Social Cinema Roundup: Prometheus, Katy Perry’s Timeline & Piranha 3DD

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal ran a story and online video on the mutually beneficial relationship between celebrities, the entertainment industry, and social media.

Even though we’ve been writing about this for months, we’ll take the high road and let it go without an, “I told you so!” The important thing is that the concept of social cinema is getting impossible to ignore.

Perhaps nothing emphasizes this better than the social cinema series later this month at the third annual Northside Festival in Brooklyn. The series will feature panel discussions, exhibitions, and networking events for venture capitalists, independent filmmakers, and entrepreneurs interested in how social cinema is disrupting the traditional film distribution model.

You can be sure we’ll bring you more on this next time. For now, there is plenty of other news to round up.

Prometheus doubles-down on social campaign.

Yes, we have already written about Prometheus. But with about a week left until the release of Ridley Scott’s much-anticipated not-prequel to Alien, Fox has stepped up an already successful viral and social campaign.

On May 16, the studio held a red carpet event to premier another viral video to promote the sci-fi flick. Like the last two videos, “Quiet Eye” features a character from the film, but uses footage that is presumably not in the actual movie.

The video premiered on the Verizon FiOS Facebook page, proving that Fox is out to make the most of Facebook’s cross-promotional abilities. The red carpet event also featured a live Twitter chat with Prometheus screenwriter Damon Lindelof. Fans were instructed to use the #prometheus hashtag to ask questions, helping to build the film’s social buzz.

If that wasn’t enough, the red carpet event for the film’s UK premier on June 1 will be live streaming for US audiences on the Verizon FiOS Facebook page, and globally at www.live.prometheusmovie.com.

BumeBox, the social integration platform responsible for the Titanic 3D red carpet event, will be powering this one as well. Not only will fans be able to talk to each other, they can ask questions on Twitter with the hashtag #prometheuslive. BumeBox will collect the best ones and deliver them to the reporters on the scene.

Katy Perry’s “Timeline music video” promotes a movie about her timeline.

The official lyric video for pop star Katy Perry’s new single, “Wide Awake,” has a distinct social flair. It debuted May 20 at the Billboard Music Awards, and uses a Facebook Timeline to display the song’s lyrics along with pictures, status updates, and embedded YouTube videos that highlight moments from Perry’s career over the past couple of years.

Considering Perry’s nearly 43.5 million Facebook fans, the video seems like a perfect way to appeal to her followers while showcasing the features of Timeline.

Some of the YouTube videos shown are trailers for Perry’s upcoming 3D documentary, Katy Perry: Part of Me. Perry wrote “Wide Awake” for the movie, and since the documentary follows her career, the Timeline format of the music video couldn’t be more appropriate. All at once, her new single, her upcoming film, and Facebook all get advertising that is easily shareable amongst her millions of fans.

Now that’s synergy.

Piranha 3DD will premier June 1 on Facebook.

Milyoni (pronounced million-eye), the company that brought social cinema to Facebook, is ready to cross another threshold. On June 1, they will help release Piranha 3DD on Facebook, the first 3D movie on the social network.

The sequel to the 2010 comedy horror movie, Piranha 3D, is the latest feature-length film to be released on Facebook the same day as in theaters. It will be available as an app for $6.99 in 2D and $7.99 in 3D. The glasses are still required, and the app actually has links to either buy a pair on Amazon or make some at home.

The movie is rated R and the trailer might be a bit, “Not Safe For Work,” so you can check it out here.

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Know of any big social cinema events that we missed? Did you check out the Piranha 3DD trailer? Let us know in the comments and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn.

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Ryan W. Neal is a journalist from Sacramento, California. After earning a B.A. in English and philosophy at UC Santa Barbara, he interned with the Santa Barbara Independent and wrote freelance stories for the Sacramento News & Review, The Summit Daily News, and Virgin.com/music. He earned his M.S. in journalism from Columbia University, and now works as Editorial Assistant at Magnet Media.

Tagged as: Entertainment Marketing, Facebook Timeline, Social Cinema, Social Media, social media & hollywood, Social Media Marketing, viral marketing, Viral Video