$300 YouTube Video Lands Filmmaker a $30 Million Movie Deal Dan Koelsch, December 19, 2009December 19, 2009 How’s this for the power of the Internet? Federico Alvarez, a Uraguayan filmmaker, posted a video on YouTube in early November titled “Ataque de Panico” (Panic Attack), and within days received a slue of offers from Hollywood studios to make a feature length film. He eventually settled with Ghost House Pictures, which is run by Sam Raimi, for a cool $30 million. Check out the giant-robot short below, which was surprisingly made for only $300! Apparently this isn’t that new of news, but I just found out about it thanks to Mashable. The sci-fi film Alvarez is going to do is to be set in Uruguay and Argentina, and won’t be based on his YouTube short. If this sounds familiar, you may remember Neill Blomkamp getting a similar start in the industry, and the similarity hasn’t escaped the industry. Many are already predicting Alvarez to be the next Blomkamp. What do you think of the video? Is Alvarez as good as the hype? Viral Marketing Panic Attack
“The Amazing Spider-Man” Viral Campaign Slings Into WonderCon March 18, 2012March 21, 2012As was to be be expected, the viral campaign for Columbia Pictures’ The Amazing Spider-Man picked up some steam at WonderCon this weekend. In conjunction with Sony’s panel yesterday afternoon, there were a few updates to the campaign. Get the details after the break. Read More
Controversial Documentary “The Upper Footage” Gets Limited Release, Win Tickets! January 29, 2013The Upper Footage is a documentary opening on January 31st in a limited New York City theater run (buy tickets here). As stated by their IndieGogo page, the film is an edited version of 393 minutes of footage recovered from the night of December 28th, 2009 in which a group… Read More
Avatar Viral Review December 23, 2009December 23, 2009This review contains minimal spoilers for those who have yet to see Avatar. I definitely recommend checking out Iain’s review of the film, as it sums up my personal reaction perfectly. Although the film’s story was far more pedestrian and predictable than I originally thought (and would have liked), there is no… Read More
^Alot of people were. Nothing about the short video interests me at all, looks awfully alot like SkyCaptain and the World of Tomorrow.
I’m totally bias though because1. It’s a polished Spanish sci-fi, which totally rocks 2. Sky Captain 3. Another short movie turned epic 4. Latino director
Great effects but saying this movie costs only $300 to make is like saying that the $30 textbook you bought to study for your final exam was the price of your college education. It was made using thousands of dollars worth of equipment and the robots were the work of dozens of expensive effects people working for free.