Movie Website Updates for May 27 - June 2

June 2, 2006

There were a few major updates for a few major movie sites this week, and it was one such site that walked away with the Weekly Website Award - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Official Site.

10th and Wolf - Official Site
There's something about the style of this site that was an instant turn off for me. It was too cold and impersonal for me. Also, there weren't enough of the regular features present. Perhaps as the movie nears its release date, both of those will change.

50 Ways of Saying Fabulous - Official Site
A good site with all the necessary features and enough style to keep the surfer's interest but not enough to stand out.

Accepted - Official Site
The first new site of the week and its better than average with most of the usual features, (the cast & crew bios are missing), and enough extras like personality quiz and plenty of audio clips. On a side note, when I first heard of the movie I was pretty excited, but after watching the trailer it looks like a series of cliches from every college movie ever made. It could be better than the trailer made it seem, but I'm not as hopeful as I was before.

Arthur and the Minimoys - Official Site
The site has been completely redesigned, but I'm not sure when that happened. I admit, it fell off my radar screens for a while now, but that's what happens when you launch a site more than a year before the movie comes out and then don't update for months. At least the new design is creative and entertaining. The site is one big scrolling background that you can explore and clicking on anything that sparkles will take you to the individual features like character bios, book excerpts and more. Overall a good site, but not quite an award-worthy site.

Beowulf & Grendel - Official Site
Another site that fell off my radar screens and was updated without me knowing about it. This time the updates are not as massive with just a different look for the placeholder site and some minor cosmetic changes to the full site.

The Break-Up - Official Site
There are some new features including the Photochop, a handy device to electronically remove your ex from all of your digital pictures. Overall, this is a fun site and really helps sell the film well.

Cars - Official Site
The voice activations are up, which are cast bios. There were also more Podcasts added including the one about the road trip the artists took along Route 66.

Clerks 2: The Passion of the Clerks - Official Site
This week's video clip features the 8-minute standing ovation the film got at Cannes. The clip has been trimmed to avoid some spoilers, so it only takes about 6 minutes to play.

Coastlines - Official Site
All the regular features are here, except for an image gallery but there are enough background images to play that role. On the other hand, there's nothing here to separate the site for all the others on this list.

District B-13 - Official Site
Great site with all the usual features and enough style to stand out, but there are not enough extras to be an award-winning site.

Dreamgirls - Official Site
A new making of featurette was added to the site, which is better than most clips you find on movie sites.

The Great New Wonderful - Official Site
This is a pretty small site with not much outside the regular features, and even then there are only the cast & crew list with no bios. The closest to an extra is a text based interview.

Little Man - Official Site
What the...? It's like the Wayans brothers are actually trying to make really bad movies at this point. The flash site is well made with a couple of games, soundboard, and more, (most of the regular features are marked coming soon), but it does a terrible job at selling the movie.

Miami Vice - Official Site
I complain about the Badness line and a week later it's gone. That can't be just a coincidence.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend - Official Site
Just the synopsis and the trailer so far. When I first heard about this movie I was excited, but after seeing the trailer my interest level in the film dropped substantially.

Nacho Libre - Official Site
Some of the regular features were added this week as was another confessional.

Once in a Lifetime - Official Site
Just a placeholder site with no real content.

The Peaceful Warrior - Official Site
All the usual features are here as well as a lot of style. However, it is not enough to stand out in a crowded field.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Official Site
The first of two monster hits that launched flash sites this week. All of the usual features are here, or at least marked coming soon, (synopsis, image gallery and trailer are on the site while cast & crew bios and production notes are not). But the real heart of the site is the interactive tour of several locations in the movie starting on the deck of the Black Pearl. After fully exploring the world and collecting the items, (sword, compass, key, etc.), you are taken to see Davey Jones and after playing with his organ, you win a screensaver and a wallpaper. So far it's a great site, and with more than a half-a-dozen games marked coming soon, it is easily the best of the week and the winner of the replicated Weekly Website Award.

Rocky Balboa - Official Site
The site's gone and was replaced by a redirect to Sony's movie site. Not sure what this means for the film's future.

Strangers With Candy - Official Site
The site has all the usual features, (with the cast & crew bios marked coming soon), but the best feature is the audio clips, of which there are plenty. The final feature, a behind the scenes look, is still marked coming soon but it could be simple production notes or a video clip, so it is too soon to judge the site.

Surf School - Official Site
As a site, this one isn't bad. As a marketing tool, it's terrible making the movie look worse than most direct-to-DVD fare. That's probably because the movie is worse than most direct-to-DVD fare.

Superman Returns - Official Site
This is the second flash site for a monster hit to launch this week, I think. Quite frankly, there's not a lot here in terms of regular features or extras with most marked coming soon, (production notes, cast & crew bios, QTVR, interviews, and clips). But there's little in the way of style and nothing interactive so I'm hoping the full site is still on its way.

Typhoon - Official Site
The English section of the site doesn't work for me, and the other section makes my browser freak out. Therefore, I can't review the site.


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Filed under: Movie Website Updates, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Cars, Superman Returns, The Break-Up, Dreamgirls, Nacho Libre, Rocky Balboa, Miami Vice, Little Man, Accepted, Clerks II, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Peaceful Warrior, 10th & Wolf