How would you market the new Superman movie?

[crazy_asian_man]

In a few spots here and there, members have suggested some good ideas to get people interested.

Recently, with the "John Carter" movie (which is pretty good, in a 'Rocketeer' way & more especially if you're familiar with the original books btw) - the marketing is being considered a disaster, as the numbers are pretty damn small for a $250 million picture.

Made me curious if this time around, WB's marketing dept. will do something genius, like STM- when they refused to show any real clips (in the beginning) of flying shots, but made it a huge event and curiosity---boosting the 'event' aspect of it, with all the major stars in it. At the time, the curiosity level was through the roof, and this was the FIRST major superhero film to get the megabudget treatment.....so, they had that on their side....in any event, pretty successful, of course.

OR- if it'll be one to one of the worst marketing like with SR and SR's trailers (The trailers did it no justice whatsoever- the closest one imo was the 'international' trailer that was more character-related).

In any case, if there isn't a thread for this- generally fans come up with things for free far more creative than the actual studios (probably because it's fueled by more passion for the character).

Curious- Anyone have any ideas how they can/should make people go in droves to see this movie?

[ye5man]

Basically do what they did for STM. Make it a cinema event of epic proportion

Love to know WB's reasoning for naff SR marketing.

[Jimbo]

Mar 12, 2012 12:21:38 GMT -5 ye5man said:

Love to know WB's reasoning for naff SR marketing.

Perhaps they thought that with the Superman brand and Singer's reputation, it would be an instant 100M opener regardless of marketing. Even then, scheduling it just one week before Pirates of the Caribbean 2 was a huge blunder. Did WB seriously think it would blow Pirates 2 out of the water? Morons.

They should have moved it up one week. Its competition would have been Click and week 2 of Cars. It would have cleaned house - oh, and its only competition the next week would have been The Devil Wears Prada. Definitely no Pirates 2.

Or they should have had it in November/December where it belonged. Nothing that sentimental belongs in the heart of the summer.

[Metallo]

First thing I would do is hire someone besides WB to produce and market the film.

Anything not connected to Batman has had some awful marketing choices attached to it. We can all easily predict how MOS will be marketed.

[atp]

Two steps:

a) Make a non-crap film.
b) Let word of mouth spread.

Naturally, step a) is more important.

[eccentricbeing]

There is no unique way to market this movie really. It's another comic book movie in many eyes of the public. It's not 1978 where something like that was a novelty.

If the movie is really good, then it will make its money. (I know how incredibly subjective that statement is....)

[matt]

I would focus heavily on the romance ;D

[Rod]

Mar 12, 2012 18:52:12 GMT -5 matt said:

I would focus heavily on the romance ;D

then BAM straight to the action!

[crazy_asian_man]

Two steps:

a) Make a non-crap film.
b) Let word of mouth spread.

Naturally, step a) is more important.

I've heard in interview bits with Hollywood pros here and there that- because of the small window of time that a movie is released in theatres, movies don't seem to have a lot of time/opportunity to do that anymore.

For sure (as mentioned here), a big budget Superman movie coming out in 2013, is a far different attention-grabber than a big budget Superman movie in 1979.

If nothing else, I would have thought the marketing dept would have even understood that with SR in 2006- a movie with that character wasn't enough to make everyone rush to the movie theatres. The big-budget superhero movie isn't AS big an event as it may have been before the existence of the Batman movie series, the Spiderman movie series, X-men movie series, etc.((---and the other fantasy film movie series that could fill a hunger for giant special effect spectacles - like LOTR series, Star Wars series, etc.))

On their approaches....

#1: I doubt that they could use the angle, "you've never seen this story before in any shape or form"- because it's not true-

#2: I doubt that they could use the romantic angle - the characters aren't going to go anywhere particularly new that would surprise an audience (unless, of course, they had a kid!)....

#3: Actionwise- it may be a challenge to go that way, too- unless the images can outdo "The Avengers" and "Transformers" and the like--- hopefully they can show a good reason why this film would be even better actionwise or feel even more fresh than what's in those films (Based on the trailers)....

The only angle I can think of, are visuals that are so unique and intriguing that people HAVE to come..... or they can show story and character elements so compelling with the time a trailer has, that it pulls people in.

Honestly, in a way, I'd hate to be in the marketing department's shoes.... they definitely have their work cut out for them....

[Melv]

A trailer with lots of 'cool' action, epic visuals and 'from the writers and producers of The Dark Knight' should hopefully get the crowds in.

Topless shots of Cavill for the teenage girls won't hurt either.

[ye5man]

Mar 12, 2012 17:51:49 GMT -5 atp said:

Two steps:

a) Make a non-crap film.
b) Let word of mouth spread.

Naturally, step a) is more important.

This didn't work for TDK ;D

[crazy_asian_man]

This didn't work for TDK ;D

Well, it's arguable that people came out to see Heath Ledger's last performance, too.
I may not be necessarily thrilled that Cavill is Supes, but I wouldn't want the marketing department to kill Cavill just to help sell the movie.

