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Movies News

Paramount registers domain names as talks over Katy Perry movie continue

Katy Perry movie

The Hollywood Reporter reported in late January that Paramount Pictures and Katy Perry were in talks about creating a documentary-style 3D film.

Although only in the early stages, Paramount Pictures must be fairly confident that a deal will be struck.

On February 9, 2012, the movie studio registered a handful of domain names for possible movie titles like KatyPerrymovie.com and KatyPerryCaliforniaGurlmovie.com.

In total, Paramount Pictures registered five domains.

http://whois.domaintools.com/katyperrycaliforniagurl.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/katyperrycaliforniagurlmovie.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/katyperrymovie.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/katyperrypartofme.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/katyperrypartofmemovie.com 

At the time of this story, none of the domains resolve to a web page.

(Image of California Gurls music video via KatyPerry.com)

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Movies News

Sony working on ‘Van Helsing and Dracula’ movie according to domains

Dracula

Sony Pictures appears to be working on a new film based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel called “Van Helsing and Dracula” or “Dracula and Van Helsing”.

This week, Sony Pictures registered a slew of domain names through the brand protection company MarkMonitor that revealed the movie’s possible titles. 

At least eight domains were purchased, all on January 17, 2012. 

Here’s a look at the registrations:

http://whois.domaintools.com/draculaandvanhelsing-movie.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/draculaandvanhelsing-movie.net 
http://whois.domaintools.com/draculaandvanhelsing.net 
http://whois.domaintools.com/vanhelsinganddracula-movie.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/vanhelsinganddracula-movie.net 
http://whois.domaintools.com/vanhelsinganddracula.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/vanhelsinganddracula.net 
http://whois.domaintools.com/vanhelsinganddraculamovie.com 

Last June, Pajiba reported that Universal Pictures was developing another Van Helsing movie based on the Bram Stoker character.    

At the time of this post, Sony Pictures has not made an official announcement, nor do any of the domains resolve to a web page.

Discussion: Movieline, Celebrities.com and I Watch Stuff

(Image of Gary Oldman as Count Dracula via Bram Stoker’s Dracula)

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Movies News

Prequel will be called 300: The Battle of Artemisium according to domains

300 The Battle of Artemisium

It appears Warner Bros. Pictures has finally settled on a title for the prequel to 300 after kicking around several working titles like 300: Battle of Artemisia.

According to newly registered domain names, the film studio will go with the rumored title 300: The Battle of Artemisium.

On January 3, several names were privately registered through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor like thebattleofartemisium.com, 300thebattleofartemisium.com and 300-thebattleofartemisium.com.

Although the owner of each domain is hidden behind MarkMonitor’s privacy service DNStination, Warner Bros. is a client of MarkMonitor, so there’s little doubt that Warner Bros. is the registrant.

Last June, Warner Bros. publicly registered names like 300thebattleofartemisia.com (WHOIS), but has taken extra steps to privately register this week’s names.  So if I had to speculate, I would say “300: The Battle of Artemisium” is no longer a rumored title.

Talking about this story: Movieline, Cinema Blend, IGN, 411Mania, FilmWatch and Celebrities.com

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Movies News

Top 10 Stories of 2011: #9 Sony confirms next James Bond title will be Skyfall

SKYFALL

Number 9 in this year’s Top 10 stories is the story of the upcoming James Bond film Skyfall, which will land in theaters in November 2012.

On October 3, more than a dozen domain names having to do with Skyfall were registered. 

Though privately registered initially using DNStination Inc., what made these names special was that they were all registered through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor, which is used by more than half the Fortune 100. 

The list of registrations, which today now show Sony Pictures as the owner in WHOIS records, included names like jamesbond-skyfall.com and skyfallthefilm.com. 

Simply referred to as ‘Bond 23’ at the time, shortly after I published my story speculating the next Bond film would be called Skyfall, well over a dozen news sites mentioned my article including Access Hollywood, IGN, The Hollywood Reporter, and X17, to name a few.

On November 3, Sony officially confirmed the title as Skyfall.

Here’s a look at the full press conference, marking the start of the production.

 

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Disputes Movies National Arbitration Forum News Trademarks Video Games

Following Sony Pictures, Ubisoft gets its own domain for Assassin’s Creed movie

Assassin's Creed the movie

Back in October, shortly after Variety broke the news that Sony Pictures was in the final negotiations with Ubisoft for an Assassin’s Creed film, I wrote about Sony Pictures registering more than a dozen related domains like assassinscreedfilm.com and assassinscreedthefilm.com.

There still is no official website for the film, which could be released as early as 2014, but now Ubisoft has secured ownership of the web address: assassinscreedthemovie.com.

The domain name exchanged hands earlier this week, after Ubisoft contacted the previous owner by e-mail and informed them that they had rights to the name.

Wanting to avoid legal troubles, the owner (whom I spoke with by e-mail) quickly transferred the domain to Ubisoft, saving Ubisoft the hassle of filing a domain dispute.

To date Ubisoft has filed only one complaint over a domain. 

In 2010, it won a case (Claim Number: FA0912001298869) for princeofpersia.com, after filing a dispute with the National Arbitration Forum.

Also this past week, Ubisoft Entertainment filed three separate trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Serial Number: 85482572, Serial Number: 85482583 and Serial Number: 85482580.

Here’s a quick look at the goods and services covered in the trademark filings.

“Entertainment services, namely, continuing television programs and interactive television programs featuring comedy, drama, live-action, and animation, broadcast over television, satellite, audio, and video media; presentation of live stage show performances, presentation of live show performances by costumed characters, and presentation of live theatrical performances; production and distribution of motion pictures”

“Audio and video recordings featuring live-action entertainment; audio and visual recordings featuring live-action entertainment; Pre-recorded DVDs, digital versatile discs and digital video discs featuring live-action entertainment”

“printed matter, namely books featuring works of fiction; printed matter, namely comics featuring works of fiction”

As of the time of this story going online, assassinscreedthemovie.com doesn’t resolve to a website.

(Photo of the short YouTube movie Assassin’s Creed: Lineage via Ubisoft)