Chicago—A rapidly growing specialized website for couples who like to watch movies together,
FILMS FOR TWO: The Online Guide for Busy Couples, will celebrates its fourth anniversary on Valentine’s Day. Created by Chicago couple Jan Lisa Huttner and Richard Bayard Miller,
FILMS FOR TWO® (www.FILMS42.com) has more than doubled in usage in the past year.
“Adult couples, that’s FILMS FOR TWO’s primary niche. To the best of my knowledge, no other movie website serves it to the extent that we do,” Huttner says. “The whole point of
FILMS FOR TWO® is to identify options for couples – two people with two points of view and the need to balance entertainment choices.”
Statistics show that while the percentage of moviegoers aged 12-39 has dropped by more than 19% since 1987, the over-40 demographic has risen 60% over the same period. According to a recent article in the NEW YORK TIMES, Hollywood is finally taking notice. “Ticket sales among men and women in the over-40 set are up sharply in the past 15 years,” says author Laura Holson, “Some analysts attribute this to baby boomers interested in seeing stars they grew up with. Others suggest that the woman in a couple is increasingly choosing the movie to see.”
“We appeal to an educated, reasonably affluent, adult audience of couples who want to enhance their relationship by sharing a good movie out on Saturday night, or on DVD after they’ve put the kids to bed,” Miller explains. “We’re not courting teenage boys or reviewing family films for couples to see with their children.”
Huttner adds, “There are so many good films in theaters now, not to mention DVD and cable TV. There’s no need for couples to waste their time watching junk. Our features and chats can point out great things people might have missed, and our reviews and ratings can identify the kind of films couples are most likely to enjoy in theaters in their precious free time together.”
Each week, the website updates its primary pages (New in Theaters and
New on DVD/VHS), with Huttner and Miller both rating all new films and writing a 50-word capsule review/recommendation together. Over the life of the website, they have penned more than 1,000 of these brief reviews, which are maintained on the site in the
FILMS FOR TWO® database.
In the past year, Huttner and Miller have also interviewed journalism professor
Christopher Hanson about SHATTERED GLASS and VERONICA GUERIN, and military historian
Victor Davis Hanson (no relation) who made perceptive connections between classic war movies, traditional Westerns, and current events in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Huttner (a freelance writer who also contributes to the print publications the FORWARD, the WOMANS PAPERS and the WORLD JEWISH DIGEST and to other websites such as CRITIC DOCTOR, REEL CHICAGO, DVD WOLF, and PICKLEBIRD) interviewed screenwriters
Barbara Turner (THE COMPANY and POLLOCK) and
Lizzie Weiss (BLUE CRUSH), producer
Maggie Renzi (SUNSHINE STATE, GIRLFIGHT and LONE STAR), biographer
Joyce Miller Bean, media specialist
Martha Lauzen, and movie book editor
Linda Sunshine exclusively for
FILMS FOR TWO®.
Over the same period, award-winning Hollywood scribe Alan Waldman has provided pungent, in-depth profiles of
James Coburn, Herb
Gardner, Elia Kazan, Peter
O’Toole, Gregory Peck, Roman Polanski, and
Martin Scorsese for FILMS FOR TWO®, while screenwriter/personal historian Sharon Waldman (his spouse) has uniquely captured
Katherine Hepburn.
One of FILMS FOR TWO’s most popular pages is
“The Twozies” page, where Huttner and Miller compare their 20 favorite movies of each year. At the top of their joint list for 2003 were AMERICAN SPLENDOR, BIG FISH, SPELLBOUND and THE COMPANY.
FILMS FOR TWO® also provides a guide to
Chicago Indie venues, coverage of the
Chicago International Film
Festival, buried
treasures, answers to frequently asked
questions, and major movie award picks (including Golden
Globes, Oscars, and Independent Spirit
Awards).
For additional information, or photography,
contact:
