CSA board to disband following sale

The entire board of cinema sales house Carlton Screen Advertising will leave the company once its sale to Odeon Cinemas and Cineworld Group is completed next month.

The entire board of cinema sales house Carlton Screen Advertising will leave the company once its sale to Odeon Cinemas and Cineworld Group is completed next month.

Once current owner ITV completes the £500,000 sale of the company to Digital Cinema Media, a new company formed by Odeon Cinemas and Cineworld Group, three key CSA executives will step down.

Managing director Trevor Davies, sales director Adam Mills and financial director David Ives will step down. The three board members will be staying at ITV to head the distribution parts of the business that were not sold to Odeon Cinemas and Cineworld Group earlier this year, according to a senior broadcasting figure close to the company.

The sale process is expected to officially complete on 3 July, after the Competition Commission's investigation has finished. Digital Cinema Media will use Carlton Screen Advertising as its trading name for a short time while the handover process is carried out.

The newly formed company, equally owned by the two cinema groups, will be without a sales or finance director. However, Debbie Chalet, CSA's former chief executive, has been recruited to fill the same role at Digital Cinema Media.

Davies, Mills and Ives were CSA's only board members and will be running the two distribution businesses that Digital Cinema Media did not purchase - National Screen Service and a distribution company that sends out film reels around the UK - as well as the CSA Ireland business.

Prior to the sale, CSA had been operating at a loss, having been locked into advertising commitments it made with cinema outlets more than two years ago.

Since signing the deals, CSA and its main rival Pearl & Dean have struggled to make a profit amid a tough advertising climate and aggressive bidding between the two competitors for client contracts.

ITV was not available for comment at the time Media Week went to press.

Source: Media Week

Back to Main Page

Expand this article

iTunes opens 700-film UK film download store

Confirming a move oft speculated in recent months, Apple has now launched its iTunes Movie Store in the UK.

he UK store launches with about 700 feature films for rental or purchase. Content partners include 20th Century Fox, Disney, MGM, Sony Paramount, Warner Bros, and Lionsgate UK. Universal is not offering films through the site.

Like the US store, there are different price structures for new releases and library titles, and different costs for rentals and purchases. New releases will cost about $21.40 (£10.99) for downloads-to-own and $6.80 (£3.49) to rent. Older films will cost $13.60 (£6.99) to buy and $4.85 (£2.49) to rent. For an extra charge, select titles are available in high definition.

In comparison, downloads at another UK download service, LoveFilm, downloads-to-own start at $11.60 (£5.99).

Rentals can be watched in a 30-day window but only for a 48-hour time period. Titles on offer initially include I Am Legend, Into The Wild and Hitman.

The UK marks the first international store opened outside of the popular US offering, along with a 1,200-film Canadian store now offered.

Apple VP of iTunes Eddy Cue said: "We think customers in the UK are going to love being able to enjoy their favourite movies on their iPod, iPhone or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV."

Meanwhile, the Shorts International short film catalogue is also now available on iTunes UK. The catalog includes Call Register and Oscar winner Six Shooter. The shorts are downloads-to-own for $2.90 (£1.49) or downloads-to-rent for $1.54 (£.79).

The SHORTSTM collection includes Oscar winners and nominees, AFI films and CGI animations from Blur Studios.


Back to Main Page

Expand this article

Dave and Virgin 1 to promote The Godfather

Paramount Home Entertainment UK has secured a multi-platform sponsorship deal to promote the launch of The Godfather Trilogy DVD.

Ad sales house IDS and Mediaedge:cia have put together a promotion for this weekend, featuring broadcast sponsorship across Virgin 1 and UKTV channel Dave, plus online activity on Virginmedia.com.

The deal, worth more than £100,000, will see The Godfather Trilogy become the exclusive broadcast sponsor of nine hours of peak male-oriented programming on Dave, and 26 hours of programming on Virgin 1 between 31 May and 3 June.

Programmes to feature in the deal include Have I Got News For You and Whose Line is it Anyway? on Dave, and Virgin 1's American Inventor and Star Trek Enterprise. The agreement also features competition spots around the sponsorship, giving viewers the chance to win a home entertainment system.

Source: Media Week

Back to Main Page

Expand this article

Cinema ads reach favoured female group, says survey

Female ABC1s aged between 35 and 44 is the group most commonly reached by cinema advertising.

According to research by the Cinema Advertising Association, 92% of this grouping is regularly exposed to cinema advertising. They were followed by ABC1 women aged 45 plus, 87% of whom were regularly exposed to cinema ads..

The association's Film Audience Measurement and Evaluation research also suggested that non- broadcast cinema ad formats are increasingly proving effective. More than three quarters of cinema-goers take note of foyer posters, rising to 80% among 15 to 24-year-olds.

