Amazon.co.uk reveals killer movie pitch and recipe for success

Picture the scene: a futuristic drama set on a spaceship carrying a notorious Mafia mobster on the loose. Cut to a close up of Humphrey Bogart in a tight embrace with Diane Keaton. Suddenly Robert de Niro and sidekick Marilyn Monroe break down the door, all guns blazing

If this sounds like a fantastical pitch, that's because an analysis of the world's all-time favourite films and videos has uncovered exactly what makes a movie great. The plot outlined above would make the greatest ever.

Amazon.co.uk analysed the genre, plot, stars and even the words in the titles of the most popular 100 films at its Internet Movie Database (IMDb) site. Nearly 8 million votes have been cast by IMDb users to collate the top 100, from IMDb's catalogue of nearly 240,000 films.

The results show that the following ingredients are most likely to ensure a film is a success:

 

• Genre: dramas rate the highest, with classics such as The Godfather, The Shawshank Redemption and Citizen Kane accounting for eight of the top 10 films of all time.
• Plot: the perfect plot combines boy meets girl and good versus evil, set in the future. Think Star Wars and Bladerunner, with touches of Casablanca and the 1954 Japanese classic Shichinin No Samurai (Seven Samurai).
• Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Harrison Ford, James Stewart and Robert de Niro are the quartet who appear time and time again in our favourite films. Supporting actors and extras should include Kevin Spacey, Marlon Brando, Orson Welles, Tom Hanks and Charlie Chaplin.

  When it comes to the leading ladies, Diane Keaton, Jodie Foster, Marilyn Monroe, Carrie Fisher and Sigourney Weaver should be first on the casting couch.

   

• Title: two words are best, and should ideally include a place or person's name, or an animal. Examples include American Beauty, Schindler's List, Citizen Kane, LA Confidential, Reservoir Dogs and Raging Bull. After all, who remembers Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds In Love or The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed-Up Zombies?
• Year: but a word of warning before budding film makers attempt to follow Amazon.co.uk's recipe for success - the world's greatest movie would have been made in 1954.

So, coming soon at your local cinema, the feature attraction, the previously unreleased 1954 film, updated with the latest computer animation:

OBJECTIVE: ORION
Starring
HUMPHREY BOGART as Orion
DIANE KEATON
with special appearances from
ROBERT DE NIRO & MARILYN MONROE

"Most movie buffs generally avoid formulaic films," commented Col Needham, managing director of Amazon.co.uk's IMDb. "But it would be interesting to see how Objective: Orion was received by the critics and at the box office. Scenes from Gladiator featured Oliver Reed after his death - I challenge film producers to now make Objective: Orion, the greatest movie ever!"

Amazon.co.uk's DVD and Video store offers 22,000 VHS titles, which is almost every video available in the UK - six times more than the typical high street shop. The store also has every one of the 1,000 DVDs currently available in the UK and is committed to offering every new DVD as the selection of titles expands.

For further information contact:

• Anna Carter
  The RED Consultancy
  T: 020 7465 7751
  E:annac@redconsultancy.com
  or
  Lisa Ramshaw
  Amazon.co.uk
  T: 020 8636 9295
  E: lramshawa@amazon.co.uk

About Amazon.co.uk Amazon.co.uk today offers more than 1.5 million books, CDs, DVDs and videos, hosts online auctions and provides a complete online storefront for individual merchants through its zShops. Amazon.co.uk customers enjoy the benefits of industry-leading, online shopping technology such as secure credit-card payment; personalised recommendations; streamlined, 1-Click. ordering and hassle-free Bid-Click auction bidding. Through Amazon Anywhere, Amazon.co.uk also is available on mobile phones with WAP technology; look at www.amazon.co.uk/anywhere for details. Amazon.co.uk is the trading name for Amazon.com Int'l Sales, Inc., and Amazon.com International Auctions, Inc., which are both wholly owned subsidiaries of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), the Internet's No. 1 book, No. 1 music and No. 1 video retailer, which opened its virtual doors on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and has already provided safe and convenient shopping to more than 20 million customers worldwide. About IMDB In 1993 a web version of the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) was created and launched in the UK. The site instantly became the leading film online resource and a major UK based service -- a position it still holds today. In 1996 IMDb switched from an volunteer run site into a professional advertising supported business. In April 1998 IMDb was acquired by Amazon.com as a launchpad for Amazon's entry into the online video market. IMDb continues to operate as a UK based independent subsidiary of Amazon.com.

IMDb covers over 220,000 movies from 1892 to 2003 with details on over 800,000 film industry professionals. The site receives around 90 million page views per month from over 4 million unique users, making it one of the most popular sites in the world. The site has won numerous awards including three consecutive "Best Film Site" awards at the prestigious Webby Awards.