Media Storm has created a quick way to preoccupy your mind on a Hollywood scale in that five minutes you have left in your lunch break.
The South Norwalk company has created virtual versions of theme-park games for the new Miramax film “Adventureland,” that comes out in 2009.
“We want our target audience to experience ”˜Adventureland”™ firsthand long before they see it in theaters,” said Craig Woerz, managing partner of Media Storm.
The film is about a recent college graduate who attempts to raise money for a European vacation by working in an amusement park. It was written and directed by Greg Mottola, who also directed “Superbad.”
The comedy set in 1987, stars Jesse Eisenberg, Ryan Reynolds and Kristen Stewart.
According to Joe Weaver, associate director at Media Storm, the project was also worked on by Liquid Generation, an Internet gaming company known for its cheeky style, to create the games including Whack-A-Mole, Skee Ball, Horse Derby and Root Beer Pong.
“You get into the gaming environment and it starts to connect and make sense to you,” Weaver said.
This is Media Storm”™s third project with Miramax, having worked in the past with Miramax on development for “Brideshead Revisited,” “Blindness” and “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.”
“The interactive carnival games enable us to align us with their interests and behaviors and speak directly to them at various online touch points,” Woerz said.
The ideal demographic for the movie and the games is 18 to 34 year-olds, Weaver said. The games that were developed are “game-snacks,” short entertaining diversions that can be played on a break for five minutes.
“We tried to stay focused in order to give the user something they would actually use,” Weaver said. “It”™s something they can get in and out and do it very quickly.”
Each of the four games developed by Media Storm is preceded by a 10-second movie clip.
The “Adventureland” games are all housed on the film”™s Web site and promoted through online networks.
Gaming sites and social networks are expected to yield the highest amounts of hits for the movie”™s games, with the games being promoted on sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Each game includes a pass-along feature and the ability to exist on social network profiles.
The games can be found at www.adventurelandthefilm.com.