The research also claims that cinema-goers are, on average, exposed to foyer ads for 18 minutes at a time.

It also found that emerging cinema media channels are proving popular. More than half (55%) of all cinema-goers download ads via Bluetooth in cinemas, while 72% of those aged between 15 and 24 do so.

Chris Hall, research account director for Carlton Screen Advertising, said the research showed that cinema offers advertisers an audience that is "attentive and ready to absorb" brand messages.
Theatre-based cinema remains 87% of respondents' most popular out-of-home activity. By comparison, 44% of respondents claim that attending concerts is their favoured out-of-home activity.

The research was based on a sample size of 3,000 cinema respondents aged seven and upwards, and is conducted online by TNS.

Source: Media Week

Back to Main Page

Expand this article

The 19-year gap between the third and fourth Indiana Jones films should be no cause for concern according to Empire journalist Ian Nathan.Harrison Ford has not played the adventurous archaeologist since 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and fans were apprehensive that his return to the role aged 65 could be a mistake

But after the fourth film in the franchise, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, made a triumphant bow at the Cannes film festival on Sunday night, former Empire editor Nathan claimed cinemagoers need not be worried that the action-packed soul of the first three films has been lost."Of course, he's old compared to the first three films," he told inthenews.co.uk. "But from what I understand, that is part of the fabric of the film, it's about Indiana Jones being old."You could say 'does that still make an interesting film if it's less along the lines of the first three?' I don't know. "But it certainly provides an opportunity for a lot more humour and maybe a bit more of a human touch," he added.Nathan, speaking direct from the esteemed cinematic event in the south of France, said he expected fatherhood to be a theme of the new film, with many fans speculating that Shia LaBeouf's character in the movie is Jones' estranged son."Indiana Jones was always a grown-up kid," he continued. "And now you have the sense of 'should he have grown up by now and put away childish things?'"What it will lack in terms of youthful vigour, it will probably gain in terms of humour and wisdom and a conclusion to it all."Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opens in the UK on Thursday May 22nd.

Source: http://www.contactmusic.com

Back to Main Page

Expand this article

Having had the highest opening weekend of the year to date last weekend, Iron Man (Paramount) has continued to attract an audience, remaining at the top of the chart for a second week with £10.2m to date (including previews). Opening in 2nd place however is the rom-com What Happens In Vegas (20th Century Fox) which sees Joy (Cameron Diaz) and Jack (Ashton Kutcher) getting up to all sorts in sin city. Wanting to forget their worries, Joy and Jack go to Vegas, when after a drunken night , they wake up to discover they got married. But when Jack wins $3m on a fruit machine, with Joy's quarter, they find that they need to stick together to keep the money, however they discover they may have hit the jackpot in more ways than one!!


Racing into the 4th spot this weekend is the multi-coloured, all-action, high octane Speed Racer (Warner Bros.), bo! ught to us by the makers of The Matrix Trilogy. Opening with £362k, Speed Racer stars Emile Hirsch as the aforementioned Speed Racer - an aspiring young race driver who thinks of nothing but racing cars, especially after his older brother Rex is killed in a car crash. With the help of his Mom (Susan Sarandon) and Pop (John Goodman), as well as his girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci), Speed realises his dream by racing in The Crucible race against his long-time rival Racer-X (Matthew Fox). Vroom vroom!

Director Neil Marshall made his return this weekend with Doomsday (Universal), taking £312k and opening in 6th place. Set in a futuristic United Kingdom, a lethal plague has swept Scotland and with its inhabitants presumed dead, it has been quarantined off to prevent the disease spreading further. When the disease starts to emerge in England however, a team led by Eden (Rhona Mitra) is sent to see! k out Dr Kane (Malcolm MacDowell) who may have a cure. What Eden and her team encounter however are violent, cannibalistic inhabitants and their plan for a cure has to take some unexpected turns along the way.

Opening just outside the top 10 in 11th place, with £65k, is the Bollywood film Bhoothnath (Eros), which is a story about a mischievous seven year old boy and his deceased, yet stubborn and hot tempered grandfather.

The last new entry is Morgan 'Let's see how many Big Mac's I can eat before I am seriously ill' Spurlock's Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden? (Optimum), which opened in 14th place with £27k and is a documentary which sees Spurlock travelling around the Middle East, in search of the world's most wanted man. I personally saw him in Tesco the other day!

