The day and date release is one that sees a film hit the cinema, the DVD shelves and outlets such as itunes all on the same day. It is a release method rarely used; yet it is one that could increase film revenue, combat piracy and improve the cinema going experience. U.K. film critic Mark Kermode has long been stating that this release method will in fact be the future of cinema and it is a claim made with good reason. Despite the claims of James Cameron it is clear that 3D is not the solution to decreasing film piracy, as evidenced by the fact that his 3D spectacular Avatar was the most downloaded and pirated film of its year. This year’s most pirated film is Fast Five, another film that did very well at the box office, proving that piracy does not always have an adverse effect on the profit potential of a picture. 

This year is arguably the most anticipated year for movies of all time. We have the end of Twilight (Which will be a joyous occasion for most), Ridley Scott returning to Sci-Fi (and hopefully good filmmaking) in Prometheus, a return to Middle Earth with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the cinematic realization of The Hunger Games, the return of the Amazing Spiderman, the union of Thor, Captain America, Iron Man and the Hulk in The Avengers and some Batman movie called The Dark Knight Rises. While many will argue about which of these films is the most anticipated and which of these films will make the most money, there is no doubt in my mind that Christopher Nolan's conclusion this his Batman trilogy, will be the movie "event" of this year. In my (admittedly short) moviegoing life, I have never seen or felt such excitement for a film. However, dare I say it, could The Dark Knight Rises do a Phantom Menace? 

When Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone hit cinemas across the world, I was six years old. Now as the final film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two gets ever closer to release, I am approaching my sixteenth birthday and will in fact be spending it at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. I have seen every single Harry Potter film at the cinema and in four different countries. Philosopher’s Stone I saw in Holland, Chamber of Secrets I saw in England, Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of fire in Holland, Order of the Phoenix in Canada and Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows: Part One in Switzerland. In the ten years in which the Harry Potter series has been a firm fixture in the movie going calendar it has had a tremendous impact on the film industry. While it may be missed by studio heads due to the billions of dollars it has made in worldwide ticket sales, it will truly be missed by the people who invested in the story of a boy wizard and his journey from the boy living in the cupboard under the stairs to the man who is the only one able to face down true evil. The end of the Harry Potter series comes at a time when I am enjoying my last summer before I start my final two years of school education and where the world will start to become a much bigger and scarier place with much more pressure and demands than before, in short I must soon become a man and due to the immense presence that this series has had in my life, its conclusion is further restating the fact for me anyway that childhood is over.