To coincide with the release of Season 4 of “Arrested Development” on May 26, the Bluth’s Original Frozen Banana Stand is popping up in locations around New York and London. But these frozen bananas aren’t being hand-dipped by George-Michael. They’re made by Chuck Pheterson, the founder and president of Florida-based Totally Bananas, a man who hadn’t watched a single episode of the show when he started the company in 2009 and didn’t even realize his frozen bananas were the frozen bananas being handed out to “Arrested Development” fans this week – until I e-mailed him to set up the following interview. How did you get involved with the Netflix plan to offer frozen bananas at the replica Bluth’s Frozen Banana Stand? We sell through distribution channels, so for the most part, we don’t know where our product ends up. We started sending our product out last week, and another order this week for a total of about 14,000 bananas. We knew it was Netflix, but we didn’t really know what this was all about. Wait. So you didn’t know this was for the Bluth Booth? When I got your e-mail, we looked at it and said, holy moly! That’s when I found out. I thought this was a Netflix party. (WATCH: TIME on the Scene at ‘Arrested Development’s’ Bluth’s Banana Stand) That would be quite the party. We have companies that buy thousands of bananas. So this wasn’t an unusual order for you guys. That’s mostly what we do. We supply all the Niagara Falls concessions on the Canadian side. We have products at CVS, at Shell stations throughout the state of Florida. Major zoos like the Bronx Zoo or the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans order from us. For me, this was just another order that I thought was for a company party. In our e-mail exchange, you said your phone was ringing off the hook. Do you now think it was related to Netflix and you didn’t realize it? Now, yeah. When we found out, we started sending out
Tag Archives: Hollywood
Coming Soon: The Summer When You’re Expected to Save Drive-In Movie Theaters
Later this year, movie studios are scheduled to stop distributing films in old-fashioned 35-millimeter format. Everything will go digital, which is fine for the vast majority of indoor theaters that have already upgraded to digital projectors. It’s a different story with drive-ins, however, many of which find themselves in need of handouts to pay for the upgrade. Care to cough up a $100 donation on top of the cost of popcorn? Yes, there are still drive-in theaters in existence, though it’s rare for a state to have more a handful left. For example, there are eight drive-in theaters in Michigan, according to MichiganDriveIns.com. MLive reported that at least one of the existing theaters, the Capri Drive-In, just paid $144,000 to upgrade two of its projectors to digital. It’s unlikely that all of the other drive-ins will be able to do the same. Drive-ins are hardly big money makers; more than 150 others in the state have closed over the years. DriveInTheater.com has a state-by-state list of operational and dead drive-ins, and for every state, the deceased list is far longer. Once, more than 4,000 drive-ins dotted the nation. More than three-quarters of them closed by the late ’80s. (MORE: Why the World Needs a Kickstarter Veronica Mars Movie) Most of the drive-ins that have managed to stay in business aren’t in the position to devote tens of thousands of dollars to new equipment. In January, the Los Angeles Times estimated that 90% of the nation’s 368 existing drive-ins had not yet converted to digital projectors—not because they’re stuck in the past and love film, but because converting to digital costs a hefty $70,000 or so per screen. That’s why nostalgic movie fans around the country are being asked to “save the drive-in.” In Vermont, the Fairlee Drive-in and Motel (yep, you can watch movies from your car, or from a bed) has started a “Save the Drive-in” campaign that hopes to raise $70,000 for the projector upgrade. To do so, the business is selling T-shirts and posters, and it’s accepting
Strange Bedfellows: 4 Companies Surprisingly Getting into the Hotel Business
What do a toy company, a supermarket, a low-cost furniture chain, and a movie studio have in common? They’re all trying to extend their brands—perhaps in embarrassingly awkward fashion—into the hotel business. Should companies stick strictly to what they know and do best? These four brands think otherwise, and they’re branching out by getting involved in the hotel and resort game: Whole Foods In mid-March, supermarket chain Whole Foods announced (via USA Today) that sometime within the next few years it planned on opening a health resort in or around downtown Austin, where the company is headquartered. “Think of it as a center where people would go for a day, a weekend or a week for healthy lifestyle education,” Whole Foods co-founder John Mackey said. The idea is that people would seek out the resort and “education center” for the same reasons many shoppers head to Whole Foods: It has a reputation for promoting healthy lifestyles, with a particular emphasis on fresh, natural foods. Whole Foods’ shoppers also have a reputation for their willingness to spend big