FIRST, 'NOEL' HOLIDAY FILM EMBARKS ON AN EXPERIMENT IN MOVIE DISTRIBUTION.Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer A Christmas movie with a stellar cast including Susan Sarandon Susan Sarandon (born October 4, 1946) is an Academy Award-winning American actress. Biography Early life Sarandon, the eldest of nine children, was born Susan Abigail Tomalin , Paul Walker, Penelope Cruz and an unbilled Robin Williams going straight to video? Not exactly. But the journey to home video for ``Noel'' is certainly on fast-forward as the entertainment industry's first so-called ``trimultaneous'' release, with a three-pronged experimental distribution strategy. ``Noel'' is being released theatrically today in five cities including Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. and New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . It then will debut on home video Wednesday, exclusively through Amazon.com, and next will come back-to-back airings Nov. 28, for one night only, on cable channel TNT TNT: see trinitrotoluene. TNT in full trinitrotoluene Pale yellow, solid organic compound made by adding nitrate (−NO2) groups to toluene. . ``I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what to expect,'' said ``Noel'' director Chazz Palminteri Chazz Palminteri (b. May 15, 1952) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor and writer, best known for his performances in The Usual Suspects, A Bronx Tale and Mulholland Falls. . ``When you have a small-budget movie, it's hard to compete with (a major studio's) $30 million in prints and advertising. If you can try and do something out of the box, it might be a good idea.'' The Convex Group Inc., based in Atlanta, bought the film specifically to roll out its patented Flexplay technology, which makes DVDs unplayable 48 hours after being removed from a specially sealed package. Flexplay, acquired by Convex last month, is designed as a cheaper alternative to renting regular DVDs - with no return required or late fees threatened. An unopened Flexplay package has a shelf life of one year. ``We wondered how to launch a disposable DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. ,'' said Convex's chief executive, Jeff Arnold. ``We acquired distribution rights to 'Noel' and we thought, let's take this holiday movie with this great cast and use this great content to drive awareness about Flexplay.'' Set in the snow-dusted streets of New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. , ``Noel'' is a movie ``about hope and miracles,'' said Palminteri, who also has a role in the film. It centers on a group of isolated individuals, missing out on the holiday cheer, whose lives intersect In a relational database, to match two files and produce a third file with records that are common in both. For example, intersecting an American file and a programmer file would yield American programmers. . For TNT, acquiring ``Noel'' was something of a coup since, except for a cable network's own original movies, it is usually about 30 months from a movie's theatrical release to its basic cable debut. ``My take is, I'm hoping this is a win-win-win scenario,'' said Ken Schwab, senior vice president of programming for TNT. ``I'm excited at getting access to a movie like this, with such big stars attached, this early in its life cycle.'' ``What they are doing theatrically will raise a certain level of awareness of the film,'' Schwab added. ``You are getting two marketing machines backing up this one title, and that could play to everyone's advantage. It's certainly worth a try.'' Arnold sees Flexplay as a way to revolutionize rev·o·lu·tion·ize tr.v. rev·o·lu·tion·ized, rev·o·lu·tion·iz·ing, rev·o·lu·tion·iz·es 1. To bring about a radical change in: Television has revolutionized news coverage. 2. the movie-rental business, which has suffered mightily might·i·ly adv. 1. In a mighty manner; powerfully. 2. To a great degree; greatly. Adv. 1. mightily - powerfully or vigorously; "he strove mightily to achieve a better position in life" 2. because more consumers are buying DVDs for their collection instead of renting them. He said video stores that embrace the technology can eliminate late fees, and online movie- rental services, such as Netflix, can avoid having customers mail back their DVDs. ``WalMart could use the technology to create a rental department without having to track the inventory, and Starbucks can even start to offer movies for the price of a latte,'' he said. To roll out the Flexplay format, ``Noel'' can be purchased on Amazon.com for $4.99. It is advertised as the 48-Hour DVD, and Tom Adams “Tom Adams” redirects here. For other people known as Tom Adams, see Tom Adams (disambiguation). Tom Adams (born 1926) is an illustrator most famous for his Agatha Christie paperback cover designs. of Adams Media Research believes that if consumers are willing to pay that price, Flexplay could do well. ``It's got a chance of catching on because it does eliminate the main complaint about rentals, which is having to take a disc back and having the late fees,'' Adams said. ``But they want to charge a price that's more than rental, and consumers are showing little reluctance to buy a lot of movies. So the question is whether there is a middle ground that consumers might find attractive.'' Adams applauds Convex officials for taking matters into their own hands. ``Somehow they've got to get their profile up, and you've got to salute them for going out and acquiring a film rather than waiting for the studios,'' he said. Convex owns about 100 patents that seek to create new ways to distribute entertainment. In addition to Flexplay, the company is also behind LidRock, which brings CDs and DVDs to the lids of fountain beverages. It usually costs a customer about $1 more to buy a drink with the specialized lid that holds a CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). with three songs and a music video from artists including Britney Spears, Janet Jackson and Avril Lavigne Avril Lavigne Whibley,[1] better known by her birth name of Avril Lavigne (IPA: /æv.ɹʌl lə.vin/), (born September 27 1984) is a Canadian rock/punk-pop singer, musician and actress. . Convex has struck up a partnership with the Regal Theater chain to sell two million ``Noel'' LidRock CD-ROMS in 600 theaters nationwide. The disc will come with a medium soft drink and will feature music from the movie, as well as a link to Amazon.com to buy the movie. ``Ultimately, our goal is to work closely with the studios and have them use our assets as an alternative to rentals,'' Arnold said. ``LidRock is a great marketing asset to help drive awareness.'' Greg Hernandez, (818) 713-3758 greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 5 photos Photo: (1 -- color) PENELOPE CRUZ (2 -- color) PAUL WALKER (3 -- color) SUSAN SARANDON (4 -- color) CHAZZ PALMINTERI (5 -- color) no caption (``Noel'') |
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