At last count, there were well over 400 billion websites on the internet devoted to movies. Many of these are useful, entertaining, and informative. For example, I happen to know that Film.com is a fantastic website that only publishes the finest in movie-related news and reviews. Check them out! Their writers are very handsome!

But the glut of movie sites means there is competition. Everyone must do whatever they can to attract attention. If there's a high-buzz movie coming up, of course a site will want to talk about it. That's only natural. Unfortunately, it often means that people are talking about a film even when there is nothing to say.

The latest trend: on-the-set photos that don't show anything. Sites are so eager to contribute to the discussion about, say, Transformers 2, that they'll post pictures of nothing. Hey, look, it's the guy who plays Shia LaBeouf's dad! Whaddaya know! An actor who appears in Transformers 2 is, sure enough, on the set of Transformers 2! Stop the presses!

(Granted, this was the first confirmation we had that Sam Witwicky's dad would appear in the sequel. But consider this: Who cares?)

Sometimes these pics were snapped by ordinary civilians who happened to gain access to a production. You can understand why they'd be excited, even if there's nothing of consequence in the photos they got. What's really irksome is when the studio officially releases production stills that are completely worthless. Some PR person's whole job is to generate excitement for the product, and the best they can do is a picture of two characters standing around doing nothing?

A few months ago, Warner Bros. released the first photo! from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The photo was this one, depicting Harry, Ron, and Hermione sitting somewhere, looking at things. Warner Bros. was hoping the movie websites would publish the picture, even though it's completely boring and substance-free -- and sure enough, everyone posted it.

"FIRST PHOTOS FROM HALF-BLOOD PRINCE! WOOOO-HOOOOO! Some of the characters are SITTING! And TALKING! And LOOKING AT THINGS!! THANK YOU J.K. ROWLING FOR HELPING US BELIEVE IN MAGIC AGAIN!!!!"

Hmm. It looks like Film.com did this, too. So I take back what I said earlier about Film.com being a good site. (Editor's Note: Ahem, we ran them ONLY to contribute to the irony of the situation.)

I'm not saying that photos need to give away the whole plot of the movie. Nobody expects Warner Bros. to release a still from the scene where Snape (SPOILER) French kisses Dumbledore (END SPOILER). But would it kill you to show us a picture of something? Or, you know, not release any photos at all? Don't treat us like idiots and expect us to get excited over a shot of nothing.

I think it's time to declare a moratorium on this. The internet community should band together and say no more. Give us photos that are interesting or provocative or tantalizing and we will post them. Give us boring pictures of actors being boring and we will delete them and tell you how boring you are. We're more than happy to help you pimp your movies, Hollywood! We like movies! You just gotta give us something to work with.

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Eric D. Snider (website) is Film.com's handsomest writer.

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