Advanced Ticket Sales for Open Waters; Opens August 6th
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HIGHLY ANTICIPATED THRILLER "OPEN WATER" TO
ARRIVE IN THEATRES AUGUST 6<SUP>TH</SUP>;
WEBSITE ESTABLISHED FOR ADVANCE TICKET SALES
Advance Tickets to the Hot Sundance Sensation Available
Through Website www.openwatertix.com
SANTA MONICA, CA, July 30, 2004 – Lions Gate Films, the motion picture production and distribution arm of Lions Gate Entertainment (AMEX and TSX: LGF), has responded to the overwhelming audience interest in the Sundance sensation, OPEN WATER, by establishing a website to handle advance tickets for the film. Advance tickets are available online at www.openwatertix.com effective immediately.
Learning lessons from the FAHRENHEIT 9/11 advance ticket sales site, which achieved over $4 million in presales and tens of thousands of unique visitors per day, the OPEN WATER advance ticket site is designed to build on the successful launches of previous movie specific ticket websites. The movie ticketing services Fandango and Movietickets are also offering advance sales on their websites, at www.fandango.com and www.movietickets.com.
"After receiving so many calls and emails, we know that there is a huge demand building from the ever increasing buzz on this film," comments Tom Ortenberg, President of Lions Gate Films Releasing. "We have streamlined the process and given the public what it demands, easy access to purchase advance tickets."
"Open Water" is based on real events and follows a vacationing couple scuba diving in tropical waters who are mistakenly abandoned in the middle of the ocean. As the hours pass, the couple realizes they are not alone as a shark's fin breaks the water surface. Over the next 24 hours, the couple must fight to stay afloat and alive, surrounded by miles of ocean. The film chillingly reminds viewers how much fun it is to be frightened by our most primal fears, namely what we think may lurk just below the surface.
Unlike previous shark movies, such as "Jaws" and "Deep Blue Sea," "Open Water" does not employ special effects or CGI; instead, actors Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis spent over 120 hours in the water many miles off shore amid all kinds of sea life, including the real-life sharks that give the film its chilling authenticity. Referred to as "The Blair Witch Project meets Jaws" by Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Premiere and the Wall Street Journal, the film was embraced by audiences and critics alike when it world premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.
"Open Water" was written and directed by Chris Kentis and produced by Laura Lau, a husband-and-wife team. To create the drama inherent in the dilemma of a stranded couple potentially becoming food, Kentis and Lau shot most of the film in the open ocean off the Bahamas. They worked with a local shark expert, who would manipulate the sharks' movements by throwing chunks of bloody tuna into the water, often near the actors. The sharks, mostly gray reef sharks with a few bull sharks averaging seven to eleven feet in length, numbered between 45 and 50.
Lions Gate Entertainment is the premier independent producer and distributor of motion pictures, television programming, home entertainment, family entertainment and video-on-demand content. Its prestigious and prolific library of approximately 8000 titles is one of the largest in the entertainment industry. The Lions Gate brand name is synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the globe.
* * * * *
For further information about OPEN WATER, please log onto:
www.openwatermovie.com or www.lionsgatefilms.com
HIGHLY ANTICIPATED THRILLER "OPEN WATER" TO
ARRIVE IN THEATRES AUGUST 6<SUP>TH</SUP>;
WEBSITE ESTABLISHED FOR ADVANCE TICKET SALES
Advance Tickets to the Hot Sundance Sensation Available
Through Website www.openwatertix.com
SANTA MONICA, CA, July 30, 2004 – Lions Gate Films, the motion picture production and distribution arm of Lions Gate Entertainment (AMEX and TSX: LGF), has responded to the overwhelming audience interest in the Sundance sensation, OPEN WATER, by establishing a website to handle advance tickets for the film. Advance tickets are available online at www.openwatertix.com effective immediately.
Learning lessons from the FAHRENHEIT 9/11 advance ticket sales site, which achieved over $4 million in presales and tens of thousands of unique visitors per day, the OPEN WATER advance ticket site is designed to build on the successful launches of previous movie specific ticket websites. The movie ticketing services Fandango and Movietickets are also offering advance sales on their websites, at www.fandango.com and www.movietickets.com.
"After receiving so many calls and emails, we know that there is a huge demand building from the ever increasing buzz on this film," comments Tom Ortenberg, President of Lions Gate Films Releasing. "We have streamlined the process and given the public what it demands, easy access to purchase advance tickets."
"Open Water" is based on real events and follows a vacationing couple scuba diving in tropical waters who are mistakenly abandoned in the middle of the ocean. As the hours pass, the couple realizes they are not alone as a shark's fin breaks the water surface. Over the next 24 hours, the couple must fight to stay afloat and alive, surrounded by miles of ocean. The film chillingly reminds viewers how much fun it is to be frightened by our most primal fears, namely what we think may lurk just below the surface.
Unlike previous shark movies, such as "Jaws" and "Deep Blue Sea," "Open Water" does not employ special effects or CGI; instead, actors Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis spent over 120 hours in the water many miles off shore amid all kinds of sea life, including the real-life sharks that give the film its chilling authenticity. Referred to as "The Blair Witch Project meets Jaws" by Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Premiere and the Wall Street Journal, the film was embraced by audiences and critics alike when it world premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.
"Open Water" was written and directed by Chris Kentis and produced by Laura Lau, a husband-and-wife team. To create the drama inherent in the dilemma of a stranded couple potentially becoming food, Kentis and Lau shot most of the film in the open ocean off the Bahamas. They worked with a local shark expert, who would manipulate the sharks' movements by throwing chunks of bloody tuna into the water, often near the actors. The sharks, mostly gray reef sharks with a few bull sharks averaging seven to eleven feet in length, numbered between 45 and 50.
Lions Gate Entertainment is the premier independent producer and distributor of motion pictures, television programming, home entertainment, family entertainment and video-on-demand content. Its prestigious and prolific library of approximately 8000 titles is one of the largest in the entertainment industry. The Lions Gate brand name is synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the globe.
* * * * *
For further information about OPEN WATER, please log onto:
www.openwatermovie.com or www.lionsgatefilms.com
