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April 11, 2004
Spider-Man Meets The Donald
While talking to some of my students before (during?) class on Monday, one of them mentioned a USA Today article on recent movie marketing efforts on television. The article emphasizes a 2.5-minute trailer for Spider-Man 2 (IMDB), which apparently aired during annoyingly ubiqitous reality TV show, The Apprentice.
Other examples include the USA cable network broadcasting the first ten minutes of the new Dawn of the Dead remake (my take on the film). Movie marketers describe this technique as "sampling." As usual, the USA Today article is irritatingly brief, but might provide a reference point for thinking about the marketing of Dawn for my horror film article.
Speaking of Spider-Man 2, I just learned that Michael Chabon wrote the screenplay. How cool is that? I'm probably the last person to know this (the last person who cares, anyway). Just politely ignore me if you knew about Chabon writing the screenplay six months ago.
Posted by chuck at April 11, 2004 5:49 PM
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Comments
I didn't know that Chabon was writing it. In fact, I didn't know he did any screenwriting at all except for Wonder Boys but that was an adaptation of his work anyway. Hm, according to imdb Kavalier and Clay is also being filmed.
Posted by: Chris at April 12, 2004 3:09 PM
Popmatters (http://www.popmatters.com) has an article up talking about both The Passion of the Christ and Dawn of the Dead.
I generally like the things on Popmatters and thought you might find it interesting. I haven't seen either film so I can't add much, but I am wary of the way the article uses birth trauma to talk about the films. Other than that, though, there are some interesting comparisons.
Posted by: Tim at April 12, 2004 3:45 PM
I'd read about "Kavalier and Clay" in Entertainment Weekly a year or two ago, soon after the novel won the Pulitzer. I happened to be teaching the novel in a contemporary lit. course, so it was a cool ooportunity to talk about adaptation issues.
I like Popmatters quite a bit. Not sure why I haven't linked to it on my blog. I'm just leaving campus now, but I'll check it out. *Interesting* connection via birth trauma, though.
Posted by: chuck at April 12, 2004 5:02 PM
The current Virginia Quarterly Review has "The Origin of the Escapist" - a 20 page comic by Michael Chabon (story) and Eric Wight (Art).
Pretty cool.
Posted by: Jason at April 16, 2004 9:04 AM
Will definitely try to check that out. Thanks.
Posted by: chuck at April 16, 2004 12:17 PM