The Producers Guild Awards, an often-watched list for Oscar predictions, has published their nominations for best produced films, and films we have been following, District 9 and Avatar amongst others, have made the grade. For years the Producers Guild Awards have been a great precursor to the Oscars, with several films going onto win the golden statue after picking up a PGA award. Taking place on the 24th of January, those in the know will be watching the winners with great interest. The Oscar nominations will be announced a week later on the 2nd of February.
[Read more...]
District 9 and Avatar Nominated for Producers Guild Awards
January 6, 2010 By
12 Days of Viral – DAY SEVEN
December 19, 2009 By
On the seventh day of viral, my movie gave to me…..
Facebook interaction.
I am picking three films to discuss on this day, because those three films use Facebook in such an interesting way. The most common thing to do nowadays is to post the exact thing, on all forms of social networking. It gets tiring after a while. We need originality, and these three gave it to us.
Let’s start with the first on the list, 9. This Facebook page was used almost as a prequel of sorts. Giving you clues on how the characters came to be, and gave you a look at the man who created them. Clues were given on this page, which in turn lead you to the main viral page, which in turn lead to different areas of viral such as Twitter and contests.
Next, we see the film 2012. This movie had a few pages. A couple of them that, as mentioned, just posted what was in their tweets, as well as their site. Nothing great there. But as we got closer to the release of the movie, one of the pages took a turn. A turn for the good.
Farewell Atlantis ended up secretly giving out coordinates to the locations of their “drops” by giving out locations of the book signings. With the help of sites such as ours and unfiction, places were swarmed with hopes of being part of one.
Finally, we look at Sherlock Holmes, which has moved completely out of the arena of Facebook pages. This page, is not really a page at all. It’s a game, where you and a friend, team up as Holmes and Watson, and search for clues. This is genius! Right up until the genius turned out to be someone in 7-11′s corporate office and decided what better way to tine in Slurpee’s, and Robert Downey Jr.
I give them credit. For trying.
Other Days In The “12 Days of Viral” Series:
A trailer without a title
A Twitter account with the truth
Three Websites
My face on the site
800 Numbers
Password protection
12 Days of Viral – DAY TWO
December 14, 2009 By
On the second day of viral, my movie gave to me…..
A Twitter account with the truth.
The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Well, maybe a little more. At least this seems to be the way to go with newer Twitter accounts. You can go back to some of the older Twitter accounts (9, District 9, and 2012) and see them posting about things from the actual movie they are promoting. You can read a bout Charlie Frost’s Winnebago or Christopher’s disgust towards MNU.
But the newer one’s are taking it a step further. If you follow films such as Surrogates, The Crazies, and even Paranormal Activity, they are using the tactics of letting you know the truth. Not parts of the film, but actual elements of the film that are possible. Robotics. Biochemicals. Even how people are reacting towards a film. These are things that are happening on the news so they put it in your head, to just add to what you believe to begin with. Hell, they may even pick up those that follow such fears and create a new fan.
A tweet like the one above may get some activists to follow you, not knowing that it’s a site for a movie. But then again, that’s one of the things with a viral campaign. You need to make it as real as you can.
Other Days In The “12 Days of Viral” Series:
A trailer without a title
Viral Review: 9
September 30, 2009 By
Shane Acker’s 9 has been in theaters for a couple weeks now (read my review here). The viral has since died down, so it looks like it’s about time to review it.
Sites used:
Scientist’s laboratory
9′s viral campaign initially kicked off back in mid-June with the scientist’s Facebook page, as well as an interactive viral site that showed you around his laboratory.
Periodically, new clues and hints would pop up in his lab that would reveal new secrets within. One of these were the letters in ‘hope’ sprawled across the lab, which, when clicked on, would give you a symbol that you would then enter into his typewriter, giving you an exclusive interview/clip from the movie. These little things, while nice, were all the viral really did. There was nothing more to it than just some little cast interviews and extended clips that were already in the trailers.
A few days before the movie released, however, a site was found off of 9experiment that let you save a ‘talisman’ for the future, should any life forms find it. In said talisman, you left pictures of yourself along with a block of text with your memories and/or hopes for the future, along with whatever else you had in mind. A cool feature, but still lacking anything majorly ‘viral’.
Did the sites play into the movie at all?
If you followed any of these sites prior to seeing the movie, you will have a better, while still minimal, understanding of the backstory and universe in this movie. The sites are never mentioned (as expected), but in the scenes where you’re in the scientist’s lab, there are definitely things strewn about that one might recognize from his lab site. Other than that, nothing is really connected from viral to film.
Final Grade: C-
How can something be present and absent at the same time? What did you think of the viral campaign for 9? The film is currently in theaters.
ViralCast #19: Summer Movie Review
September 14, 2009 By
Join Dan, Nick, Ian, and Iain, as we talk about the movies of the summer, review Shane Acker’s 9, and discuss much more on our 19th ViralCast.
Subscribe to the podcast on 
Temporary Direct Link: http://movieviral.com/music/podcast/ViralCast19.mp3 or HERE
Movie Review: 9
September 9, 2009 By
Shane Acker’s new film, 9, produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, is finally out in theaters today.
