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The 7 - Random - Stop the Godsend Institute!
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Roy.
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#1 Posted on 30.4.04 1739.43
Reposted on: 30.4.11 1740.24
http://www.godsendinstitute.org/

Yes, it's a very elaborate website designed to advertise the new movie "Godsend", but nobody bothered to tell some people. There is a link to the official website for the movie, but I'm guessing that those most offended didn't pay much attention to things like that. And I know the picture of "Dr. Richard Wells" is small, but it's clearly DeNiro!

Of course, the studio is probably estatic at all of the hoopla, especially considering that reviews haven't been that great. ABC News even has a story on the website on TV.


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http://www.abc.net.au/ news/newsitems/s1095711.htm

Movie website stirs cloning controversy
A web site meant to promote upcoming film drama Godsend is stirring controversy among people who oppose human cloning and want the site shut down because they think the site is real, the film's makers say.

One problem is that the site, http://www.godsendinstitute.org, does not make mention of the movie.

Instead, it promotes what purports to be a fertility clinic run by Dr Richard Wells, who is billed as being "the top genetic engineering researcher" in the United States and a man who bears an uncanny resemblance to actor Robert De Niro, who stars in the movie.

"Almost everyone who goes to the site thinks it's real, but by the time they leave, most have figured it's fiction. Some even applaud it," said Tom Ortenberg, president of film releasing for Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.

But some web surfers have begun petitions to close the site because they claim it is insensitive to people who have lost a loved one or family member and might actually be seeking to have that person cloned, which is the topic of the film.

"The work being done by The Godsend Institute ... is out of control and needs to be stopped," wrote one poster at the web site petitionstop.com.

Mr Ortenberg said Lions Gate is getting several hundred phone calls a day to the fake clinic's toll-free number, but none has been from people who had a death in the family and were looking for help.

Movie marketing on the web goes back years.

Perhaps the best example of a "hoax" campaign is the one for $US140 million domestic box office hit The Blair Witch Project, in 1999.

That movie earned legions of fans based on its website that led people to believe that the Blair Witch and the three kids who went into a forest to find her truly existed.

But in recent years, Mr Ortenberg said, movie promotion on the Internet has grown increasingly bland.

"For Internet-based movie marketing to be effective as users mature and as consumers get more savvy, the campaigns need to be more interactive and more interesting," he said.

Independent companies like Lions Gate use the web to market movies because it is less expensive than traditional media and there is a high degree of correlation between web surfers and movie goers.

Mr Ortenberg calls the Godsend site "a million dollar idea" built for only about $US10,000.

He said it has generated millions of hits and hundreds of thousands of unique users. Godsend debuts in US theatres on Friday, April 30.

Greg Kinnear and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos star as a married couple who lose their son and attempt to bring him back to life by having Wells (that is really De Niro) create a clone.

--Reuters/VNU

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The Goon
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#2 Posted on 1.5.04 0018.41
Reposted on: 1.5.11 0018.59
I remember when X-Men came out, there was a fake site dedicated to warn the public about mutants.
Guru Zim
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#3 Posted on 1.5.04 0341.40
Reposted on: 1.5.11 0341.49
What kind of idiot shills a movie on a website? Sheesh.
Dahak
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#4 Posted on 1.5.04 1328.24
Reposted on: 1.5.11 1328.43
The movie sucked too. I figured out what was going on about 40 minutes into the movie. Of course the commercials gave away a lot too. And as everyone knows anyone who dies and comes back to life will be EVIL.
Not that my personal experience proves anything but I saw the movie last night with my GF and the theatre was about 75% empty. Not exactly a great showing for a 7 P.M. showing on openiing day.
FMW
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#5 Posted on 1.5.04 1350.34
Reposted on: 1.5.11 1350.50
So I guess the link to the movie's website on the side of the page wasn't a hint to anyone?
TheMASKEDComputerGeek
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#6 Posted on 1.5.04 2359.54
Reposted on: 2.5.11 0000.01
I haven't seen a web campaign that has been a pimple on the ass of the amazing, amazing, AMAZING interactive experience that the A.I. websites were prior to its release. That was the most entertaining stuff that I've ever seen done tied into a movie in my life.
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