bucks in pursuit of their healthy lifestyles. That bodes well for any hotel, spa, and resort business. (MORE: Why Some Brand Extensions Are Brilliant and Others Are Just Awkward) Few travelers would be excited to stay in supermarket-branded lodging. ShopRite Motel anybody? But because the Whole Foods brand is so closely associated with health, extending it to a health resort may make a lot of sense. Compared to McDonald’s ill-advised experiment operating four-star hotels in Europe a decade ago, a Whole Foods health resort seems like a slam dunk. IKEA Marriott is involved with the creation of a new brand of hotels for millennials called Moxy. Marketing Moxy strictly at younger travelers is somewhat surprising. Even more surprising, though, may be Marriott’s partner in the venture: DIY furniture giant IKEA. Moxy isn’t being launched for the sake of furniture product placement; IKEA products won’t be featured in hotel rooms at all. And yet, the companies involved are making the case that IKEA’s self-sufficient,
Behind the Hit ‘Bible’ Miniseries: The Man Who Helps Hollywood Get Religion
The 5-part, 10-hour “Bible” miniseries on History, which aired its final episode Sunday, has become the biggest cable television hit of the year. It brought in almost 13 million viewers the first night and consistently garnered 10 million viewers each episode. It even regularly beat AMC’s top-rated Sunday night series “The Walking Dead.” A key to the show’s success is a man who came to Hollywood with hopes of making it as a sitcom writer. Instead, he became the spiritual bridge between the entertainment industry and the tens of millions of evangelicals in the U.S. Historically, Hollywood hasn’t paid much attention to the Christian community. Movie and TV studios are more likely to rile up prominent evangelicals in the U.S. than cozy up to them. But today, the industry seems to be tapping into the faith-based market more than ever before. And it’s not just shows with overt religious messages, although there are plenty: “The American Bible Challenge” on the Game Show Network, for example, has been the biggest hit in the channel’s 17-year history. The reality show “Preacher’s Daughters” currently airs on Lifetime. A series called “The Vatican” is in the works for Showtime. An epic Darren Aronofsky movie Noah, to star Russell Crowe, is scheduled for release in 2014. And in an effort to tap into “The Bible’s” success before it’s even off the air, a 6-hour, $20 million miniseries called “Jesus of Nazareth” is already in production. The man at the center of much of this is Jonathan Bock, the founder and president of Grace Hill Media, a public relations and marketing firm that acts as a middle man between Hollywood and the country’s faithful. “I sit on a funny fence,” says Bock, who advises movie execs on religious content, helps market those films, and reaches out to the Christian community through churches, religious organizations, and media outlets. “I help these two worlds that don’t often intersect understand each other, and help them realize that they can be of great benefit to one another.” Bock didn’t start out thinking
Despite the Rosy Reports, Very Few People Go to the Movies Frequently Nowadays
Are you a frequent moviegoer? That’s the term the Motion Picture Association of America gives to someone who sees at least one movie per month in the theater. And the association’s report says that across the board for all age demographics, there was an increase in frequent moviegoers last year. A Los Angeles Times story concerning the MPAA’s 2012 data pointed out that there was an especially sharp rise in older frequent moviegoers: 5.8 million Americans ages 40 to 49 went to the movies at least once per month in 2012, compared to 3.3 million the year before. The 50-59 frequent moviegoer bracket rose from 3.1 million to 3.3 million, and the 60+ group increased from 4.1 million to 4.6 million. In fact, every age group saw an increase in frequent moviegoers in 2012. These “super fans” are extremely important to the movie business, too: Though they constituted only 13% of the population, they accounted for 57% of all movie tickets sold last year. And they helped make for a strong 2012 at the movies, with a year-over-year increase in total revenues and number of tickets sold. (MORE: Movie Theaters Fight Back with Satellite Dishes of Their Own) “It was a great year for movies,” MPAA chairman and CEO Christopher Dodd said at a news conference, per the Hollywood Reporter. Compared to 2011 it was, anyway. But if you go back and view the data from a few years prior, there is still plenty of cause for concern about who is—and isn’t—going to the movies lately. “More than two-thirds of the U.S./Canada population aged 2+ (68%) – or 225 million people – went to a movie at the cinema at least once in 2012 (“moviegoer”), comparable to the proportions in prior years,” the MPAA’s 2012 report states. On the flip side, 32% of North American consumers did not see a single movie at the theater last year. Compare that to 2002 to 2006, when the rate of non-moviegoers hovered around 25%. What’s more, from 2002 to 2006, around 25% of
What’s an Oscar Worth at the Box Office?
