Already Jonesing over Will Smith's new movie? You might want to try out the 'new & improved' official site.

Hancock is coming July 2nd, 2008.

... and if you came here looking for some kind of insider's opinion on how good or bad this film is going to be, well this time I can't help you (you should probably go to a site like Rotten Tomatoes or something since they seem to always be offering some kind of very early movie news and reviews.

Instead, this time I am going to take alook at the more 'official channels' regarding the latest Will Smith Summer flick.

I have heard (or read) from a few different sources that for Will Smith new movie Hancock (2008), there is a new official movie website up and running - or rather, that there is now a new and improved version of the earlier official Sony Pictures Hancock movie website up and running. Before, the hancock movie site wasn't even its own domain: instead it was just a subdomain of sony's main site (I guess it was more convenient to do this until there was some actual content to put up other than just the earlier teaser trailer for Will Smith new movie).

The new and improved official site has the usual access to trailers (also in HD) and world wide relelase dates (even before you enter the actual site).

Inside however the official site has chosen to go with the theme of treating Will Smith's Hancock character with a reality 'feel'; the site has included a series of witness 'home videos' of Hancock in action, as well as an ongoing fake blog of people discussing their local Los Angeles superhero.

Once you click 'enter', you are hit with a parody news sound bite from 'CZN News', with people complaining about the damage Hancock's antics have caused.

The site offers some interesting diversions.

I came across the aforementioned blog, "Hancock was here", and even added an entry to it! (Heck, why not?) I particularly got akick out of the fake postings from irrate citizens complaining about how a superhero is allowed to run around unregulated, comparing Hancock to police, EMT workers and firefighters who all have to abide by professional standards. Good stuff in an age of self - serious blogging.

I saw a series of witness videos and gave them a look-see. They were somewhat humourous examples of Will Smith's character in flight mostly. They were all actuall y quite well done.

The trailer at the site is the earlier one but still is worth a viewing just for the whale scene alone if for nothing else ("I don't remember that. Greenpeace does...." LOL)

The downloads section so far is pretty much run of the mill; there is a selection of Hancockmovie wallpapers, screensavers and buddy icons to choose from.

The Hancock picture gallery is also pretty standard with the expected snapshots from the Will Smith Hancock movie.


Something different here is the "Guess the financial toll" game. It asks you to guess the financial toll of Hancock's heroics. Yoyu get to choose from four different video clips from the Hancock movie and try and guess the financial cost of Hancock's actions throughout the chosen clip. You are also presented with some scientific factoids about Hancock's abilities. Afterwards the game tells you how close you were in guessing the financial toll of Hancock's actions. There are even fictional 'factoids' like the following offered up:

" Did you know? 60% of Hancock-related incidents occur between the hours of 10pm and 4am?"

That's a cute touch.

Finally, there are three action oriented games to choose from:
Crisis City, where you have to get Hancock off his butt and into action.
Urban Rescue, which has you flying around to save citizens from muggers while trying not to crash into the buildings (keep the property damage down!).
Flight & Fight, which has you flying and fighting through the streets at high speeds.

So, as far as promotional movie websites go, the Official Hancock movie site is definitely worth a try. For Will Smith Hancock could be something big this Summer and this site might be the place to get an early feel of what's coming this July.