Welcome to Hollyworld

They met, they browsed, they clicked. The budding romance between Hollywood and the Internet has moviegoers hearts atwitter around the world with movie Web sites, fun links, movie clips and just good 24/7 industry buzz.

By STEVE PERSALL, Times Film Critic

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 21, 2000

[Times art: Octavio Perez]

LAS VEGAS -- The most important screen in Hollywood these days is your home computer.

Word of-mouth has always been the best way to sell movie tickets. Word-of-mouse is the future, now playing on a PC or Mac near you.

Studios have realized the potential of Internet marketing beyond the experimental cyber-shrines they've been constructing for years to tout their own films. Now, Web users often find movie ads and related links appearing on screen, even on sites that aren't focused on films.

And the web-film interface is going beyond marketing. Just this week, Miramax films signed a deal with SightSound.com to put 12 full-length feature films on the web for pay-per-view downloading. Most of the films currently available for download over the Internet are short features running about 15 minutes.

"The Internet may become a meaningful way films are being distributed in the future," Bob Osher, co-president of production at Miramax, said Tuesday. "To us this is going to be a great learning experience -- who's buying? How do you market? Do you give them trailers, additional material?"

Whether you get the whole movie on your computer, or just a tantalizing glimpse, Internet movie buzz is proving to be cheaper and, in some ways, more effective than traditional TV, radio and newspaper advertising.

Why? Because it is the ultimate in direct marketing.

if you're going to the movies, the Internet offers just about everything you need -- except a ride to the multiplex. Setting their sites on movie buffs Today's cover story on Internet movie marketing focuses on popular, all-purpose sites plastered with studio ads and promotional links.

"Interactive marketing affords an incredible amount of direct targeting," Warner Bros. president of domestic marketing Brad Ball told exhibitors at the ShoWest movie exhibitors convention last month.

"It allows word-of-mouth to be passed among consumers. Then, they make the marketer's dreams come true: They market the film for us."

Internet movie marketers work to get information online as early as possible. Often Web sites open months before the movies they tout are even released.

Traditionally, most of a film's marketing budget, generally averaging $25-million per movie, is spent in the three weeks before opening day. Now, a fraction of that amount can buy a snazzy Web presence and 24-hour international awareness -- and keep it going far longer than traditional media.

Hollywood is also learning fast how to create Internet movie buzz in dubious ways. Marketing firms are entering chat rooms and bulletin boards to post positive opinions -- without ever saying who they represent. Some even pay Web users, with movie passes and merchandise, to spread good news.

But even negative buzz can help marketers. By monitoring moviegoer reactions, a studio can shape an entire ad campaign, cutting back on expenses when a film doesn't need the boost and identifying films that aren't worth extra effort.

"You know if you're ahead of the curve, behind it, or swimming upstream," Ball said.

How do marketers decide where on the Web to aim their messages? The most obvious partnerships are film-related sites such as Ain't It Cool News (www.aint-it-cool.com), the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) and thousands of celebrity sites, professional and amateur alike.

Or marketers look for their target audience on non-movie sites, such as ads for New Line Cinema's Wall Street drama Boiler Room popping up on business news pages.

Much of the time, studios don't need to purchase ad space on movie-intensive sites. They can post their opinions, and even lengthy reviews, on chat rooms and bulletin boards just like any other site user. Movie sites provide links to preview clips for downloading, at no charge to the studios. Interviews plugging films are common since studios, after some initial distrust, now welcome Internet reporters to screenings and promotional tours.

Ain't-It-Cool-News founder Harry Knowles was a pariah in Hollywood three years ago for his site's plot spoilers and early reviews. Fences were mended when studios learned Knowles' site attracts an average of 15-million "hits" per month.

Hollywood recognized the reach of the site with 1999's The Blair Witch Project, a $35,000 movie that grossed $140-million in the United States alone. Artisan Entertainment bought the film at the Sundance Film Festival and built an interactive Web site based on the film's occult mystery. A film clip ready to download appeared on Ain't-It-Cool-News in April 1999 and a phenomenon began.

By the film's July release, Artisan's site had been visited 22-million times. Web users spent an average of 16 minutes absorbing The Blair Witch Project. Compare that to a 30-second TV or radio commercial, or a quickly scanned newspaper ad.

"Television and radio are like the soundtrack to your house," America Online president Ted Leonsis told ShoWest delegates. "Our medium, just because you're so intimate with it, becomes much more valuable to an advertiser."

It's the same principle as an automotive test drive. Chances of making a deal increase when the customer actually drives the car rather than looking at photos.

"Unlike broadcast media, the Internet gives consumers the ability to interact with the brands themselves," said New Line Cinema vice president Gordon Paddison at ShoWest. "When someone sees a Web address and goes to it, they make that decision in their space, in their time, so it's very personal. Those constant impressions can take you through a transaction."

Almost.

Closing the deal, the ultimate act of salesmanship, is the electronic frontier that Hollywood is just starting to explore.

In the 1990s, Moviefone pioneered over-the-telephone theater show times and, in some areas, ticket sales. Chains such as AMC Theaters began selling tickets through telephone credit card purchases, and studios placed ads that users heard when they called in.

Now, Moviefone.com has taken the concept to the Internet. There is competition already.

At ShoWest, AMC and two other theater chains touted a partnership with Hollywood.com and CBS to provide show times and ticket sales online, beginning in selected markets, including Tampa Bay, on Memorial Day weekend.

Time Warner launched its similar Entertaindom.com site in cooperation with MovieQuest.com theater listings. Online ticket sales are expected later.

Another way to close the deal is the pay-per-view strategy Miramax just announced. Which films will be available, and what they'll cost to download, hasn't been determined.

One thing is for certain -- Internet pay-per-view will appeal only to consumers with high-speed modems. Scott Sander, chief executive officer of SightSound.com, said an average feature-length film might take 15 to 20 minutes to download on a DSL or cable modem connection. The same film would take eight to 10 hours to download over a 56k dial-up modem connection. Quality will be comparable to VHS tapes, he said, and the files would probably be available for a day after you download and give your credit card number. Then the files would be disabled.

Another developing strategy is issuing online coupons, printed at home, for discounts on movie tickets and merchandise. New Line's deal with 300 theaters for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me is a successful example. Moviegoers with coupons got a poster, promotional CD-ROM and a ticket for one discounted price at participating locations.

"It's a win-win-win situation for the moviegoer, the exhibitor and the (film) distributor," Paddison said. "The Internet is all about having the right way to communicate with each other, to plan going to the theater together, plus studios offering value, driving them into theaters."

Paddison noted that some studio executives and publicists still aren't completely sold on the idea. "It has always been a struggle to persuade the powers that be," he said, "whether it's the actor who wants a big newspaper ad or internal people who know their tried-and-true methods are still important."

And, there are times when scanning newspaper listings or phoning theaters is easier than accessing a computer and navigating Web sites.

Most signs are confirming the Internet's impact in Hollywood. Stars are making Web presence part of their contract demands. Nearly every movie release has a dot-com identity. Columbia/Tri-Star will devise preview trailers exclusively for Internet users in the near future, the next logical step in online marketing, according to studio vice president Ira Rubenstein.

"I don't know if this town is ready for it," Rubenstein told a ChannelSeven.com reporter, "but they'll have to be."

- Information from the Associated Press and Times files was used in this report.