New I, Frankenstein Poster Released

A few months ago I wrote an article about a rather decent start to the I, Frankenstein marketing campaign. Sadly, it seems that any enthusiasm for the movie seems to have evaporated in recent weeks and the they've churned out this very average poster (see right).

If we base our enthusiasm for this movie on this one-sheet, well... we wouldn't have any. It's not only generic, it quite effectively unravels all of their early good work on this marketing campaign.

Facepalm Movie Marketing

For every great movie poster, there are nine that disappoint, but occasionally one emerges that (unintentionally) stands head and shoulders above the rest... in terms of incompetence.

When this happens, it is common practice for film aficionados to truly fear for the future of the industry. This is even more poignant when considering that these are supposedly ''leading industry professionals'' who designed and approved this image...  none of which seemed to notice the glaring and unforgivable mistake on this poster.

So, here it is...

Poster Analysis: How I Live Now

How I Live Now was released in the UK on October 4th and this poster (see right) has been doing the rounds for several weeks (at least) prior to that. The film is adapted from the best-selling novel by Meg Rosoff and stars the extremely talented Saoirse Ronan who plays Daisy.

I've mostly seen this image plastered on buses in the Wandsworth area, which I'm sure is purely coincidental and not a slant against us South London folk. More importantly, after the nth time of seeing this poster, I still have virtually no idea what the film is about!

Man of Steel - The $660 Million box-office disappointment?

The hype surrounding Warner Bros' Superman reboot Man of Steel was immense and the expectation can only be described as stratospheric. This was supposed to be the Superman movie that we have all been waiting for... but how many times have you heard that before?

In fairness, this was easily the best Superman adaptation i've seen (yes, I have seen them all!) and definitely my favourite. However, that's like saying that Batman Begins was better than Batman & Robin, it's a no-brainer!

After the disaster that was Superman Returns, it was vital for Man of Steel to knock us for six (so to speak). However, as the hype escalated beyond all control, so too did the box-office expectations with the latter eventually leading to its supposed commercial disappointment.

The following is a brief analysis of Man of Steel's box-office performance on Box-Office Mojo:

Pacific Rim - A One (Volatile) Market Wonder

It's no secret that I have been considerably critical of the Pacific Rim marketing campaign, having written two articles detailing its inconsistencies and flaws (see here and here). In my opinion, my very critical views were justified after having seen the film.

Pacific Rim is a disjointed action blockbuster that is far too self aware of it's B-Movie status, regardless of the fact that this status is ultimately contradicted by it's huge $190 million+ production budget.

The film's marketing campaign relied far too heavily on the WOW Factor scenario or Giant Monsters vs Giant Robots, which is all well and good, but we've seen it all before. This was a clear indication that the film would ultimately have a limited commercial appeal and certainly not one that could be aimed at all quadrants.

For the most part I was correct, the film has taken an astounding 52 days to cross the $100 million mark in the US. This is disastrous for a summer tent-pole movie with franchise aspirations. The very fact that it has struggled to reach this basic milestone is a strong indication that the movie is a commercial flop. This is also backed up by it's generally disappointing international run, which demonstrated the film's distinct lack of appeal... and then there was China.