At some point, I think that how studios are handling their movie marketing is getting interesting, as we’re fed lies and misdirected. But could this kind of marketing where thin with movie consumers and bit the studios in the ass if this kind of movie marketing continues? But when the bottom line counts more than the movie fan experience, well, now a days marketing has to be a wee bit tricky to get movie-goers in the seat.
While some marketing will overwhelm you with trailers, giving away too much about the movie than necessary, others will have trailers with scenes that never show up in movie. Below are a few examples of the marketing I’m talking about:
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Way back, 2011′s Drive (with Ryan Gosling) was marketed to look like a car chase movie, when in fact, almost all the high-speed car scenes were in the 90 to 120 second trailers. It was a truly good dramatic story about the driver’s life, for those who appreciate that kind of thing. But the marketing pissed off action movie fans all over the place. Nicolas Winding Refn directed.
Then there was the 2011 movie, Hanna. That too was marketed to look like an action flick, with “must see” action trailer clips. To the regular movie-goer, it looked like we were in store for a serious ass kicking action-fest, but instead, most of the action was in the teaser clips while movie-goers got an Alice in Wonderland personal “journey” of our main character. Joe Wright directed.
Again, movie fans took to the web and vented on the misdirect.
In both cases, if you looked at the director’s work resume, the cerebral stories you received might not have been such a surprise. If movie fans were properly marketed to, they wouldn’t have been so ticked off. But then again, the movies would not have possibly made as much money that first weekend either.
It’s a bit of a balancing act, whether a studio pitches an honest ad or one that will net you more money and risk consumer ire.
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Iron Man 3 Story SPOILERS
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