Here’s a reason to download Apple’s 12 Days of Gifts app if you haven’t already: the latest gift — freely downloadable using the app — is Martin Scorsese’s critically-acclaimed 2011 film Hugo.
The movie, based on Brian Selznick’s New York Times best-seller, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, tells the story of a 12-year-old boy living in the walls of a Parisian train station, who meets a down-on-his-luck toymaker, who turns out to be silent movie special effects maestro Georges Méliès (the guy that famously made this iconic short, entitled A Trip to the Moon).
In a way, the film is a perfect fit for Apple — since not only is it dazzlingly beautiful to look at, but it’s also about the “magical” powers of technology to transform people’s lives for the better. (Which begs the question of whether there will one day be a movie about a kid who meets Steve Jobs during his exiled NeXT years.)
This isn’t the first time Apple has associated with Academy Award-winning filmmaker Martin Scorsese. In 2012, the director was one of several celebrities who appeared in Apple’s ad campaign to promote Siri.
Apple’s previous 12 Days of Gifts free downloads (which vary according to where you are in the world) include Justin Timberlake tracks, the new Lorde single, Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2014 book, the pilot episode of Once Upon a Time, and others. The app runs from December 26 through January 6, with new gifts available each day — available for 24 hours each.
[Update: As pointed out by one of our readers, UK users don’t receive Hugo, but Home Alone instead. Hey, with Joe “You Think I’m Funny (NSFW)” Pesci starring as one of the thieves there is at least a tangential connection to Scorsese.]
Source: Apple
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
3 responses to “Scorsese’s Hugo Free With Apple’s 12 Days of Gifts App”
That’s all very well and nice, but in the UK we’re being offered Home Alone…
“(the guy that famously made this).”
Bad form. That’s NOT the way to do an inline link.
RE: Robogobo — I apologize. I’m a bit of a Méliès geek, and had to stop myself going off on a whole mini tangent about him. You’re quite right.