Hollywood looks to apps to offset costs

Hollywood studios are turning towards mobile applications and casual online games to increase the effectiveness of their blockbuster movie marketing campaigns, thus creating a revenue stream that could offset the costs associated with launching a new film.

Most of the big studios are dabbling with "apps" and launching games for mobile phones that are based on their new movies. However, Sony Pictures Entertainment has gone a step further with its new movie The Green Hornet, starring Seth Rogen, launching a free game that can be upgraded for a small fee. The launch of a paid-for game, the result of a new partnership between Sony with Trigger, a digital marketing agency, could offset the spiralling marketing costs incurred by studios as they build awareness for their movies. Sony and Trigger will split the profits generated by players paying to upgrade the game. The Green Hornet game follows free games developed by Trigger that were based on other Sony movies, including The Karate Kid and 2012 which have been downloaded thousands of times.