Would you believe that Stargate was the first movie to have a website? It does make some sense that a sci-fi film would be the genre to set the standard, but even I was surprised to discover this little gem of information.
With every release of a movie, regardless of how successful it may become, you will find an official website with all kinds of information about the movie. It really is the most practical way for the studios to provide information to the masses of would-be movie goers. They routinely provide little spoilers, interviews with cast and crew and more often than not, snippets of reviews. But this has not always been the case, even when the internet was in growing use around the world.
Prior to the internet the only way for studios to get information about their new movie was through advertising, interviews and favorable reviews. Occasionally word of mouth would be a great medium, but it wasn’t a reliable method. While this is still the case today, and studios heavily rely on the age old, tried and tested method, the internet is proving to be a great source of driving audiences to the cinemas. Even after the internet was gaining favor worldwide though, there seemed to be a reluctance to make a website for the sole purpose of just one film. That is until Stargate became the first movie to get a website.
Stargate was released in 1994 and was hugely successful, spurning multiple movies and television series. The fact that Stargate was the first to have a movie website may not have contributed much to its success as the storyline did doesn’t really matter that much at all. By simply making a website about the movie they forever changed the entertainment industry landscape, and for the better.