Official Box Office Figures 9th-11th May 2008

UK TOP 10 Box Office (9th-11th May 08)

Iron Man £1,976,721
What Happens In Vegas £1,263,093
Forgetting Sarah Marshall £524,326
Speed Racer £362,102
Nim's Island £317,505
Doomsday £311,383
Made of Honour £278,661
In Bruges £103,252
21 £89,656
The Eye £88,979

Source: Nielsen EDI US TOP 10 Box Office (9th-11th May 08)

Iron Man $51,190,629
What Happens In Vegas $20,172,474
Speed Racer $18,561,337
Made of Honour $8,116,323
Baby Mama $6,225,790
Forgetting Sarah Marshall $3,837,240
Harold & Kumar: Escape From .... $3,106,424
Forbidden Kingdom $2,169,323
Nim's Island $1,463,622
Prom Night $1,012,986

Source: Nielsen EDI



Interesting Film Fact of the week:

For the scene in What Happens In Vegas where Joy and Jack are drunk whilst they get married, the actors were actually drunk for the shooting of it. The things some people have to do for their jobs!


Exciting film news of the week:

Johnny Depp is one of the biggest Hollywood stars around but how many people can remember his early days as Officer Tom Hanson Jr. in 21 Jump Street? Well, rumours are surfacing that Superbad's Jonah Hill (the larger one) is in talks to develop a movie adaptation of the old TV show, although it remains unknown as to whether he will star in it or not.

Source: http://www.carltonscreen.co.uk/

Back to Main Page

Expand this article

The stars of the Sex and the City movie attended its world premiere in London, with Sarah Jessica Parker's fashion choices taking centre stage.
The 43-year-old actress stayed true to her character Carrie Bradshaw's eccentric sense of style.


Thousands of adoring fans, most of them female, lined Leicester Square and screamed "We love Carrie!" as the stars signed autographs during an hour-long walkabout.

It has been four years since the show drew to a close, and the film is the hottest ticket of the year.

But the decision to hold the world premiere in London, when the show is synonymous with New York, has angered American fans, who have to wait two weeks to learn the fate of Carrie and co.

Parker was diplomatic about the location, explaining: "This is where New Line Cinema decided to do it, so we started here. We are thrilled to be in London and we will be thrilled to take it to America."

The plot has been one of Hollywood's most heavily guarded secrets, and the audience at the screening were urged not to give it away.

Parker has already let slip that her character, happily ensconced with Mr Big (Chris Noth) at the beginning of the film, suffers an "earth-shattering" loss.

There is a new character this time around, with Jennifer Hudson, star of Dreamgirls, playing Carrie's young assistant.

The film goes on general release in the UK on May 28.

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/

Back to Main Page

Expand this article

Opening with £2.1m including previews, Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Universal) landed the top spot in the chart this weekend, having the 9th highest opening of the year to date. After being dumped by his girlfriend Sarah Marshall (Kirsten Bell), Peter (Jason Segal) takes a vacation to Hawaii to forget about her. To his surprise however, Sarah is there with her new boyfriend, rock star Aldous Snow (better known on these shores as Russell Brand), and despite his attempts to avoid their blossoming relationship, all manner of things go wrong!

The second new entry this weekend sees Jessica Alba play a blind violinist who, through a corneal transplant, miraculously regains her vision. The downside however is that she also starts to see visions of death, sending her on a journey to discover whose eye she has been given. Opening in 2nd place, The Eye (Lionsgate) took £705k including previews. Scotland's Ewan McGregor and Australia's Hugh Jackman team up (with American accents) for Deception (Entertainment) which opened in 7th place with £256k. McGregor plays Jonathan, a bored accountant who is given a new lease for life by his new friend Wyatt (Jackman). Having been introduced to a mysterious sex club known as The List by Wyatt, Jonathan shortly becomes the number one suspect in a murder investigation and a 20 million dollar theft. Star of The Office, Mackenzie Crook, plays a London Underground tube driver in the next new entry - Three and Out (Worldwide Bonus Entertainment) - which opened in 12th place with £189k including previews. Having accidentally run over two passengers with his train, Paul (Crook) discovers a loophole at work whereby if three people are killed by your train in under a month, you lose your job with a lump sum of 10 years' wages. This sets Paul on a mission to find someone willing to go under his train. Colm Meany, Imelda Staunton and new Bond girl Gemma Arterton also star. Bollywood film Tashan (Yash Raj) opened in 13th place with £182k including previews, and focuses on four people with very different personalities, each having their own private motives. The last new entry into the chart is Persepolis (Optimum), which opened in 14th place with £159k. France's submission for Best Foreign Language film at this year's Oscars, Persepolis is the animated coming-of-age story about a precocious and outspoken young Iranian girl, beginning during the Islamic Revolution.

