• by Tanya Gazdik , March 9, 2011

Royal Caribbean International is debuting two original short films directed by and starring James Brolin and Jenny McCarthy in its "Ocean Views" film series project.

McCarthy's "The Allure of Love" centers around romance while Brolin's "Royal Reunion" focuses on multi-generational family travel.

The film series is available on Royal Caribbean's website and YouTube channel, www.RoyalCaribbean.com/OceanViews and www.youtube.com/royalcaribbeanintl, and marks the first time any cruise line has made the foray into the digital film forum, according to the Miami-based cruise ship company. The company is also promoting it on their Facebook page and via traditional online ads which will be targeted by demographic for each film.

Created and produced by Mindshare Entertainment in association with GenerateLA, the films are expected to attract a variety of audiences, including those who may not have otherwise shown interest in taking a cruise vacation, says Betsy O'Rourke, SVP marketing, Royal Caribbean International.

"We are hoping to reach new prospects as each film is targeting very different segments -- multi generational families and young singles/couples," O'Rourke tells Marketing Daily. "We wanted to showcase people from all segments doing different things on our product and all of them enjoying themselves."

The promotion's success will be measured via two statistics: 1) How many people watch and share the films with their friends and 2) How many new to brand prospects book a cruise with us within the next 12 months, she says.

The films debut March 13 during an exclusive premiere event onboard Allure of the Seas in her home port of Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Trailers for the short films are available at www.RoyalCaribbean.com and the films will be available in their entirety at 4 p.m. on March 13.

Immediately following the premiere, Jenny McCarthy (@jennymccarthy) will host a Twitter party from 5p.m. - 6p.m. with Justin Baldoni (@justinbaldoni), Amy Yasbeck (@amyyasbeck4real) and Scott Elrod (@scott_elrod) to discuss the films and their experiences onboard Allure of the Seas. Consumers can join the party by following #OceanViews and @RoyalCaribbean on Twitter.

McCarthy's film, which is her directorial debut, tells the story of two friends, Jessie (Courtney Henggeler) and Patrick (Charles Malik Whitfield) hatching the perfect plan to get a pair of star-crossed exes back together, Annie (McCarthy) and Bradley (Scott Elrod). But things go awry when technology gets in the way and the couple engages in a game of online picture posting one-upsmanship.

In "Royal Reunion," Ben (Brolin) and Elaine (Caroline Lagerfelt) are celebrating their 40th anniversary on a cruise with their son, Jack (Dean Cain), daughter-in-law, Franny (Amy Yasbeck) and granddaughter, Sarah (Chelsea Ricketts). All that is missing is their fun-loving son, Nicky (Justin Baldoni) who decides to hide out and surprise everyone with his unexpected presence.