Poor Sarah Marshall

Universal Studios has decided to do something quite unique in terms of marketing its newest comedy "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." Stephen Becker writes for the Dallas News that the studio has gone the "viral-marketing route" in that it has posted signs throughout major cities, including Dallas and New York, that say horrible things such as "You do look fat in those jeans, Sarah Marshall" or "My mom never liked you, Sarah Marshall." Along with these, and countless other 'hate' signs, the studio has launched a handful of websites that fall in line with the Sarah Marshall-bashing theme.

Although this form of marketing could not possibly work for every film out there, in the case of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", a film about a love-sick man who just can't seem to get past his ex-girlfriend, it does. 

It's nice to know that studios are actually working on creative techniques to get our attention...it makes being a moviegoer that much more fun.

Movie Buzz

When marketing new films, having dynamic trailers and flashy posters helps but what is essential for getting the word around about your new film is BUZZ. Buzz is exactly what George Clooney is doing with his newest film 'Leatherheads,' which is a comedic take on 1920s professional football. According to this article from USA Today, Clooney has decided to premiere the film at the Washington Opera Theatre in Maysville, Ky, which is about 16 miles from Augusta, Clooney's hometown. This theatre has special meaning for Clooney and his family, because 55 years ago, his aunt, actress Rosemary Clooney, premiered her film 'The Stars are Singing' at the exact same venue. 

Maysville's Mayor, David Cartmell, suggests that Monday night's premiere will be the biggest event to happen in this town since Clooney's aunt premiered her film. 

There will be about 300 tickets available for locals to acquire, allowing some of Clooney's hometown pals the chance to experience Hollywood in this Northern Kentucky town of only 9,000.

By staging a marketing stun such as this, Universal studios has killed two birds with one stone: they will premiere the movie (a must) and at the same time, they will generate buzz for the film's nationwide release on April 4th.

If done correctly and tastefully, an event such as this will provide immeasurable benefits for the success of the film. 

Not-So-Private Lives

In this day and age, there is no such thing as 'privacy' for A-listers in Hollywood. The personal lives of almost every celebrity worth writing about are plastered all over the tabloids, with readers paying little attention to the actor's actual work. 

The Boston Herald wrote this article about the impact that actors' personal lives have on the marketing of his/her most recently completed film. Using Owen Wilson's suicide attempt and Ryan Phillippe's divorce-prompting affair, the article highlights the problem that movie marketers face when publicizing films with leading stars plagued with controversy. Films like "Drillbit Taylor" and "Stop Loss" depend on the star-power of the leading actors to boost ticket sales opening weekend, but is it realistic to go see a comedy starring funny-man Owen Wilson when you know he's so depressed that he tried to kill himself? Do you really want to sit through two hours of Ryan Phillippe showing on-screen affection to the woman that broke up his marriage to Reese Witherspoon?

The marketers of these films decided it would be best to promote the movies as if they had no stars in them, as opposed to stars with major real-life problems. 

It is an unfortunate situation for all parties involved, but with movie marketing, taking risks is never a reliable option.

The Super Bowl For Women

Sex and The City:The Movie is quite possibly the most anticipated movie release of 2008. Set to hit theaters at the end of May, this uber chick flick has defined target marketing to a tee. Stuart Elliott writes in this article for the New York Times that "when it comes to products helping to promote the coming film based on the popular TV series “Sex and the City,” it seems the sky is the limit." 

"The partner brands are included in the film in ways that range from mentions in lines of dialogue to numerous appearances on screen. In exchange, the owners of the brands will help publicize the movie with commercials, posters, sweepstakes, viewing parties, events in stores, contests, ticket giveaways and even products with labels inspired by 'Sex and the City.'"

New Line Cinema has decided to position this movie "as a Super Bowl for women" in that the products that are marketed within the film are targeting at the viewing audience. "Executives at New Line and the partner sponsors met frequently to coordinate how the brands’ efforts can amplify the campaign planned by New Line."

If you've seen the TV series that inspired the film, you`ll know that designer brands were frequently mentioned throughout the six seasons of the show, so having a bit of name dropping in the film is not much of a surprise. 

The key to New Line Cinema's success with this marketing plan is that all of the products are geared directly towards the people that are expected to see the film. Other movie houses can learn a lot from the marketing techniques used on this film.

Movie House to Blame for Failure?