[crazy_asian_man]

I wonder if this time around, the marketing department will go 'all out' and try EVERY type of marketing in the world--- it's not unprecedented to have marketing that is 180 degrees apart from one another for the same film.

If so, maybe we can help them out.
Some ideas to tell WB's marketing department to go all out in trying to make MOS seem like all things to all people-

Reasons why you MUST see "Man of Steel":

#1: It's a romantic comedy! (Have the dept. pick out shots in slo-mo of Amy Adams' and Henry Cavill from different films, laughing and smiliing- or slow them down in post production, with a current popular love tune... similarly with the actors' playing Zod and Faora) Also, in the pre-release trailers, reference films like "the Vow" and "The Notebook", and "Titanic".

#2: It's a hot sultry skin film that pushes the PG13 boundaries! (Have the dept. pick out closeups of Amy Adams' and Henry Cavill's stomach muscles for the trailer. They're both pretty fit, why not. Digitally add sweat onto their faces, for no apparent reason. )

#3: It's a family film! (Have the dept. find shots of Ma and Pa Kent on the farm, preferably eating apple pie with Kent. And definitely shots of the family playing with the family dog. People love animals.)

#4: It's a social commentary film! (Have the dept. focus on shots of Lawrence Fishburne talking about saving the daily planet, the last honest newspaper. Hint that the movie may talk about class and race issues as well, if it'll bring people to the theatres).

#5: It's a 3-d film! Wow! Never seen a movie in 3-D before!

#6: It's a 'guy' film: (Have the dept. focus on the fistfights and lots of explosions. And Amy Adams in swimwear.)

#7: It's a 'chick flick': see #1.

#8: It's not Green Lantern!

And.... because I know SOMEONE is going to say it eventually...
#9: It's not Superman Returns! (Have the dept. focus on the fact that Brandon Routh and Bryan Singer got booted)

Anyhow.....just some ideas. And I was bored.

[Jor-L5150]

Mar 12, 2012 17:51:49 GMT -5 atp said:

Two steps:

a) Make a non-crap film.
b) Let word of mouth spread.

Naturally, step a) is more important.

;D

Mar 13, 2012 4:51:04 GMT -5 Melv said:

A trailer with lots of 'cool' action, epic visuals and 'from the writers and producers of The Dark Knight' should hopefully get the crowds in.

Topless shots of Cavill for the teenage girls won't hurt either.

criminally professionally careless to NOT either of those.

[Deleted]

I'd definitely have the trailer go, "BOMMMMM nihnihnihnihnihnihnihnih BOMMMMMMM nihnihnihnihnihnihnihnih BOMMMMMMMMM!"

[hursty]

'Henry Cavill is NOT Christopher Reeve...he's not trying to be'

[Deleted]

Keep it simple. Lots of action, lots of pretty shots in the trailers. Don't make it seem too self-important. Deathly Hallows Part II and The Dark Knight Rises can get away with the "This movie is so epic, you should mug a dude and steal his money if you can't afford a ticket; heck, reschedule your wedding so you can see this FREAKING EPIC movie on opening day!" stuff, they've earned it in the eyes of the general public, but this is the first of the series. Don't go for high and mighty- go for meat and potatoes. Sell the action, first and foremost.

[Tristan D]

At the very least, this needs a series of cracking trailers. And these trailers need to reflect what we can expect from the film. And there should be a consistent tone to the marketing.

A solid trailer / teaser in front of TDKR is probably going to be their best bet.

I had a few major problems with the SR trailers. They had a bit of an identity crisis in marketing the films, and I think that generally sends alarm bells when that happens. Some trailers seemed to mark the solemn prestige of Superman, while others seemed like they were marketing a poor soap-opera. None of them were fun or enjoyable to watch. I haven't watched a single one since the film was released.

I'm no expert on marketing strategies, but I hope they think of something inventive to promote the film. I could dig a viral campaign of sorts (Daily Planet articles?)

I don't know if anyone else goes to ComingSoon.net, but a few weeks back they had a poll on the front page asking which 2013 summer film people were looking forward to most. MoS had a clear lead with about 20 - 30% of the vote (from memory). I think the other two contenders were Star Trek II (or XII, not sure how that one's going to work) and Iron Man 3. I think that bodes well, not having major competition. SR had absolutely no chance against Pirates.

[Tristan D]

I think their cast is a bit more marketable. Particularly, I think Cavill has more appeal to women than Routh does. Ilya Salkind said it best when he said that both Katharine Hepburn and Sophia Loren, both beautiful women, can walk into a room, but heads will turn one way . . .

And the rest of the cast is probably more interesting to market too (Adams vs Bosworth; Fishburn vs Langella etc).

It does depend on what style of film they are going for, and the quality of what they put out I suppose. If Shannon does turn out to be as compelling a villain as some here are expecting, then that will be an ace that they can then play in the marketing.