Movie Websites Launches for March 18 - March 24

March 24, 2005

During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Official Site.

3-Iron
The flash site launched this week but its pretty subdued with only half the usual features and just a touch of animation. The synopsis is there, as is the image gallery, but the only member of the cast or crew that has a bio is the director. The trailer is also missing, but at least it's marked coming soon, so it should show up before the film opens in a little more than a month's time.

Ballad of Jack and Rose
It appears as if the standard IFC movie website has undergone an upgrade. And while these sites are not flashy, they do have most of the usual features and they're presented with more style.

Batman Begins
The flash site finally launched, but it is another case of new format, mostly the same old content. The added sound and animation are enough to raise the site from average to nearly award winning. And as more features are added it could win the award one of these weeks.

Bewitched
The full trailer is on the site, or to be more accurate, a link to the full trailer is on the site. It's a high concept comedy, but it doesn't look like they pulled it off.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
A couple of behind the scenes featurettes were added to the site, the first on the special effects and the second on the director.

D.E.B.S.
There have been no changes since the flash site first activated. It's a good site with all the regular features plus enough extras, (two scenes and a personality quiz) for it to stand out, but not enough for it to win the award.

Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo
This is one of those sites that looks better than the movie does. So far there are fewer features on the site, (synopsis, image gallery, trailer and one game, than there are marked coming soon, (cast and crew bios, production notes and four more games.) I do have a series problem with the Ho vs. Ho game and the keyboard mapping is horrible; all the keys needed to play are in the middle of the keyboard. It would have been much if the arrow keys were used to move and block and the far left keys were used to attack. There are also some problems with music looping, but if that is fixed and the other games are well done this could be an award winning site.

The Devil's Rejects
Another bio was added to the site, but like the rest I can't see it cause I'm not American. Also added were some additional pictures.

Dust to Glory
The Baja Tour section was added making this award winning site even better. This section adds information about the vehicles used, the race, etc. and includes plenty of video clips and even has an interactive section where you can make you own music video.

Guess Who
No new changes in a while, but that week the site was really close to winning the weekly website award and the site is very well done with all the usual features plus four game / interactive features. My favorite game is Blind Poker, which I once managed to win in just two hands.

High Tension
Yet another redesign, but the section called Tension is still marked coming soon.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
On March 18th the flash site went live, and doing the math that's 42 days before the movie opens. This is a very well done site with most of the usual features, (synopsis, crew bios, image gallery and three trailers.) It also has quite a few extra features like character bios, bio on the author, Douglas Adams, (and a look at his favorite music), concept art, IPIX and plenty of games, (most marked coming soon.) And then there's all the extras that just add a sense of style to the site, Marvin the Paranoid Android as a guide, the Improbability Drive, which tends to drop whales on people), the Don't Push button and the loads of audio clips. Add in the features marked coming soon, (production notes, guide to the guide and more) and this is clearly the winner of the froody Weekly Website Award.

The Island
So far the site has the synopsis, image gallery and the trailer. The site also has an extensive intro that deals almost exclusively with director, Michael Bay's career and barely mentions the movie itself.

Lipstick & Dynamite
All the usual features are there, but the site isn't as flamboyant as I would have expected given the subject matter.

Lords of Dogtown
Another new flash site this that launched this week. This one is light on features with just the synopsis, image gallery, trailer and a single 'webisode.' But there should be plenty more added before the film hits theatres.

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
There appears to be nothing new added since the site won, but as an award winning site there was nothing much to add.

Nina's Tragedies
Typical WellSpring movie website.

Sahara
Wow, this site is monstrously slow. I've got to sit through this because it's my job, I'd assume most other people would have surfed to another site before the intro was even halfway loaded. Also hurting the site is the fact that the games don't work, at least they don't work for me. Again, I'm assuming this is a browser compatibility problem.

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants
The trailer was added to the placeholder site this week. It's hard for me to judge it since I'm so far outside the target demographic.

Spider-Man 3
The first real update for the latest chapter in the Spider-man 3 and while it's a small change for the website, it's a big one for the movie. Thomas Thomas Haden Church is joining the cast as the villain. Let the speculation begin, who will he be playing? Eddie Brock, a.k.a. Venom, perhaps?

Tideland
Two more interview clips with Terry Gilliam were added to the site, both dealt with the young actress, Jodelle Ferland, who was cast in the starring role as Jeliza-Rose.

War of the Worlds
The second teaser trailer was added to the site, but I can't shake this nagging feeling that the film will bungle the story and be a disaster. I can't quite place my finger on why I have this feeling, but I do.

XXX: State of the Union
The final section, NSA Profile, was added to the site. It has information on XXX program and the weapons and vehicles used.

Zathura
The synopsis and image gallery were added to the site.


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Filed under: Spider-Man 3, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, War of the Worlds, Batman Begins, Guess Who, Sahara, Bewitched, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Island, Zathura, XXX: State of the Union, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, The Devil’s Rejects, Lords of Dogtown, High Tension, The Ballad of Jack and Rose, Dust to Glory, Bin-jip, D.E.B.S., Tideland