Studios pull out all the stops for Christmas joy

Posted Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 5:00 PM Central
Last updated Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 5:06 PM Central

by John Couture

Sure, the calendar says September and the football season just started, but for retailers and suppliers, they are already planning ahead to a critical holiday shopping season. Let's face it, the economy isn't exactly where everyone would like it to be, so studios are coming up with, um, creative ways to get you to buy their movies.

Case in point, take the 1983 catalog movie Trading Places. Yes, back when Eddie Murphy was still funny. Well, just the other day new, "holiday packaging" artwork came across my desk and I had to a double take. I mean did Trading Places even take place around Christmas? I vaguely remember snow and Jamie Lee Curtis unwrapping her "presents," but I would never mistake it for a feel good holiday movie.

But that didn't stop Paramount from taking the original art and doctoring it up to the point that it now resembles It's a Wonderful Life more than Wall Street. You don't believe us? Check out the new artwork to the right.

So, that got us to thinking (I know, a dangerous activity), what other quasi-Christmas movies would we next see given the holiday packaging treatment? Heck, Tim even took it a step further and came up with some artist renderings of said holiday packaging.

While Gremlins does have a more Christmas-centric motif (Gizmo was a Christmas present after-all), it's content is far from as uplifting as other holiday fare. Here, Tim maximizes the cute factor of Gizmo and almost completely wraps up the evil Gremlin inside. Just don't open this DVD after midnight.

Sure, the movie is set at Christmas, but that's about the only thing Die Hard has in common with tradition holiday movies. Tim has re-worked the trademark phrase into a new, more family friendly holiday greeting. Ho, Ho, Ho.

I know that Edward Scissorhands takes place in the Winter because Edward uses his unique hands to carve ice sculptures during one sequence. But, other than that, I wouldn't even come close to naming this a top holiday flick. The ever resourceful Tim has gone all out for this packaging, by including scissors, gift wrap and tags. It's the topical gift that keeps on giving.

What do you think? Do you have other quasi-Christmas movies that you'd like to see be given the holiday packaging treatment?

Oh, and in case you're counting, there's only 100 shopping days left until Christmas. Ho, Ho, Uh-oh!