ADS LIST KUDOS WITHOUT CRITICS 'FRAILTY' GETS ARTIST ENDORSEMENTS.Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer Who needs a thumbs-up from Roger Ebert for those advertising blurbs hyping a new horror movie when there are personal kudos available from the king of horror himself, Stephen King <noinclude></noinclude>
Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of over 200 stories including over 50 bestselling horror and ? In the case of ``Frailty frailty Vox populi A state of delicacy or weakness which, which encompasses age-related fragility, in particular osteoporosis. See FICSIT, Osteoporosis. ,'' Lions Gate Films took the road less traveled in its marketing campaign for the new thriller. The distributor opted to use a glowing blurb blurb n. A brief publicity notice, as on a book jacket. [Coined by Gelett Burgess (1866-1951), American humorist.] blurb v. from King during its pre-premiere and opening-week advertising. King described the film, released April 12, as ``edge-of-your- seat entertainment.'' ``Frailty'' followed the musical ``Moulin moulin (m  lăN`): see pothole. Rouge'' by taking a rare break from traditional movie
advertising in recent months. Ads for both films featured comments from
prominent figures in a particular film genre instead of the omnipresent om·ni·pres·ent adj. Present everywhere simultaneously. [Medieval Latin omnipres quotes from movie critics. Lions Gate plans a similar advertising approach this fall when it releases the film version of the novel ``Rules of Attraction.'' ``I'd give Lions Gate points for originality,'' said Gitesh Pandya, editor of BoxOfficeGuru.com. ``You can't do the same marketing for each picture. People are getting used to the fact that these critics' quotes don't mean much anymore because they are coming from people they never heard of. They don't carry as much weight.'' The ``Frailty'' ads also featured quotes from directors James Cameron
James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is an Academy Award winning Canadian director, producer and screenwriter. (``Electrifying'') and Sam Raimi (``Evil Dead''), who described the film as ``The most disturbing horror picture I've seen since 'The Shining.''' While ``Frailty'' director and star Bill Paxton had been directed by Cameron in ``Aliens'' and ``Titanic'' and by Raimi in ``A Simple Plan,'' he didn't know King and sent him a copy of the movie, hoping for an endorsement. He got it. ``On our Web site, people are saying that if this is their kind of movie, then it's probably my kind of movie,'' said Lions Gate Films President Tom Ortenberg. ``The concept has gotten great enthusiasm and great response from everybody.'' It's not that the serial-killer film, which also stars Matthew McConaughey, was short on critical praise. It got glowing reviews in most major newspapers and a coveted cov·et v. cov·et·ed, cov·et·ing, cov·ets v.tr. 1. To feel blameworthy desire for (that which is another's). See Synonyms at envy. 2. To wish for longingly. See Synonyms at desire. ``two thumbs way up'' from influential critics Ebert and his partner, Richard Roeper. ``The critical response has been so overwhelming,'' Ortenberg said. ``Now as we head into week two, we are switching into quotes from the critics. We have probably made our point to consumers with our filmmakers.'' Against stiff competition from ``Panic Room'' and ``Changing Lanes,'' the Lions Gate release made a quiet debut at the box office last weekend, bowing in ninth place with a three-day gross of $4.2 million. But since the film was acquired for just $11 million by the company, it should still turn a profit. In the case of ``Moulin Rouge Moulin Rouge (French for Red Mill or windmill) is a traditional cabaret, built in 1889 by Joseph Oller, who already owned the Paris Olympia. ,'' the film had already made most of its money at the box office (worldwide gross: $174.5 million) when that film's unique advertising campaign was launched. After the Academy Award nominations were announced in late February, 20th Century Fox replaced critics' comments in ads for the musical ``Moulin Rouge'' with endorsements from industry giants associated with the golden age of movie musicals. They included kudos from directors Robert Wise (``The Sound of Music''), Stanley Donen (``Singing in the Rain'') and George Sydney (``Bye Bye Birdie''). Also featured in separate ads praising star Nicole Kidman's Oscar-nominated performance were endorsements from Debbie Reynolds For the Chief Veterinary Officer (UK) with a similar name, see . Debbie Reynolds (born April 1, 1932) is an Academy Award-nominated American actress, singer, and dancer. and Cyd Charisse Cyd Charisse (born Tula Ellice Finklea on March 8, 1921) is an American dancer and actress. She was born in Amarillo, Texas, and reputedly, the name "Cyd" was a nickname taken from a sibling trying to say "Sis". , two of the biggest movie-musical stars in Hollywood history. Some see the ads as a refreshingly new approach to a practice that took a beating last year when it was revealed that a creative advertising executive at Sony Pictures Entertainment had created a fictional critic named David Manning For other persons named David Manning, see David Manning (disambiguation). Sir David Geoffrey Manning, KCMG CVO (born 5 December 1949) is the British Ambassador to the United States. Biography Educated at Oriel College, Oxford and the Paul H. . Manning, who purportedly was a film critic for The Ridgefield Press in Connecticut, had heaped praise upon a series of Sony releases including ``Hollow Man'' and ``A Knight's Tale.'' Pandya said that even before the Sony controversy, most knowledgeable moviegoers no longer give much credence to the critics' blurbs unless they come from such respected experts as Ebert or Rolling Stone rolling stone Noun a restless or wandering person magazine's Peter Travers. ``Nowadays, everyone and their uncle is a critic,'' Pandya said. ``Every commercial for every movie has some great quote in big letters and the name of a critic in microscopic letters.'' |
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