Social Network / Cyberstudio LiveMansion.com To Produce Upcoming Feature Film
NEW YORK, NY -- Ckrush, Inc., announced the launch today of a new website designed to take social networking to a whole new level, fusing the strength of internet peer-to-peer networks with the power of being a studio mogul. LiveMansion.com – a participatory creative community in which the members call the shots – will function as a producer on Ckrush's next feature film, LIVE MANSION: THE MOVIE, a thriller set in the underground world of mega-mansion, rave-style parties. Members of the social network will cast the film, choose the director and play a major decision-making role throughout the entire production process. The effort marks the first time most of the major production decisions on a film have been made through an online social network.
"Social networking has become a powerful collective force in today's world," said Jeremy Dallow, President of Ckrush. "LiveMansion.com takes this phenomenon in a new direction, harnessing the participatory nature of the web in a whole new way. Ckrush is committed to making highly entertaining feature films and we feel that the LiveMansion community will be a great producing partner and source for creative talent."
LiveMansion.com members will participate in the making of LIVE MANSION: THE MOVIE in up to three different ways. They can enter an open casting call, audition to become the director and/or call the shots as a producer. Producers vote during the talent search and then subsequently as key decisions are made throughout the rest of the production process. Each member will earn "producer points" as they take part in the making of the film. Those who participate the most will be brought to the set and will earn equity in the film among other benefits.
The search for a director will begin with online submissions, with candidates being asked to tell a story using three pictures and no narrative, and to submit a questionnaire. LiveMansion.com members will rank submissions, with the top choices moving on to the second round. The next step will require candidates to submit up to a three minute video, which will also be ranked. For round three, those still standing will be provided three scenes from the film, one of which they must shoot and submit the video. Community members will then cast a simple vote whether to give them the job or not. The top vote getters will move on to the final round.
The five top candidates for director will be given a budget to create a five-minute short film based on scenes from LIVE MANSION: THE MOVIE. The final candidates will then be brought to New York where they will present their work to industry professionals. Live Mansion Members will then vote online to select the director based on the strength of their short.
The open casting process will also be broken into rounds, starting with photo and questionnaire submissions that will be ranked by members. Top ranking entries will move to a sorting round in which LiveMansion.com will unveil eight character descriptions and candidates will choose which roles they feel fit them best. Members will rate the candidates for each role, with the highest rated actor candidates going to the next round. Round 3 will require candidates to submit a short video of themselves performing scenes from the movie. The top vote getters for each role will be brought to New York and will participate in a live online casting showcase, before members make their final choices.
About Ckrush, Inc.
Ckrush, Inc. is a cutting edge entertainment and digital media group capitalizing on the global convergence of the traditional entertainment industry and the "participatory pop culture" revolution of online communities and digital technology. The Company produces feature films, sports programs and other content that target young adults, a highly-coveted entertainment industry demographic comprised of 70 million-plus consumers with an estimated spending power in excess of $200 billion annually. Ckrush feature films slated to be released in 2006 include, "Beer League," starring Artie Lange, "TV the Movie," starring Steve O and Wee Man of "Jackass" fame; and National Lampoon's "Pledge This," starring Paris Hilton. Ckrush also promotes and distributes televised sports events and other programming through pay-per-view, video-on-demand and other channels. For investor-specific information about Ckrush, Inc., including recent news and stock price data, please visit http://www.trilogy-capital.com/tcp/ckrush/quote.html. For General Investor Information, please visit http://www.trilogy-capital.com/tcp/ckrush/. For additional information, visit http://www.ckrush.net.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
LIONSGATE PARTNERS WITH HABBO FOR EXCLUSIVE ONLINE PREMIERE OF HIGHLY-ANTICIPATED MARVEL ANIMATED FEATURE ULTIMATE AVENGERS 2
First 10 Minutes Of Feature To Be Premiered On Popular Habbo.com Website On July 26th; DVD Available In Stores On August 8th
SANTA MONICA, CA/LOS ANGELES, CA (July 25, 2006) - This July, through a partnership with HABBO, one of the world's largest and hottest on-line destinations for teenagers, Lionsgate, the leading independent filmed entertainment studio, will premiere the first 10 minutes of its highly-anticipated MarvelT animated feature, Ultimate Avengers 2, on the popular website, Habbo.com. This event marks the first time the online community will be able to view 10 full minutes of a never-before-seen film prior to its release. A virtual red-carpet premiere event will be held at the Habbo Theaterdome on July 26th at 4:00pm PST, where a host of "special guests" will be in attendance, including the human personas of Captain AmericaT (Steve Rogers), Iron ManT (Tony Stark), The HulkT (Bruce Banner) and Black PantherT (T'Challa). This will be a "black tie" affair - and all Habbos in attendance will be required to dress in black.
