Hollywood Online: A History of Movie Websites, 1994-2014

By examining the strategic role of websites in blockbuster marketing, the involvement of filmmakers in their production, and ultimately the commercial value placed upon these sites by the six major studios themselves, Hollywood Online demonstrates that movie websites were best understood as advertising for the ancillary markets of home entertainment and not as drivers for box-office ticket sales. Combining industry history, detailed textual analysis and interviews with practitioners in the US, Ian London shows how websites became crucial elements in the Hollywood industry’s goal to establish the internet as a viable film delivery system, one that directly returned revenues to the studios themselves.