weekend numbers have not been reported yet, we do know that Solace will likely be near $300 million in global receipts by Monday."
More here: http://www.getthebigpicture.net/blog/2008/11/16/box-office-quantum-of-solace-shatters-bond-record.html
No, Sarah Palin stole my wink. The cheeky cow... ;o)