During the premiere event, registered users of the site, called "Habbos" will be able to attend by logging in to the virtual community and entering the Habbo Theaterdome to view the film footage and also respond within the community immediately - even while the footage is still playing. After the premiere showing is completed, Habbos will be treated to an interactive Q&A session with the Marvel Heroes from the movie who attended the premiere. Once the premiere event concludes, all other Habbos will be able to view the footage on Habbo.com for two weeks leading up to the August 8th DVD release of Ultimate Avengers 2.
"This partnership with Habbo on Ultimate Avengers 2 opens up exciting, new ways to reach a big audience and do it in a breakthrough way that strengthens the involvement of the consumer" said Michael Rathauser, Vice President of Marketing, Lionsgate. "The Habbo world provides a unique opportunity to not only stream our content for viewing online, but to do it in a community environment that encourages instant reaction to the footage and which generates the potential for significant word-of-mouth. With Habbo's enthusiastic, highly involved user base, the buzz about the movie will just continue to build leading up to the DVD release."
"By partnering with Lionsgate, we are making it possible for our users, aka 'Habbos,' and Marvel fans to interact with one another and extend their Avengers experience through an online event like no other. The Habbo teen community undoubtedly already feels a strong connection to the Avengers characters, such as the HULK, Captain America, Thor, and Iron man, but at the same time, Habbo provides a great forum to attract a new audience as well. This will be the first real time interaction and feedback session of its kind in an online environment, instantly giving the users a sense of ownership," said Janne Kouri, Regional Director, North America.
Ultimate Avengers 2 is the second film in a multi-picture deal between Lionsgate and Marvel Studios and is the sequel to Ultimate Avengers: The Movie. Available on DVD on August 8th for the suggested retail price of $19.98, the film is set in Wakanda, deep in the heart of Africa, and features non-stop animated action that stays true to its comic book roots. Additionally, it boasts highly-entertaining bonus features including a gag reel, a featurette, DVD-ROM game and more.
ABOUT HABBO
HABBO is a richly colorful, multi-dimensional virtual community and game environment for teens. Users join by creating a fully-customized online character called a Habbo. From there, they can explore many public hang outs, play a variety of games, connect with friends, decorate their own rooms, and have fun through creativity and self expression. Since its launch in 2000 by Sulake Corporation, an interactive entertainment company that specializes in developing, publishing and distributing multiplayer social networking communities and games, HABBO sites have been introduced in 18 countries on five continents, with more than 53 million Habbo characters created and more than 7 million unique users each month. The highly-trafficked U.S site, www.habbo.com, is visited by over 1.7 million unique users per month who spend on average more than three hours a week on the site (Nielsen Net Ratings). Sulake has headquarters in Finland and offices in 17 countries. Currently the company has over 270 employees worldwide. Sulake is extending the Habbo brand to include e.g. mobile games and content, and merchandising and licensing products.
http://www.sulake.com/
http://www.habbo.com/
ABOUT LIONSGATE
Lionsgate is the leading independent filmed entertainment studio, winning this year's Best Picture Academy Award R for Crash, generating two consecutive years of $300 million-plus domestic theatrical box office, operating a $500 million-plus home entertainment business and producing a broad slate of prime time television series for fiscal 2007. It is a premier producer and distributor of motion pictures, television programming, home entertainment, family entertainment and video-on-demand content. Its prestigious and prolific library of more than 5,500 titles is a valuable source of stable, recurring revenue and a foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate brand name is synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world.
http://www.lionsgate.com/
SANTA MONICA, CA/LOS ANGELES, CA (July 25, 2006) - This July, through a partnership with HABBO, one of the world's largest and hottest on-line destinations for teenagers, Lionsgate, the leading independent filmed entertainment studio, will premiere the first 10 minutes of its highly-anticipated MarvelT animated feature, Ultimate Avengers 2, on the popular website, Habbo.com. This event marks the first time the online community will be able to view 10 full minutes of a never-before-seen film prior to its release. A virtual red-carpet premiere event will be held at the Habbo Theaterdome on July 26th at 4:00pm PST, where a host of "special guests" will be in attendance, including the human personas of Captain AmericaT (Steve Rogers), Iron ManT (Tony Stark), The HulkT (Bruce Banner) and Black PantherT (T'Challa). This will be a "black tie" affair - and all Habbos in attendance will be required to dress in black.
