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!

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.

Elysium: Proof that concept marketing doesn't work

On Thursday 9th May, I wrote a reaction commentary to an intriguing article found in Variety. The original piece explored the notion that studios are favouring a more concept-driven marketing approach for major summer tent-poles as opposed to campaigns driven primarily by star-power and narrative.

"The idea is to sell a film initially based on a concept", says Par domestic marketing and distrib prexy Megan Colligan.

The article focused on blockbuster hopefuls such as World War Z, The Lone Ranger and Elysium (see right). It claimed that setting an "iconic" tone was the most important aspect of selling these movies.

I disagreed with this notion at the time of the article's publishing but opted to reserve overall judgement until sufficient box-office numbers were available.

Elysium  is the last of this year's summer tent-poles to implement this marketing strategy. It was released in the US on 9th August and is due for release in the UK on 21st August 2013.

Interestingly, the film's marketing campaign has completely transformed in recent months, there is now less focus on concept and more on star power and narrative. Aside from it being a drastic tactical change, it does suggest that recent box-office disappointments have exposed the flaws within the concept marketing strategy.

Luckily for Sony, the film's distributor, there was still time to adapt and refine their campaign, which would allow them an opportunity to exploit the film's assets and hopefully avoid becoming an expensive box-office casualty, like Disney's The Lone Ranger.

This article will seek to explore these flaws and the subsequent risks that accompany such an ambitious yet inconsistent style of movie marketing.

X-Men: Days Of Future Past - Viral Marketing Campaign Builds Momentum

The viral marketing campaign for Bryan Singer's X-Men Days of Future Past is picking up some serious momentum with the recent launch of the excellent Trask Industries website.

The fictional company site delves into the history and mythology of Trask Industries and its creator Bolivar Trask (played by Peter Dinklage - TV's Game of Thrones). The site also explores the creation of the Sentinels from Mark I to X.

Event Summary: Sunrise 2013 Online Film Festival Awards Ceremony

On 18th July 2013, M.P.C. Marketing Consultancy and The London Horror Society attended the 5th annual Sunrise 2013 Online Film Festival Awards Ceremony. The event was run by Ditto, and took place at their Lighthouse studio in London in association with Norwich University of the Arts.

Ditto's Lighthouse studio is extremely well hidden within the thriving Angel area of London, but once found we quickly realised that the search was well worth it.

Riddick - New International Poster Released!

A new international poster has been released for Vin Diesel's upcoming sci-fi movie, Riddick. The film is the third instalment in the cult Pitch Black franchise and marks Diesel's first outing as the titular anti-hero - Riddick - for almost a decade.

While Pitch Black was generally well received, it was a cult success at best, though it did spawn a sequel called The Chronicles of Riddick, which received awful reviews and bombed theatrically.

The franchise has always had immense potential, but realising such potential is not always possible, hence Riddick's near decade absence from our screens.

Which brings us to Riddick, many hope that this film will rejuvenate a franchise that never really got going by capitalising on Vin Diesel's superstar status.

Honest Movie Posters - Top 10 (Part 2)

It's been a busy week, so while I work on some slightly more detailed posts, I've decided to compile another Top 10 Honest Movie Posters list. Basically, there are so many gems here that it would be a travesty if I didn't share them with you.

So, sit back (or lean forward) and enjoy...

Honest Movie Posters - Top 10

We all love a good movie poster but they usually lie and do their very best to sell an awful premise to unsuspecting cinema-goers by glossing over key points. What if movie posters told the truth? Well, a lot less movie tickets would be sold, movie stardom would be non-existent and we'd probably all be successful sports stars and Billionaires.

Here's my Top 10 ''Honest'' Movie Posters:

(Try and guess their real titles)

Sightseers

Sightseers was a much-hyped dark British comedy about a couple who go on a perverse killing-spree across the British countryside. The film was sadly ignored by the majority of UK cinema-goers and sadly disappeared with a whimper from cinemas.

It would be easy to blame its poor performance on its status as a "cult" indie movie, but that would be disrespectful. The film opened to an underwhelming £213,000 from 92 locations at the UK box-office, and struggled to build any momentum in its second weekend, falling 52% despite adding 25 theatres.

However, regardless of the fact that there was a very limited interest in the movie, it does not mean that audiences rejected the film outright. It is very probable that many were simply unaware of the film or unsure of its satirical premise.

Pacific Rim: Big-Budget Action Movie or Emotional Romantic Drama?

A recent article from Variety has raised some interesting points regarding the ever evolving marketing strategy for Pacific Rim.

