Back in the day, when people actually visited video rental places, movies that either had a short life in theaters or went straight to video basically had to hope the millions of people sifting through the new release shelves would find their video cover and hope that its lack of familiarity would go overlooked.  Those movies have given way to Netflix recommendations, but it’s pretty much the same thing.  Recently, we’ve seen new films that know they have a niche audience advertise on YouTube and go On Demand before the movie even hits theaters.  It’s not new in this day and age, it just has become a lot more common. Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie and God Bless America Look For A Niche Audience Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie recently played at Sundance, and then it went to an On Demand service that also includes rental on iTunes and YouTube.  That’s something we’ll be seeing a lot of in the future.  Because frankly, a movie like Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie has very little chance of being a success in actual movie theaters.  I know in my neck of the woods, this movie is only going to get a special Friday and Saturday midnight showing when it finally does arrive in theaters, and then it will be gone. Here’s the trailer ( warning – it’s a red band trailer, with all the bad language, violence, and dirty stuff ): Click here to watch the video.

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Sometimes Movies Don’t Need A Big Screen, They Just Need Any Screen

So Contraband was the ultimate view-getter in the online world, which translated to a nearly $30 million opening weekend, coasting past The Beauty and the Beast 3D re-issue ($23 million), while Joyful Noise did a not-too-shabby $11 million.  This weekend is loaded.  First, we have a new Underworld movie, which will probably destroy the competition.  There’s Red Tails , which is about the Tuskegee Airmen that George Lucas says took him 20 years to make.  Steven Soderbergh is back with the action picture Haywire , starring MMA chick Gina Carano, and the Tom Hanks vehicle Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close gets a wide release. Underworld: Awakening – More Vampires and Werewolves, With A Resident Evil Twist I must confess I’ve never liked one Underworld movie.  I don’t like the idea of vampires and werewolves fighting a war with guns and knives, which seem to defeat the mystique of the creatures, but hey, whatever.  Kate Beckinsale is back after the third movie decided to go prequel, and this new entry will focus on a “new enemy,” which is apparently a hybrid vampire/werewolf

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Online Movie Trailers For Friday, January 20 Include Vampires, Werewolves, The MMA, & George Lucas

What will be noted about Netflix’ 2011 will be that poorly-handled price increase that sent people into mass hysteria.  What won’t be noted that much, but has way more impact, is that Netflix saw people stream like they’ve never streamed before in 2011 , and in the 4th quarter of last year those streaming hours hit 2 billion.  That’s a lot of movies and TV shows being watched instantly.  That’s money in the bank.  What it shows is that while Netflix and Reed Hastings made a colossal blunder with their price hike, the fact is, you still get a great service on the cheap, and that’s what matters most. Netflix To Have An Interesting 2012 As Well 20 million streaming subscribers in 45 countries watched 2 billion hours of content in Q4 2011 alone, and with increased focus on acquiring content and being available on almost any device, that should balloon in 2012, provided Hastings and co.

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Netflix Users Streamed 2 Billion Hours In The 4th Quarter of 2011

The simplest concepts I’ve long held that Shazam is quite possibly the most useful smart phone app on the planet–it’s certainly the one I used the most out of all the apps I’ve ever downloaded. It’s definitely a simple concept (hear a song you want to know more about, press the button on the app, and then discover the title and artists within seconds), and one that appears ready to make the jump to other forms of media beyond music. Mobile Video App MoviePal The mobile video app  MoviePal is a brand new app for iOS devices (iPhone & iPad) that basically wants to be Shazam for movie trailers.

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Mobile Video App MoviePal Is Shazam For Movie Trailers

I just saw a post called 10 Tips and Tricks for Google TV that I thought held some interesting stuff in it and I wanted to share it. They are calling some of it ‘pro tips’ but I’m guessing it might be more to it than that. I’m already 90% certain that there will be massive Google TV announcements at CES from companies like LG, Samsung and Sony. There have been rumblings and some announcements but I don’t think we’ve see the full scope of just what Google is aiming to do which is, of course, Skynet-like world domination, well maybe without the whole eradicating humanity angle

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Google TV Tips And Tricks To Get The Most Out Of The Experience

Last month, Chris Atkinson reported that Frontier Communications (NYSE: FTR), one of the nation’s largest providers of telecommunications services, was creating TumTiki .  I was getting ready for SES Chicago, so I didn’t get a chance to check out the largest online library of premium TV episodes, movies, local content, professionally-produced clips, and web original series until this past weekend. Hold the phone, Mabel!  (TumTiki was created and is operated by Frontier Communications (NYSE: FTR), one of the nation’s largest providers of telecommunications services.) TumTiki features more than 700,000 free TV episodes, movies, original web series, professionally-produced clips, and local programming directly within TumTiki.com , without redirecting to another site; and premium movies and episodes for rental through a partnership with Amazon.com.

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TumTiki Launches TikiGuide’s Video Countdown To Christmas

Last week, I wrote, “It’s almost December and it’s fairly easy to predict what’s going to happen next month.  Everyone from the Official YouTube Blog to the Meme Machine to Visible Measures will take a look at the top YouTube trends in 2011.” I added, “If what’s past is prologue, then ‘YouTube’s New Year Countdown,’ a special destination page spotlighting 31 of the year’s most memorable videos, should start on Dec.

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YouTube Trends: Past Performance Is Not Indicative Of Future Results

You gotta love Vimeo.  It’s the video geek’s version of YouTube, not nearly as large as the Google-owned property, but the enthusiasm is fantastic there.  And one of the best things about Vimeo is their weekend projects.  Recently, they did their second annual One Day on Earth project , where they encouraged people to shoot “a day in the life” on 11-11-11 (their previous one occurred 10-10-10), and they have submissions from all over the world.  Then they did an experimental “1 Minute” project where videos had to be exactly one minute with no camera movement or editing.  This weekend, they’re getting people to shoot and submit fake movie trailers .  I love fake movie trailers. Fake Trailers – A Vimeo Weekend Project As an example, they feature this one from Funny Or Die: Click here to watch the video

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Vimeo Asks Its Community For Fake Trailers This Weekend

Some people may view the mobile and online app HBO GO as a good idea with limited appeal, which is fair, since not everyone can use it, even those who currently subscribe to HBO.  Some wish they could buy the app without needing a cable subscription.  There are plenty of criticisms of HBO’s application, but according to co-president Eric Kessler, HBO GO has seen over 98 million streams since its launch early last year.  So people who can use it are using it a lot, and HBO decided to take a gamble that it might hurt full-season disc-set sales for their original programs, but subscriptions will always rule their financial model. HBO GO Is Another Risky Move That Has Paid Off We talked about CBS’ live streaming of their college football coverage before , something that many networks have been reluctant to do with major sporting events because they fear the loss of overall TV viewers, and hence, advertising revenue.  But in many cases it makes sense to have both online and TV available, because not everyone has access to certain programming at any given time.  The HBO GO app is great for people who are looking to pass the time, say, at an airport

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HBO GO Another Maverick Success Story In Streaming

Movie Clips has sounded like a good idea since the day I first heard of them. Everyone has their favorite movies, scenes, and lines of dialogue, and often these moments come up in day-to-day conversation

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Movie Clips Takes YouTube Annotations To The Next Level