During the premiere event, registered users of the site, called "Habbos" will be able to attend by logging in to the virtual community and entering the Habbo Theaterdome to view the film footage and also respond within the community immediately - even while the footage is still playing. After the premiere showing is completed, Habbos will be treated to an interactive Q&A session with the Marvel Heroes from the movie who attended the premiere. Once the premiere event concludes, all other Habbos will be able to view the footage on Habbo.com for two weeks leading up to the August 8th DVD release of Ultimate Avengers 2.
"This partnership with Habbo on Ultimate Avengers 2 opens up exciting, new ways to reach a big audience and do it in a breakthrough way that strengthens the involvement of the consumer" said Michael Rathauser, Vice President of Marketing, Lionsgate. "The Habbo world provides a unique opportunity to not only stream our content for viewing online, but to do it in a community environment that encourages instant reaction to the footage and which generates the potential for significant word-of-mouth. With Habbo's enthusiastic, highly involved user base, the buzz about the movie will just continue to build leading up to the DVD release."
"By partnering with Lionsgate, we are making it possible for our users, aka 'Habbos,' and Marvel fans to interact with one another and extend their Avengers experience through an online event like no other. The Habbo teen community undoubtedly already feels a strong connection to the Avengers characters, such as the HULK, Captain America, Thor, and Iron man, but at the same time, Habbo provides a great forum to attract a new audience as well. This will be the first real time interaction and feedback session of its kind in an online environment, instantly giving the users a sense of ownership," said Janne Kouri, Regional Director, North America.
Ultimate Avengers 2 is the second film in a multi-picture deal between Lionsgate and Marvel Studios and is the sequel to Ultimate Avengers: The Movie. Available on DVD on August 8th for the suggested retail price of $19.98, the film is set in Wakanda, deep in the heart of Africa, and features non-stop animated action that stays true to its comic book roots. Additionally, it boasts highly-entertaining bonus features including a gag reel, a featurette, DVD-ROM game and more.
ABOUT HABBO
HABBO is a richly colorful, multi-dimensional virtual community and game environment for teens. Users join by creating a fully-customized online character called a Habbo. From there, they can explore many public hang outs, play a variety of games, connect with friends, decorate their own rooms, and have fun through creativity and self expression. Since its launch in 2000 by Sulake Corporation, an interactive entertainment company that specializes in developing, publishing and distributing multiplayer social networking communities and games, HABBO sites have been introduced in 18 countries on five continents, with more than 53 million Habbo characters created and more than 7 million unique users each month. The highly-trafficked U.S site, www.habbo.com, is visited by over 1.7 million unique users per month who spend on average more than three hours a week on the site (Nielsen Net Ratings). Sulake has headquarters in Finland and offices in 17 countries. Currently the company has over 270 employees worldwide. Sulake is extending the Habbo brand to include e.g. mobile games and content, and merchandising and licensing products.
http://www.sulake.com/
http://www.habbo.com/
ABOUT LIONSGATE
Lionsgate is the leading independent filmed entertainment studio, winning this year's Best Picture Academy Award R for Crash, generating two consecutive years of $300 million-plus domestic theatrical box office, operating a $500 million-plus home entertainment business and producing a broad slate of prime time television series for fiscal 2007. It is a premier producer and distributor of motion pictures, television programming, home entertainment, family entertainment and video-on-demand content. Its prestigious and prolific library of more than 5,500 titles is a valuable source of stable, recurring revenue and a foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate brand name is synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world.
http://www.lionsgate.com/
Thursday, July 06, 2006
RAY HARRYHAUSEN UNITES WITH BLUEWATER PRODUCTIONS FOR NEW ADVENTURE
Filmmaker Ray Harryhausen has joined forces with BlueWater Productions on a series of new comic book ventures and merchandising under the "Ray Harryhausen Presents" banner. Harryhausen is now part of the BlueWater team developing projects that tap his extensive creative talents.BlueWater will produce six titles with Harryhausen, advancing the adventures of the characters the filmmaker brought to life in his classic sci-fi and fantasy franchises. Slated for release later this year are "Wrath of the Titans," "Sinbad's Voyage to Mars" and "20 Million Miles From Earth."Plans for feature films and a television series are being developed by Left Field Film Corp.
