You can follow our posts on Superman at this link, and our posts on the new movie, Superman (2025) at this link.
If nothing else, I think WB/DC - and maybe the film industry - will come out of Superman (2025) remembering that movies used to be events. And, how to create events again.
It's been a while since I've seen a studio work this hard to make a movie something for which they've built anticipation and a desire to participate in by the public... make them want to see it on the biggest screen possible. Even if Superman doesn't make a billion dollars at the box office, which is may not, WB has fired up the engines of the machines that once brought people out to stand in line for the privilege of watching one of their movies. Right now it *feels* like it's working.
One of the gripes people in my meatspace often hear about is how Hollywood has sort of forgotten how to cultivate that feeling. Even Tom Cruise and his Mission: Impossible films - which were supposed to be the example - kind of limped into the Final Reckoning with a lot of people opting out in the US (but worldwide, it still made dough. People love to see Tom Cruise run.).
A lot of recent examples of films becoming a cultural moment had far more to do with the fans than anything the studios did. The oft-cited Barbenheimer viral event is the example folks trot out - but for a lot of people it was Top Gun: Maverick. And a weird Venn-Diagram of horror nerds and art-film dorks made Sinners well worth the investment for WB (domestically, it made about 90 million more than M:I - FR).
Fall 20204's Wicked is probably the last movie that caught the public's attention, which is freaking weird as it's a big musical derivative of The Wizard of Oz. But it did feel aimed at the Barbenheimer crowd in its way as a known IP with familiar, family and female-friendly characters and a long history tied to the Wizard of Oz and the musical upon which the film was based. You sure couldn't miss it last year as the world seemed air-brushed pink and green (this is not a complaint). In the end, it made $750+ million - and that was before toys, shirts, soundtracks, etc... Not bad for a movie that had a somewhat flat international release.
For a long time, Marvel had been living off the momentum of people showing up for the next chapter in what became known as the Infinity Saga. Once Endgame put the cap on that, a dozen factors converged, resulting in their product not doing a great job of selling itself to the masses as a must-see proposition. (And I like a lot of the new Marvel stuff more than many. I dug Marvels a lot in spite of some structural problems.) But I was shocked at the seeming belief by Disney that sheer momentum was better than insisting the next item was special and should be seen, too.
In my opinion, the marketing around Superman has been, frankly, very impressive. Any concerns I had along the way, like the "what was that?" of Superman Day, have faded.
I am aware of how algorithms work, but the number of regular people on social media - not dudes like me who are *invested* in Superman, superheroes, etc... - who seem excited about this movie seems extraordinarily high. We discussed this last post.
So, what have they done?
The toys hit the shelves, and that's been fun (and raised more questions for me than answered them). Theater chains are showing off their novelty popcorn buckets. We're seeing "partnerships" including high end items like men's parfum and expensive as hell pens. I am sure a car will be Superman branded.
As we dash to the movie's release, the leads of David Corenswet (Superman) and Rachel Brosnahan (Lois Lane) and director James Gunn have been globe-trotting, from Manila to Rio. They'll hit London, LA, NYC, Paris and Beijing. Little snips of the movie are on social media, and even goofy videos like the cast mugging to the Full House intro song are floating out there.
There are posters being put up worldwide, art installations where folks can do photo ops... it's wild.
One nice bit the social media team has figured out is to turn the cameras back on the public. And that's how you get videos like David Corenswet meeting a fan's Krypto-ish pup. I personally love this. Before the movie comes out, we already know Superman is the kind of guy who likes people, dogs and kids. And why not make this part of the promotion? In a time when the world feels maybe a bit how it felt in 1938, I can see how people would be ready for a guy who is friendly, wants to help and we get a chance to see him save the day in a way that feels pretty far off at the moment.
The last time I remember a blitz like this was Batman in 1989, and that seemed big before release - and then exploded once the movie was out, in some crazy merchandise loop.
What probably feels to me like overexposure (thanks, algorithm) seems to be penetrating the veil that seemed to descend between Hollywood and the public with COVID - and, perhaps, as a side-effect of the bean-counters taking over the studios. But this is a sort of Hail Mary for WB - if this doesn't work, what will, really?
And so they're hitting *everything* - social media, physical spaces, TV... my own 10 year old nephew was very eye-rolly about Superman and now is hyped for it, so... something about it is working. And I am sure they will have metrics to tell them what worked and what didn't. Luckily, they have two wildly attractive leads, so I'm not crying about seeing these people.
I already have tickets for two screenings, thanks to the weirdo combo promotion between AMC/ Fandango and Amazon Prime. And then a second screening so I don't leave out my buddy, Bryan, who always asks a week after a movie came out if I've seen it yet.
We'll see what happens. Superman is crawling out from 30 years of think-pieces about how he's outdated in comparison to Batman, a franchise that was divisive, and facing a wall of very real superhero fatigue. So making people excited is not going to be easy. But I'm impressed with the effort, and hope that the kind of character Superman has often been in the comics and can be on screen, can reach people.
Honestly, I think their biggest selling point is just showing Superman and Lois being Superman and Lois.
No comments:
Post a Comment