UK TOP 10 Box Office (25th - 27th April 08):

Forgetting Sarah Marshall £2,144,038
The Eye £704,655
21 £547,865
Fool's Gold £476,244
In Bruges £408,109
Son of Rambow £278,529
Deception £255,958
Street Kings £250,634
The Spiderwick Chronicles £238,362
Happy-Go-Lucky £238,099
Source: Nielsen EDi

Interesting film fact of the week:

For the English version of the film Persepolis, Sean Penn, Iggy Pop and Catherine Deneuve lent their voices however they were all uncredited.

Exciting film news of the week:

For all you Hobbit fans out there, it has been confirmed this week that Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo Del Toro will be directing the prequel to the Lord of the Rings films - The Hobbit. In addition to this news is that Sir Ian McKellan will be returning as Gandalf and Andy Serkis will be returning as Gollum.
Back to Main Page


Source: www.carltonscreen.co.uk

Expand this article

Robert Luketic's 21 (Sony) remains at the top of the box office chart this week, having taken £3.5m to date, although why have money when you can have gold instead?? Or, to be more precise, Fool's Gold (Warner Brothers), which opened in 2nd place this weekend with £975k. Reuniting that oh-so-cutesy couple Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey, Fool's Gold is filmed off the coast of Australia and sees McConaughey as Finn - a hopeless treasure hunter whose marriage to Tess (Hudson) ends up on the rocks because he couldn't stop diving for anything thought to be worth something. Just before they divorce however, the two come close to finding a fortune in some Spanish treasure that has reportedly sunk off the coast of the Florida Keys, and with help from an eccentric billionaire (Donald Sutherland) and his not-so-bright daughter (Alexis Dziena), they're giving the hunt - and ultimately their relationship - one last shot.


From the writer of 2001's Training Day, David Ayers, comes our 2nd new entry into the box office chart - Street Kings - taking £620k. Set on the mean streets of Los Angeles, police detective Todd Ludlow (Keanu Reeves) has just wrapped up a notorious kidnapping case when Captain Jack Wander (Forest Whitaker) gives him the bad news that his ex-partner Terrence Washington (Terry Crews) is talking to Internal Affairs, helping the bureau head Captain James Biggs (Hugh Laurie) to take Ludlow down. Before he has time to confront his former friend however, Washington is killed by a gang and so desperate to clear his own name, Ludlow begins to investigate. Soon he's linking the crime to a couple of local drug dealers yet with Biggs on his back, will he have what it takes to solve the case before he is stopped....permanently!!

Having had its premiere in Camden Town, Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky opened in 9th place this weekend, with £385k including previews. Filmed entirely in Camden Town and Regent's Park, Happy-Go-Lucky stars Sally Hawkins as a chirpy teacher named Poppy who hops and skips her way through many a testing scenario, shining light and happiness on any situation. You can't help but smile!

The last new entry of the week sees Daniel '007' Craig in something entirely different for Flashbacks of A Fool (Walt Disney Intl.) which opened in 11th place with 246k. Daniel Craig stars as fading British actor Joe Scott, who having had a good run in Hollywood, is now on his way out. The death of his childhood best friend prompts him to journey back home to his English seaside hometown and whilst here he begins to think about his life over the years, and more specifically his teenage years, opening the gates for him to face ghosts of his past.

Interesting film fact of the week: Writer James Ellroy (LA Confidential) wrote the screenplay for Street Kings in the 90s, having been inspired by the O.J Simpson trial. Since then, directors Spike Lee, David Fincher and Oliver Stone have been attached to the project.

Exciting film news of the week: Award-winning director Ang Lee has announced that his next film will be a comedy set around the 60s rock festival of Woodstock called Taking Woodstock . This will certainly be a departure from his previous films - Brokeback Mountain, Hulk and Lust, Caution. No cast has been announced yet so watch this space!!
Back to Main Page
Source: http://www.carltonscreen.co.uk/

Expand this article

Lego to run campaign across cinemas

LONDON - Toy brand Lego is to promote its portfolio across ad cinema chain Vue for the next 12 months.

The Pearl & Dean-brokered campaign, which begins this week and lasts for one year, will feature on-screen Lego cinema commercials before all kids' films. In addition, Lego branding will appear across the Pearl & Dean kids' website and the Vue cinema website.

Lego is also partnering with Vue cinemas to sponsor its Saturday morning Kids' Club, becoming solus advertiser before the Kids' Club show starts.

There will also be cinema foyer activity including standees, foyer TV, leafleting and Lego-branded play zones. Also, when purchasing kids' film tickets online, a banner ad will direct consumers to the Lego homepage.

The activity will focus around key family film releases through the year, such as The Spiderwick Chronicles and Madagascar 2.

Krane Jeffrey, associate director of Carat Sponsorship, negotiated the deal with Tim Butler, group head of Pearl & Dean.

Media Week 07-Apr-08

Back to Main Page

Expand this article