By Alton Jerome McFarland
Established in April 1995, Coming Attractions by Corona (located
at http://corona.bc.ca/films/),
provides its visitors with information on rumored or upcoming movies.
The site is broken up into individual pages for each movie, and you
can find information on almost any undeveloped film idea in recent
memory. Updated multiple times daily, Coming Attractions is
the CNN of the film world. As soon as a story breaks (whether it be
a rumor that a script has been approved for the next Batman movie
or a report that Keanu Reeves has broken his leg on the set of The
Matrix 2), Coming Attractions has it covered.
The information posted on the site often comes in the form of unofficial
updates by "scoopers" who mostly remain anonymous. The credence
given to their information is proportional to their reliability in
the past. For instance, some scoopers, by repeatedly providing information
days before studios' official announcements, have clearly demonstrated
that they have access to inside information. As a result, updates
from those sources are presented as more likely to be true.
Coming Attractions' simple site design adds to its journalistic
feel. The presentation of material is very ordered and professional
and the site is careful never to present rumors as fact. When spoilers,
advance information that might "spoil" a movie, are available
Coming Attractions always prints a warning for those who may
not want to know such information and then displays the spoiler information
in white. That way, anyone who wants to read it will have to highlight
the text with his or her mouse to make it visible against the white
background of the page. This allows those who don't wish to read the
spoilers to surf the website without fear of ruining any surprises.
Targeted at visitors ranging from the casual moviegoer to the film
buff, Coming Attractions does a good job of presenting a large
amount of content in an accessible fashion. There are no distracting
pop-up windows or intrusive advertisements, only content.
Coming Attractions by Corona fits in an ever-growing niche
of internet sites that provide specific detailed information on a
segment of the entertainment industry. And in today's climate, with
movie budgets skyrocketing and internet buzz becoming an integral
part of films' marketing strategy, such sites are gaining an ever-increasing
amount of attention.