Movie Website Launches for April 8 - April 14

April 14, 2005

Note: In order to better server our readers, we would like everyone to take part in a poll regarding this column.

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 Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Official Site.

3-Iron
The trailer was added to the site, and I hardly know how to describe it. No dialogue, hardly any action, almost nothing in the way of plot details are revealed. This is a film that should wow critics, but will have a very tough time finding its way out of the art house circuit.

Aeon Flux
I'm going to predict that this website will win the weekly website award before the film hits theatres. There's very little information on the new flash site, but there's excellent style and great potential.

The Amityville Horror
More than half-a-dozen video clips were added to the site, including an extensive behind-the-scenes clip, (extensive for a website that is.) When they aren't pushing the, 'It's based on a real story. Honestly!' angle, these clips help sell the movie quite well.

Après Vous
The trailer was added to the placeholder site, but it doesn't do a good job of selling the film. It's almost like the studio wanted to avoid too much dialogue because it's in French and the voice over is simple too generic.

Citizen Verdict
The site has undergone a complete redesign and the new site is more of an official site for the factitious TV show the movie is centered around than the movie itself.

Crash
The Film Information section was added to the site; it contains all the usual features, synopsis, cast & crew bios, etc.

Down and Derby
The video clips are the highlight of this site with four from the movie and six interview clips. The rest of the site is pretty standard with a focus on the real life Pinewood Derby.

The Dukes of Hazzard
Just the name and some downloads so far.

Elizabethtown
Just the name and a picture.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
The flash site launched and it has more style than most documentary sites. Usual features for documentary sites are here, synopsis, filmmakers' bios, description of the subjects and more.

Fantastic Four
New Internet exclusive trailer is online, and while it's better than the last one I'm still not happy with how the Thing looks.

The Game of Their Live
The flash site launched this week but there's not much new from the old placeholder site. There is a soccer IQ test, but that's still marked coming soon.

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
There was another game added to the site, Towel Toss. Also, when you click the Improbability Drive you can turn the characters into there stuff toy form.

A Hole in One
The site has been redesigned giving it a much more professional feel.

House of D
Pretty standard site with most of the usual features, plus David Duchovny's blog and a section to share your stories of Unlikely Angels.

House of Wax
The flash site launched this week but it's a bit light on features with just the usual suspects, some of which are still marked coming soon, (production notes and crew bios.) There are also a handful of video clips marked coming soon. On the plus side, the site does has some style extras, like the dripping wax, and that adds to the site's overall appeal.

The Interpreter
Another new flash site this week and it has a format that certainly is different. Each section is about four times as large as the site and you scroll around to find the different sections. I know why this was done, the set the site apart. Unfortunately the site is too slow and the scrolling is a little jumpy for it to work. Speaking of too slow, it's taking forever to load the video clips and that's ruining any impact the site might have otherwise had.

It's All Gone Pete Tong
There's a lot of sound and video on this site with several clips, interviews, two trailers, clips from twelve songs and 2 dozen audio clips. However, all these features never seem to gel into a cohesive whole.

Kingdom of Heaven
The busy week continues with yet another flash site launching. This is one of those sites cursed by great expectations; the movie it is promoting promises to be epic, but the site doesn't have the same feel. Maybe as more features are added that will come, (especially Roaming the Kingdom and the Broadband Experience sections) but for now it seems too average.

Ladies in Lavender
There's a lot of information on the site, perhaps too much. For instance, the synopsis is not just a brief summary of the characters and an introduction to the story like on so many site, it's a summary of the entire plot complete with spoilers. So I suggest skipping it if you don't want to know what happens in the end. The production notes are equally in-depth, and along with the cast & crew bios make up the bulk of the site.

Lords of Dogtown
A lot more sections were added to the site, but except for the character bios they are all still marked coming soon.

Monster-in-Law
The Monster-in-Law survival guide was added to the site.

Night Watch
The trailer was added to the site, and it certainly got me intrigued. It's stylish in a way that's not quite Hollywood, which makes sense since it is a Russian film. On a side note, that Spider Baby thing looks so cool, I want one.

Palindromes
Typical WellSpring movie site.

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants
The flash site launched this week but right now most of the usual features are marked coming soon. The synopsis, character bios, image gallery and trailer are on the site, leaving cast & crew bios, production notes, TV spot and clips marked coming soon. Of the extras only the two of the six features are available, (the Color Picker and Shout Outs.) One final note, there is an audio introduction by Alexis Bledel and the rest of the four female leads, but much of the features they talk about are not on the site yet. Normally a site with as many features marked coming soon as this site wouldn't win the Weekly Website Award. However, this week there was a glut new flash sites with most features marked coming soon and this site was the best of those allowing it to become the worldly Weekly Website Award winner.

State Property 2
No changes since last week.

Stealth
Another Caught on Video clip was added to the site.

The Warrior
Typical Miramax movie website.

Wedding Crashers
New trailer is one the site, and while it's better than the first it's still not enough to get me interested in the movie.

The Year of the Yao
No changes since the flash site first went live.


Submitted by:

Filed under: Wedding Crashers, Fantastic Four, Monster-in-Law, The Dukes of Hazzard, The Interpreter, The Amityville Horror, Crash, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Kingdom of Heaven, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Stealth, House of Wax, Elizabethtown, Lords of Dogtown, Ladies in Lavender, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Palindromes, House of D, The Game of Their Lives, Bin-jip, Aeon Flux