9 tells the story of 9 little ‘puppets’ that a scientist has created in hopes that they can help defeat the turned-evil machines that said scientist earlier created (he was originally developing them for good purposes, but his work was interrupted, and, as a result, the machines ended up turning on humanity and attacking).
First off, I would just like to say that the animation in this movie was unbelievable. It was nearly flawless, save a few scenes where little things seemed off, almost like homages to Tim Burton’s ‘A Nightmare Before Christmas’. Otherwise, I have no qualms.
The story, however, is a bit repetitive. The scientist created these machines, then the puppets, and the entire movie revolves around them running from shelter to shelter fighting the machines and sabotaging them from the inside.
One of the best parts of 9 is, of course, the puppets. They all look the same in color and form (except for 7, who is played by Jennifer Connelly), but they are so easily distinguishable that you’ll never be left wondering who said what and who is who. By the second scene in the movie, you’re already connecting with these puppets on an emotional level. When 9 meets 2, you can tell that 2 has no idea what’s going on (you’ll find out why 2 is where he is when you see the film), and even when you’re clueless with him, you still connect with these characters. 3 and 4, the twins, provide some laughs with their silent-but-hyper behavior. 5, who is played by John C. Reilly, doesn’t really have a special characteristic, but he’s still a great character.
6, the crazy artist of the group, has minimal lines, but when he does speak, his one or two word sentences clue you in on so much. 7 is the badass of the group, and really the person who saves everyone’s cheese the entire movie. 9, of course, played by Elijah Wood, is admirable when he stands up to 1 as the noobie in the group, new yet fearless and without doubt in his actions.
What would a movie be without the character(s) you can’t stand? I wouldn’t go so far as to say that some characters are un-bearable, but some are very ‘meh’. 1 comes to mind above the rest. His idiotic side-kick, 8, is just a lumbering oaf.
The real baddies in the movie, the machines, were interesting. There were so many different versions of machines that not every machine could be explained, they just show up and disappear a couple minutes later, which is a bit disappointing.
My biggest complaint by far with this film is length. It’s an hour and 19 minutes long, and there is room for SO much more in this movie. While I say that the story is a bit repetitive, the ending is still a bit rushed and, perhaps, a tad ridiculous in the closing moments (at least in my opinion).
9 is a very enjoyable movie, with fantastic visuals and likeable characters who you really connect with and feel for. Be warned though, some little kids will most likely be disturbed by some of the sudden loud noises and imagery. This might be an animated movie, but it does earn it’s PG-13 rating in certain scenes.
Official MovieViral Rating: 8/10
Feedback: What Did You Think of “9″?
September 9, 2009 By
Shane Acker’s 9 releases today on the perfectly-timed date of 9/9/09. The Tim Burton-produced CG animated film has earned a lot of buzz due to it’s stunning visuals and an impressive teaser trailer, which you can check out below:
The film centers around a group of dolls that have been given the power of life after all the humans have perished in a post-apocalyptic world. While this is Acker’s feature directorial debut, 9 is actually based off his Oscar nominated short film, which you can watch below:
We at MovieViral have been covering the viral campaign for 9 for the past few months, so if you want to catch up on it, check out our 9 page.
For those who see the film, let us know what you thought of it. Is it just another Tim Burton film, or did it go beyond your expectations? Also, Acker’s story is similar to District 9′s Neill Blomkamp, but should he be considered in the same pedigree?
Shane Acker Interview on 9
September 8, 2009 By
Our friend Alex from First Showing was able to get 10 minutes in the same room with director Shane Acker and asked some great questions about his movie 9, to be released on Wednesday.
In the interview, Shane talks about his influences, the trouble he had getting the film picked up by a studio and hints at more movies to come.
Shane explains that it was difficult to convince a studio to pick up this dark cartoon, however, upon showing the short that this movie is based on at a private screening with Tim Burton who himself has brought us similar dark animations “A nightmare before Christmas” and “the corpse’s bride”. They were able to start the ball running after the meeting and now we can get to see the finished product on the silver screen.
When asked why the film did not have a 3d version, Shane explains that making a 3d film is still expensive, and rather than making an average 3d film he wanted to make a great 2d film. He feels that by using clever cinematography he has managed to create a depth to his film and more importantly, to the characters. He also explains how they considered having silent characters, but in the proved to be too much of a challenge.
Alex goes on to ask Shane about the future of “9” another projects in the pipeline. When this question was asked, it emerged that a game was planned, however, the company that was designing it folded, but they are considering picking it up gain. From the vibe of the film, I’m hoping for a little big planet type of game. There may also be comics based on the film, and depending on how well it does at the box office, a sequel could also be on the cards.
After the watching the interview I have to say that I have been swept up in the enthusiasm displayed by Shane and have no doubt that this will be one of the better films of 2009.
What do you think? Are you looking forward to it?
ViralCast #18: Fall Movie Preview
August 31, 2009 By
In this week’s ViralCast, Dan, Nick, and Cristian discuss the viral stories from the week and the movies coming out this fall.
Subscribe to the podcast on
