United Artists announced 90th Anniversary DVD plans, Dr No cinema tour

United Artists, the legendary but faded film label that Tom Cruise took over last year after his acrimonious divorce from Paramount, plans to roll out an unusual marketing campaign today aimed at restoring its brand to prominence. The push comes as the revamped studio prepares to introduce its first film, the Middle East political drama “Lions for Lambs.”

“We want to reinforce and remind people of what a powerful film history and legacy a brand like United Artists has,” said Paula Wagner, chief executive of United Artists and Mr. Cruise’s longtime business partner. United Artists is part of the privately held Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

The 18-month marketing effort will culminate in 2009, coinciding with the 90th anniversary of the studio’s founding. The campaign will include a $20 million media blitz with print, radio and online components, a promotional partnership with Panasonic and a “United Artists Film Festival” that will visit 20 cities and screen such titles as “Dr. No,” “Rocky” and “Annie Hall.”

As part of the hoopla, United Artists is also selling a giant 90-title DVD set. Encased in frosted glass and weighing nearly 30 pounds, the collector’s set carries a suggested retail price of $869.98, making it one of the most expensive DVD offerings ever. Twentieth Century Fox, which markets the smaller studio’s library as part of a distribution partnership with MGM, also plans to roll out other DVD novelties, including grouping all of the movies in the James Bond franchise for the first time.

Movie studios, with the exception of Walt Disney, rarely devote resources to pumping their brand. Consumers typically do not pay attention to studio names, instead making their movie-going decisions based on individual titles, says Tom Sherak, a Revolution Studios executive who recently helped start a private marketing consultancy.

“Studio branding is good for the shareholders to see, but the average person doesn’t really pay attention,” Mr. Sherak said.

Although consumers are tiring of the endless repackaging of DVDs — most of the titles in the United Artists set are already available individually — the 90-title collection will probably sell at least a limited number of copies, said Tom Adams, the founder of Adams Media Research. “It’s unique enough that some small number of people will pony up that kind of money,” he said.

Moreover, the DVD effort should be embraced by retailers looking to offer movies at a higher price point, he said. “Costco doesn’t like selling $9 products,” he said.

United Artists was formed in 1919 by the actors Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith as a studio that would give stars more autonomy in creating films. Last November, Mr. Cruise and Ms. Wagner took over the studio with plans to deliver four or more movies a year at an average budget of about $50 million.

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