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Movies News

300 prequel renamed – “300: Rise of An Empire” domains registered [UPDATED]

300: Rise of an Empire

UPDATE – SEP. 13, 2012:  Box Office Mojo has also backed up speculation that the 300 prequel will now be called “300: Rise of An Empire”.  Several hours after this story was originally published, Box Office Mojo posted the movie title change to its website from “Untitled ‘300’ Sequel” to “300: Rise of An Empire”.

ORIGINAL STORY – SEP. 12, 2012 @ 4:21 AM EST: Is the upcoming prequel to 300 called ‘300: Battle of Artemisia’ getting a new title?

There appears to be a possibility that the film may be renamed.

Sparking speculation are some interesting domain registrations made this week by the brand protection company MarkMonitor, the same firm responsible for registering the Battle of Artemisa names back in January of this year.

The list of new domains registered privately by MarkMonitor on September 10, 2012, include 300-riseofanempire.com (Whois), 300riseofanempire.com (Whois), 300theriseofanempire.com (Whois) and RiseofanEmpire.com (Whois).

Each name was registered anonymously using MarkMonitor’s Whois privacy service DNStination, but you can bet the company behind the names is Warner Bros.  Warner Bros.’ very own warnerbros.com (Whois) is managed through MarkMonitor.

Whois: 300RiseofAnEmpire.com

If the film is retitled, it wouldn’t be the first time.

In June 2011, Deadline reported that the 300 prequel, first known as “Xerxes”, would be retitled to 300: Battle of Artemisia.

Xerxes

One thing is for sure, “Rise of An Empire” is much easier to spell than “Battle of Artemisia”, but if the name is changing, that’s probably not the only driver.

Recent 300 buzz focused on news that Gerard Butler would not be appearing in the Warner Bros. film.  Butler told an MTV reporter, “They’re filming [the ‘300’ sequel] right now. I wish them the best, but it didn’t [work out]. It wasn’t really my thing.”

At the time of this story, none of the new domains resolve to a web page.  A quick check of other top level domains, shows that MarkMonitor only pursued the .coms, leaving other domains available.

The 300 prequel, whatever it is called, is scheduled to be in theaters on August 2, 2013.

TALKING ABOUT THIS STORY: Moviehole

Categories
News Video Games

SkylandersPatriots.com domain registration by Activision adds to mystery

Skylanders Patriots

Almost a week after I first reported that Activision had purchased several “Skylanders Giants” domain names like skylandersgiants.com and skylandersgiantsgame.com, it appears the video game company has registered another new Skylanders domain, further adding to the mystery of the company’s future plans for the Skylanders brand.

On January 24, it appears Activision registered the domain name SkylandersPatriots.com (Whois), through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor, a service that over half the Fortune 100 rely on for online brand protection.

The “Skylanders Giants” story created quite a buzz among gaming and tech sites like Joystiq, Wired.com, and Giant Bomb, but as of today, there has been no official word from Activision.

At the time of this story, skylanderspatriots.com does not resolve to a website.

[Update 1 on January 26, 2012:  Reporting Gamer suggests the registrations may be for a Skylanders sports game pitting the Giants vs Patriots.]

Discussion: Wired UK

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News Video Games

Domains show Activision may create a new game called “Skylanders Giants”

Sklyanders Giants game

Activision, which is a known client of the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor, has apparently gone on a small buying spree for “Skylanders Giants” domain names, hinting that a new game is in the works.

On January 19, the video game company that released Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure last year, acquired six domains with Skylanders Giants in the name like SkylandersGiants.com and SkylandersGiantsgame.com.

Although the owner of each name is hidden behind Whois privacy, because MarkMonitor is in the business of protecting brands of some of the biggest companies, the owner is all but guaranteed to be Activision.

Here’s the list of names that were registered:

http://whois.domaintools.com/skylandersgiants.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/skylandersgiants.dk
http://whois.domaintools.com/skylandersgiants.it
http://whois.domaintools.com/skylandersgiants.net
http://whois.domaintools.com/skylandersgiantsgame.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/skylandersgiantsgame.net
http://whois.domaintools.com/theskylandersgiants.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/theskylandersgiants.net
http://whois.domaintools.com/skylandersgiants.fr

At the time of this story none of the domains resolve to a website and Activision has made no official announcement.

[Update 1 on February 7, 2012: Activision announced Skylanders: Giants. It is scheduled to be released in Fall 2012.]

Discussion: Giant Bomb, JoystiqWired.comCo-Optimus, Multiplayer.it, VG247, Eurogamer.seEurogamer.it, Game Rant, darkSpyro Forums, Shacknews, Family Gamer and NeoGAF

Categories
News

Google apparently registers Googan domains, slang for lowlife webmaster

Googleplex

If you’re not familiar with the term Googan, according to Urban Dictionary, “Googan” can be used to describe a lowlife webmaster who “posts ads and web pages typically with no meaningful content, no regard for adwords copywriting, or consideration for other people, especially those who click on promising-looking links.”

Now it appears Google has plans to market Googan “the lowlife webmaster” in the very near future, according to several new domain registrations that include names like Googan.net (WHOIS), BewareofGoogan.com, DonthireGoogan.com, and GooganInterviews.com.

All of the Googan names were privately registered through MarkMonitor, a company Google uses to help manage its domain portfolio. 

As is the case with domains privately registered using DNStination Inc, MarkMonitor’s privacy service, it’s safe to say the company behind the names is Google, since MarkMonitor is in the business of internet brand protection for over half the Fortune 100 companies.

Google registered the Googan names, as well as others, on December 29.

None of the domains resolve to a web site at the time of this story going online, and Google has offered no details on Googan as of yet.  But if I had to guess, I’d say Googan will be used in an online marketing campaign, similar to the company’s use of the domain EmailIntervention.com. 

Here’s a look at all the domains apparently registered by Google on December 29.  Also in the list are lighting domains like Googlightingstranger.com, which may have something to do with its Android-controlled light bulb, that goes on sale in early 2012.

bewareofgoogan.com
bewareofgoogan.net
donthiregoogan.com
donthiregoogan.net
gapsingoogle.com
gapsingoogle.net
glightingstranger.com
glightingstranger.net
googan.net
googanapperson.com
googanapperson.net
googanapprehension.com
googanapprehension.net
googaninterviews.com
googaninterviews.net
googanlighting.com
googanlighting.net
googlelighting.net
googlightingstranger.com
googlightingstranger.net
thegooganinterviews.com
thegooganinterviews.net
whatsinitforgoogle.com
whatsinitforgoogle.net

Discussion: Marketing Land

(Image of Googleplex welcoming sign via Ardo191)

Categories
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.