By Linda Kim
The Miramax Cafe, a website of the Miramax Film Corporation, houses
a place where internet users can consume and learn how/where/what
to
consume Miramax's productions. Miramax films are the primary focus
of the website. Links from the homepage lead to official websites
of
Miramax's movies, categorized into "Coming Soon," "Now
Playing" (for
in theater movies), "Home Video" and "DVD," and
the "Vault" (for
older movies).
Each film's website can be different. Some have special, multimedia
flash introductions and content, for example. Others are simple
pages with text and a picture. Overall, the movie websites contain
information about the film, e.g. cast listings, names of the
director, screenwriters, and producers, a synopsis, etc. In
addition, for movies already out in theaters or on video, websites
contain links to other sites with reviews and ratings. Some movies'
websites have downloadable stills, trailers, and film clips as well
as interviews with cast members or directors.
Also from the Miramax Cafe homepage, internet users can go to the
online Store to buy movie paraphernalia, like T-shirts, posters,
etc. Interestingly, home videos and DVDs of Miramax films are not
available for purchase through their website. For the films
currently in theaters, however, internet users can follow a link to
www.moviefone.com to look up show times and purchase tickets.
News about Miramax Corp. and future films are also posted on the
website, and academy and guild members can look up information about
movie screenings on miramax.com.
The Miramax Cafe features a few contests, which internet users can
participate in if they join. Membership is free, but the only reason
for joining seems to be the sweepstakes contests and prizes. Some
of
the contests are: New Member of the Month, Caption This, and Rate
A
Movie.
In essence, the Miramax Cafe is a place where Miramax movies can
be
featured and movie fans can find more information and download free
pictures and film clips. It is doubtful that internet users would
go
to www.miramax.com directly, especially since there is little other
content on this website for internet users, i.e. games, message
boards, chat rooms, live interviews with stars, etc. Search engines
and other movie/actor fan sites have links to these "official"
sites
on the Miramax Cafe, however, probably providing the most flow of
visitors to the Miramax site. In that, users have plentiful access
to the Miramax Cafe to simply look up films they are already
interested in and along the way explore a few others from Miramax.
From the synopses and cast listings of all Miramax movies available
on this website, internet users who follow a link from a search
engine for a specific movie or actor can read about other Miramax
movies and decide to watch those as well. Thus, with the website,
Miramax advertises its movies and makes some money selling movie
merchandise on the side.
Aside from reading about movies and watching a few film clips and
trailers, however, there is little else to do at the Miramax Cafe.
The website is a useful source of information, but in it of itself,
it is not a stimulating source of amusement or entertainment.