Harryhausen will be at the San Diego Comic-Con July 21 and 22 with the BlueWater team, where he'll sign posters from the upcoming series. Details will be available on the BlueWater website, www.bluewaterprod.com.The collaborative projects will provide springboards for the next generation of characters based on Harryhausen's films. Harryhausen also plans on crafting a story line featuring BlueWater's signature character, the 10th Muse. "X-Men" author Scott Lobdell will write the updated "10th Muse" series based on Harryhausen's take.
Each comic will feature five pages of original artwork from Harryhausen's collection, thanks to a partnership with Every Picture Tells a Story, the Santa Monica-based gallery that sells the artist's works. Harryhausen's artwork also will grace the covers.
"As an artist, I've always enjoyed exploring new and interesting areas," Harryhausen says. "Although many of my feature films, beginning with 'The 7th Voyage of Sinbad,' were adapted into the comic book format, I have never been directly involved with that particular art form -- until now. I am very happy to be working with BlueWater Productions, who have already done wonderful work with their '10th Muse' and 'Isis' comic books, and look forward to seeing characters from my films in new and exciting adventures."
BlueWater President Darren Davis says he's humbled to have Harryhausen aboard. "Ray Harryhausen is one of the reasons I create comics. 'Clash of the Titans' made a priceless impression on my career. I'm honored to work with Ray. He inspired and motivated me to take 'Legends' into different media."
BlueWater Art Director Nadir Balan is equally excited to work with Harryhausen. "Ray Harryhausen's films have a timeless appeal that extends beyond special effects and monsters. My goal is to capture the essence and charm of his films and adapt them to action-packed comics so both new readers and existing fans can catch up on the ongoing adventures. I'm thrilled to be part of the team dreaming up new futures for these great characters."
More projects showcasing the Harryhausen-BlueWater partnership are in the works and will be announced soon.
Ultraman: Series One, Vol. 1 Coming To DVD
The "Ultraman" Collection is a remastered 3 Disc 20 episode set. For the first time in the U.S. you can see all the episodes with the original Japanese audio track with the English sub-titles or listen to the English budded tracks created for the U.S broadcasts by the cast of Speed Racer.
All 20 episodes from this first series are all uncut and remastered of the original Tsubuaya Productions television series created by Eiji Tsuburaya, (the special effects genius behind Godzilla).
1 Ultra Operation No. 1
2 Defeat the Invaders!
3 Sally Forth, Science Patrol!
4 5 Seconds Before The Big Explosion!
5 Treasure of the Miloganda
6 The Coast Guard Command
7 The Blue Stone of Baradhi
8 The Lawless Monster Zone
9 Operation: Lightning Speed
10 The Mysterious Dinosaur Base
11 The Ruffian from Outer Space
12 The Cries of the Mummy
13 Oil S.O.S.
14 The Pearl Oyster Protection Directive
15 The Terrifying Cosmic Rays
16 The Science Patrol to Outer Space
17 Passport to Infinity
18 The Brother from Another Planet
19 The Demons Once More
20 Terror on Route 87
All 20 episodes from this first series are all uncut and remastered of the original Tsubuaya Productions television series created by Eiji Tsuburaya, (the special effects genius behind Godzilla).
1 Ultra Operation No. 1
2 Defeat the Invaders!
3 Sally Forth, Science Patrol!
4 5 Seconds Before The Big Explosion!
5 Treasure of the Miloganda
6 The Coast Guard Command
7 The Blue Stone of Baradhi
8 The Lawless Monster Zone
9 Operation: Lightning Speed
10 The Mysterious Dinosaur Base
11 The Ruffian from Outer Space
12 The Cries of the Mummy
13 Oil S.O.S.
14 The Pearl Oyster Protection Directive
15 The Terrifying Cosmic Rays
16 The Science Patrol to Outer Space
17 Passport to Infinity
18 The Brother from Another Planet
19 The Demons Once More
20 Terror on Route 87
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