Is winning a coveted Academy Award a priceless experience? Come on, this is Hollywood. Movie studios don’t tailor their release schedules around Oscar season and pour money into Oscar-bait films just for that warm, fuzzy feeling of a job well done. They’re hoping that having a film, director or actor take home a golden statuette will boost a movie’s box-office returns. In the right circumstances, a Best Picture victory can add tens of millions of dollars to a film’s final gross. A statistical analysis by the film blog BoxOfficeQuant of Best Picture winners from 1990 to 2009 found that a typical winning movie gains an additional $14 million in box-office returns compared with a movie that merely receives a Best Picture nomination. But not all Oscar winners are created equal. Leveraging an Oscar win into bonus box-office dollars requires a confluence of factors, the primary one being the timing of a release. Movie studios cram all their most prestigious films into December or January so that if a film nets a big award, curious movie fans will still be able to see it at the local theater. Slumdog Millionaire, which had a wide release just a month before the 2009 Academy Awards, saw its revenue jump 43% the weekend after winning Best Picture. On the other hand, 2010 Best Picture The Hurt Locker was originally released in July 2009 and saw little box-office movement because it was already available on DVD when it won. (MORE: Oscars 2013: Richard Corliss Picks Best Picture) It’s also important that a winning film have the potential to appeal to a mass audience. Slumdog offered Americans a window into the world of Indian Bollywood movies and featured pop culture references as varied as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and M.I.A.’s song “Paper Planes,” so it was bound to resonate with moviegoers. IMDB managing editor Keith Simanton says the Best Picture winners that manage a big boost are those that pique the curiosity of the award show’s viewers. “You haven’t caught it, and now it’s got this seal
Movie Ticket Prices Hit All-Time High in 2012: Why That’s Probably Good for Moviegoers
Hollywood had a pretty good 2012. Movie attendance rose by around 6%, and theater revenues and average ticket prices both hit all-time highs. Curiously, the numbers also indicate that it was a pretty good year for consumers hoping to get decent value at the movies. How could consumers be paying more than ever, and yet still arguably be getting better value? Well, as Deadline.com and others have reported, the average movie ticket sold for $7.96 in 2012. Yes, that’s an all-time high. But it’s up only a smidge from the 2011 average of $7.93. The numbers aren’t adjusted for inflation. So even though the average increased by 3¢ from 2011 to 2012, moviegoers essentially paid less last year once inflation is factored in. The slight price increase in 2012 goes against the trend seen in previous years, in which the average rose much more noticeably. The Hollywood Reporter noted that ticket prices increased 5% in 2007, and another 5% in 2010, for example. It’s probably no coincidence that during this time period, the overall number of tickets sold steadily dropped, year after year. (MORE: Game Over? Why Video Game Console Sales Are Plummeting) What’s more, 2012 was a successful year because studios and theaters gave movie fans more of what they wanted (blockbusters that were actually good films, such as “The Avengers”) and less of what they didn’t (higher prices because a mediocre film was shown in 3-D). At year’s end, the Los Angeles Times offered a very simple explanation for why theater ticket sales rebounded in 2012: Theater owners and distribution experts are attributing the uptick in domestic business primarily to better studio movies this year. The fact that ticket prices essentially remained flat last year helped bring in the crowds as well. In 2011, by contrast, moviegoers seemed to grow tired of escalating ticket prices, especially with regards to the premiums charged for so-so films shown in unnerving, totally unnecessary 3-D. A new kind of “3-D effect” was noticed, in which fans seemed to avoid mediocre movies like
Why Is Walgreens Selling Sushi? The Changing Business of Drugstores
Drugstores are generally considered as little more than necessary and convenient. But now that some Walgreens boast nail salons, cafes serving sushi and smoothies, and impressive selections of beer, wine, liquor, and cigars, can a drugstore be thought of as “crazy awesome”? A 23,500-square-foot new Walgreens in Hollywood—which replaced an old Borders location—has indeed been described by a Los Angeles Magazine writer as “deep breath—crazy awesome”: This, the most beautiful Walgreens I’ve ever seen, has daily hand-rolled sushi, a fro-yo bar and a soda fountain with 130 different Coca-Cola drinks. But the feature that got me oohing and ahhing nonstop was (surprise, surprise) its liquor section. High-end tequila and vodka, decent prices on staples like Beefeater’s Gin and Maker’s Mark, a broad selection of wines and macro and microbrews alike, even cigars and a “Virtual Bartender” kiosk to help round up ingredients for specified cocktails—they’re all in the mix at a place consumers usually associate with deodorant and shampoo. (MORE: Guys & Dollars: How Groceries, Barbies, Fashion & More Are Being Marketed to Men) The Hollywood store is one of many remodeled or freshly opened locations that aim to transform what shoppers think Walgreens—and the word “drugstore”—can mean. A year ago, Walgreens introduced its new flagship store in downtown Chicago: a two-story building on historic State Street where customers can enjoy hand-rolled sushi, made-to-order smoothies and malted milkshakes, artisanal cheeses, hundreds of wines, on-site manicures and eyebrow grooming, and more. Similarly upscale, multifaceted new Walgreens are opening soon in San Francisco, Boston, dozens of spots in Florida, and elsewhere. Hundreds of Walgreens locations are expected to get the “Well Experience” makeover, which is what the company calls the new concept. As reported by Forbes, Walgreens CEO Gregory Wasson has explained that the glitzy new locations are meant to demonstrate that the old ideas that limit what stores can do and sell are fading: “You’re beginning to see the blurring of the retail channels in America,” Wasson told more than 2,000 shareholders Wednesday afternoon at the company’s annual meeting on Chicago’s