The Golden Compass was a gigantic flop in the United States. The film only brought in $70 million in the states, which didn't even cover half of the $180 million production budget, according to an article written by Ed Perkis for Cinemablend.com. Contrary to the poor numbers states-side, the film did incredibly well in other countries, expected to "gross as much as $400 million worldwide." 

Perkis believes that the reason the film did so poorly in the U.S. but so well elsewhere is not because of the horrible critical reviews or America's "Puritanical reaction to the anti-religious mania of the movie", but because of which movie house distributed the film.

"New Line sold off foreign rights during the production phase and the foreign distributors did a better job marketing the film and keeping it in theaters. Even in heavy Catholic countries, like Italy, the movie did fairly well because it was pushed as a family film rather than a Lord of the Rings style fantasy adventure. It also played longer despite a slow start."

When marketing a film, it is important to cater to your audience and tailor your marketing plan to fit each individual area. Without doing so, a great film can fail miserably.

New Advances in DVD Marketing

Paramount Pictures is the first of many movie houses to use the extensive reach of Facebook to market new films or new release DVDs. The New Zealand Herald recently wrote an article announcing that Paramount will make "thousands of movie clips available to Facebook users." 

"Silicon Valley developer FanRocket will launch an application called VooZoo that will go live Monday [March 17th]."

When a clip of a Paramount film is viewed, which can range from a few seconds long to several minutes in length, a button will appear that will make DVD purchase quick and easy. "Associated Press reports that Paramount parent Viacom is working with viral video specialist FanRocket to come up with a clever game plan to promote the next Indiana Jones installment Kingdom of the Crystal Skull before it uploads clips from previous titles."

"Viacom, Paramount Pictures parent company, has previously been very active in keeping its movie clips on video sharing sites like YouTube."

With new media channels, like Facebook, the face of movie marketing is drastically changing. It is a very real possibility that in a few years, the majority of movie trailers may be debuted on Facebook instead of in theaters. Who knows what this will mean for the future of Hollywood.

Great Year for Hollywood

Scott Bowles writes for USA Today that Hollywood made more money in  2007 than in any year ever before, according to the Motion Picture Association of America. MPAA chief Dan Glickman says that studios across the United States and Canada brought in $9.6 billion last year alone. 

"While the figure is $300 million more than any other year, rising ticket prices — the average cost was $6.88 a ticket — meant attendance has remained relatively unchanged over the past three years. Roughly 1.4 billion million tickets were sold in 2007, well below the record 1.6 billion sold in 2002."

Although ticket sales were well below average in recent years, Glickman is confident in the success of Hollywood in 2007 with the rising competition from the internet and the home video phenomenon.

"Meanwhile, studios are spending more than ever to lure audiences. The average Hollywood film cost $106.6 million to produce and market, about $6 million more than 2006." With studios spending millions more on marketing films each year, why is it that the ticket sales are declining? This could be attributed to the fact that as production and marketing prices increase, so does the cost of each individual ticket, with some movies costing upwards of $15 in major markets. 

Maybe a solution to this problem would be to spend less on marketing and thus, charge less for admission. As crazy as this sounds, it just might work.

19 Years Later and He's Still Got It!

"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," Harrison Ford's latest Indy-flick has done something that every major film wishes to accomplish: create huge buzz way before the movie hits theaters. Paramount Pictures achieved this goal by premiering the trailer for the film February 14th on "Good Morning America," according to an article from The Associated Press. The studio "estimates that the trailer was seen more than 200 million times worldwide in the first week alone." Riding this wave, Paramount Pictures decided to launch an "aggressive online campaign, which included what Paramount says is a record 4.1 million views on the Yahoo movie site in the first week and 2.6 million on the official IndianaJones.com site, the most ever for the studio." 

Harry Knowles, "Head Geek" of AnitItCool.com, says that "people generally really, really loved the trailer. Some people think it's a little more cartoonish-looking compared to the prior films, with him whipping the lights and swinging on them from stuff. But at the time, it seems that everyone is extremely excited that there's a new 'Indiana Jones' film. The excitement for it is palpable. It's much more aggressively anticipated than anything else that's coming out right now."

Gerry Rich, president of Paramount's worldwide marketing says "the trailer caught on like wildfire, around the world, in all mediums, [targeting moviegoers] from 8 to 80." By releasing a high-impact, exciting, unexpected trailer, Paramount Pictures has created sufficient hype for the newest Ford film.

Maybe it's the star-studded cast, maybe it's the release date, maybe it's the combination of Lucas and Speilberg; whatever it is, 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' is bound to be a huge success.