Sabo Strikes Again and H'wood Changing Production

One of Sabo's works

Sabo, a Hollywood street artist, hijacked three billboards in Tinseltown the day prior to the Oscars and turned them into attack advertisements against the film industry for its abuses and mis-informed protests.

The Sabo inspired billboards boasted the messages:  "And the Oscar for the Biggest Pedophile Goes To" , "We All Knew and Still No Arrests", and "Name Names on Stage or Shut-the-hell-up."

The billboards, prior to Sabo's work, had paid advertisements and measured 48ft. across x 14ft. high. Sabo has attacked H'wood before with billboard take-overs but he considers this latest venture his largest artistic endeavor yet.

Over 100 men in the entertainment industry have now been publicly accused of sexual abuse and misconduct since charges were made against Harvey Weinstein 5 months age.

Sabo says, "my sign art is meant to point the finger at those that enabled sexual harassment with their silence, and to send a message to celebrities to refrain from preaching during their Oscar acceptance speeches."

Hollywood Changing It M.O.

In his new book, 'The Big Picture: The Fight for the Future of Movies' Ben Fritz, describes how Hollywood moved from the rise of the superhero film to the complete disappearance of the mid-budget adult drama.  From the hacking of Sony's corporate records to the development of on-line streaming, Fritz lays out where he believes the boxoffice is headed.

According to Fritz, and I agree, Hollywood is obsessed with funding the next global brand films - but the new franchises are no longer talent-based but concept-based.

It was not too long ago that Sony, Warners, and Universal all kept vacation villas in places like: Acapulco, Aspen, and Tuscany that stars had free access to.  But following numerous star-centric films that have been boxoffice flops over the last 5 years all of the major studios have now moved to the concept franchise over star power.  The current H'wood mantra is 'we can't make money by pushing stars and we need to stop relying on them to carry a film to big-grosses'. What has occurred is that the stars are all trying to abandon the studios (that no longer want or need them) in favor of inking deals with Netflix (which is in the throngs of developing a library of their own productions).



  Stay in touch,

Jim

Using Fake Holidays To Drum-up Business

If you haven't noticed, there has been a surge in fake holidays. For instance, Jan.31st is National Backwards Day, March 3rd is National Puzzle Day, and today is National Baked Alaska Day.

OK, this is clearly out-of-hand but on second thought it maybe a way for a cinema to leverage these days to your advantage. Be honest, we all contribute to the Cyber Monday and Black Friday spending craze.

The whole national holiday mania started in 1908 with Mother's Day - which went mainstream when in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating the second Sunday in May as the national day to honor mothers.  And that was it, over the next 70+ years we all went holiday berserk.

We now even celebrate sporting events as holidays, ie. Super Bowl Day, for which, before game day A/V equipment sales now rival those of Black  Friday!  From greeting cards to electronics, businesses take advantage of our 'holiday obsession'.

So all of you cinema owners, if you can't find a holiday that helps admissions and/or concessions latch on to one that is meaningful to your local community.  There is a Small Business Saturday, a Record Store Day, and even a National Thank You Note Day. Partner-up and cross-promote the cinema with other local businesses.

Best thing to do is create your own holiday, National Cinema Day for example. Make sure it falls on a Friday, Sat, or Sunday and use it as part of your existing loyalty program (you do have a loyalty program, right).  And who says you just need a day. What about a National Cinema Week, or better still, Month.

It's all about creative brand marketing to enhance your cinema's unique sales proposition. DO IT!

Keep in touch,
Jim

Cinema's Need A Dose of Disruption

Disruption use to be a dirty word. It was bad to be disruptive and unconventional. Now, it's all the rage in corporate suites. The best examples are: Amazon stepping into the food market industry and now moving into the prescription drug business.  Uber being the largest taxi company in the world without owning one cab, Airbnb, now the globe's largest property renter without owning any real estate properties. Cinemas need to take a page out of the disruptor playbook and began to think and act in a manner which provides the next step in their evolution!

The term, Unique Selling Proposition, is used in Branding and Marketing to describe the one thing that sets your service or product apart from your competition and differentiate your business. Cinemas need to find their USP.  We witness this all of the time, and here are two recent examples:

Starbucks keeps evolving, improving, and (most importantly) engaging their customers. The latest USP from the java giant is the Reserve Store. The first Reserve recently opened at Starbuck's headquarters in Seattle - which is the precursor of 1,000 Reserve Stores that are planned throughout the U.S. and other countries.

On premises bakery

Starbucks Reserve Store is massive

The Store (called a store because of It is constructed as a large open market, similar to Eataly in NYC (if  you go to NYC a visit to Eataly is a must). A host of items will be served-up at the Reserve Stores, including: branded coffee, special drinks, on-premises full-blown bakery, all sorts of food items, and alcoholic drinks.

The point of all this is that Starbucks doesn't rest on it past success - in fact, the Reserve Store will be the fifth addition to their evolving customer-centric business model. An addition to its regular cafes, their Reserve Roasteries, Reserve Bars, and Express retail stores - Reserve Stores combine all five concepts into a single location - as all things Starbucks.

Another perfect example of disruption is witness by Ekoplaza, a food-store chain in Amsterdam, which is drastically reducing the use of plastic in food packaging (and starting, what I believe will be a major trend for all food stores in the very near future). Ekoplaza has started a plastic-free section of their stores which includes hundreds of products which are sold in recyclable glass, metal, and cardboard packaging. This will be a big winner for Ekoplaza as this concept is very consumer friendly and meets the wants of many shoppers for a plastic-free environment.

These are two examples of companies that are evolving and pushing the envelope in their respective markets. Cinemas need to do the same and institute a dose of disruption into their operations.

Just saying,

Jim Lavorato

Studios Take Big Hit on 'Their Piracy'

Last Wednesday, Disney, Fox, and Paramount received a legal blow in a case whereby the three studios were charged with having used stolen graphics effects programs in production in many of their biggest super hero films.

The U.S. Circuit Court rejected the studios' copyright argument when sued by Rearden LLC, a Silicon Valley firm, for the illegal use of its motion-capture technology, know as the MOVA Contour Program. MOVA captures and tracks the 3D shapes of the human face with great precision. Rearden attorneys argued that the software program's output can be owned by the programmers instead of the end user if the program does the 'lion's share' of the process required.  The studios argued that there was substantial creative input by directors and actors to change the program - but the Court wasn't buying into this defense.

MOVA System best for facial recognition

Keep in mind that copyright laws in the U.S. protect original works of authorship while trademarks protect words, phrases, and designs that identify the source of goods and services.   

Judge Tigar ruled that Disney and Fox's use of the MOVA system trademark made in movie credits lead viewers to believe that Rearden endorsed the movie - which it did not!  The Court further stipulated that the MOVA system (used in the making of blockbusters, such as 'Guardians of the Galaxy', 'Deadpool', 'Beauty and the Beast', 'Fantastic Four', 'Terminator: Genisys', and many others) without Rearden's permission or endorsement.  This is a big problem for the studios. The defending studios stated that they would be appealing the verdict.

We will see more of this type of  law suit in the future as more and more of movie production uses simulated scenes and digital programming made outside of  Hollywood's control

Jim Lavorato