The piece, written by David S. Cohen, explores Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. hope that the big-budget sci-fi movie will become a global blockbuster and subsequently, one of the biggest films of the year.

Worst Movie Posters of 2013 (so far) - Top 10

Following on from my Top 10 Best movie posters of the year (so far), here's my list of the Top 10 Worst.

All of the movies in this list have been released theatrically and all represent what's wrong with movie marketing. From the incomprehensible to the confusing to the downright bland, this list has it all and it's a wonder how any of them gained approval.

See if you agree:

Best Movie Posters of 2013 (so far) - Top 10

June is creeping closer and the summer blockbuster season is now in full flow. Therefore, it seems appropriate to take a look back at some of the great (and not so great) films we've seen this year and highlight my picks for the best movie posters of 2013... so far.

All of the films in this list have had a theatrical release in the last 5 months and all boast truly fantastic posters!

See if you agree with my Top 10:  

Priest

Priest arrived in US cinemas on 13th May 2011 and opened to a three-day gross of $14.95 million on it's way to an appalling $29.1 million, which was less than half of its reported $60 million budget. The film didn't fare much better internationally, grossing just $49.1 million, which meant that the movie vanished with barely a whimper.

The film received a terrible critical response and judging by this poster, it's not difficult to understand why.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - Alternative Marketing Campaign

A few days ago I wrote an article critically analysing the latest poster (see right) for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The theatrical marketing campaign for this big-budget Christmas blockbuster has so far been underwhelming. More so when considering that this is supposed to be one of the most anticipated movies of the year, not an arthouse movie.

Catching Fire is the sequel to the popular 2012 movie The Hunger Games and based on the second book in Suzanne Collins' book trilogy of the same name. It is, beyond anything else, an event movie made for mainstream audiences but the current marketing strategy consists of well designed posters that are ultimately very bland.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - New Poster Released

Lionsgate have released a new poster for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (see right), and although it's very visually pleasing, I have mixed feelings about it.

The poster depicts the series' heroine, Katniss Everdeen, gazing out on a cliff's edge while clutching her trademark bow by her side. The imagery is reminiscent of a vintage painting though it will struggle to attract your attention unless you know to look for it.

Silver Samurai poster debuts

Character poster for the Silver Samurai

Fox have debuted a Silver Samurai character poster in preparation for the forthcoming sequel The Wolverine. Last month, I wrote an article  that analysed the film's marketing campaign and questioned the decision to focus entirely on the titular character (played by Hugh Jackman).

Well, it seems that the marketing team have finally started to bring some much-needed focus towards the sequel's other pivotal characters.

The very stylish image (seen right) is an ink-design interpretation of Wolverine's iconic adversary, and one of the film's primary antagonists, though you'd be forgiven for not realising it.

New Man of Steel poster released

A new theatrical poster for Man of Steel has been released as Warner Bros. begin their final major marketing push before the reboot's high profile 14th June 2013 opening.

This one is fairly generic, depicting Superman flying at a speed beyond all comprehension, but sadly not much else.

The most intriguing aspect of this poster is the motion contrast between Superman and the city below. The blurring and sun-glare compliment the bright colour-scheme and really emphasise the immense power of the Man of Steel. However, the image is simply too visually jarring to be effective.

Dredd 3D

In September 2012 Dredd 3D hit cinemas hoping to work some reboot magic on a stagnant movie franchise. The first attempt at an adaptation, Judge Dredd, was released in 1995 and starred Sylvester Stallone, it was a box-office disaster and swiftly faded into obscurity. When the reboot was announced, it was generally met with scepticism due to the unwanted association with its predecessor and consequently, expectations were modest at best.

The resulting movie, Dredd 3D, was (in my opinion) one of the best and most underrated films of the year! It knew exactly what it needed to be and delivered, it was great fun with effective violence and minimal gore. It was a comic-book adaptation with heart and yet it will go down as one of the biggest box-office disappointments of the year! 

But why?

Daybreakers

In 2010 the little-known vampire film, Daybreakers, hit screens across the globe... and swiftly vanished with barely a whimper.

The film starred Ethan Hawke (Training Day), Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man) and Sam Neill (Jurassic Park) but sadly failed to establish a firm footing at the box-office and closed with slightly over $50 million worldwide.

While the gross wasn't a disaster, it was very far from impressive for a film that could (and perhaps should) have been a big hit. It was actually a very stylish and enjoyable film, so why was it ignored by the legions of vampire movie fans out there?