What was the first-ever movie to have its own website?
These days, if a new movie is accompanied by its own website, you’ll be lucky to find anything more than the trailer, a synopsis, and a list of showtimes on display. Devoid of personality, these websites are a far cry from the boom of colourful, interactive websites made in the 1990s and 2000s to advertise countless movies.
Billboards, cinema trailers or even a range of McDonald’s toys were not enough. With the dawn of the internet and the number of people owning computers and smart devices rising as the century began to come to an end, production companies capitalised on the powers of the internet for marketing. As a result, plenty of websites offering behind-the-scenes clips, downloadable screensavers and other games and gimmicks cropped up in the 1990s and 2000s. You only have to watch the trailers on an old DVD to notice how many films were given their own websites, something you rarely see today.
Unfortunately, many of these are now inactive, taking you to a dead link when clicked. Others have been archived, revealing garishly designed screens that somehow enticed people to watch the films they were advertising. But what was the first film to receive its own website?
The internet slowly began making its way into people’s houses in the 1990s, although it didn’t become as popular as it is today until the 2000s. Accessing websites was very different several decades ago, but that didn’t stop the marketing team behind one 1994 film from coming up with a page dedicated to their film. The movie was none other than Star Trek Generations, which was made to join the casts of Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The movie grossed $118million against a budget of $35m, making it a box-office success. The marketing team’s idea had worked incredibly well, with millions of people visiting the site before the movie, starring Patrick Stewart, William Shatner and Jonathan Frakes, was even released.
Luckily for big Star Trek fans, the website has been archived so that it can be revisited. The welcome page features a message which reads, “To herald this unprecedented adventure, Paramount Pictures is proud to present this World Wide Web site. Featuring the official movie preview, exclusive sights and sounds from the motion picture, behind-the-scenes information, and more, this site brings the Final Frontier to the cyber frontier.”
The website also features a ‘Your Input’ page that encourages visitors to fill in a form in return for a digital poster. The form asks for information such as your connection speed and monitor screen size, as well as your favourite Star Trek movie.
Visit the archive here.
