How important is marketing to a films success or failure at the box office?

How important is marketing to a films success or failure at the box office?

Marketing plays a huge part in a films success, if a film has bad marketing strategies then is generally does badly at box office and vice-versa for good marketing.

Avatar had a very successful marketing campaign, not only did it release a 16 minutes clip but Ubisoft released for a trailer for a new game revolving around the characters and there were also action figures all on the same day. This barrage garnered a lot of attention from film fans and critics alike. The Avatar trailer showed a clearly identified hero and villain and created a very clear perception of what the film is about. It introduces main character and promises quality from its star director James Cameron and also a unique cinematic experience. The trailer clearly stated three different genres; romance, sci fi, action that would appeal to a bigger audience. The Avatar film has an interactive website and trailer which offers information on characters as well a wiki page which makes audiences feel a part of the film. All of these things add up to make an excellent perception to the fans and so the film got very positive feedback. What the fans where promised during the promotion they got watching the film. Avatar was very much promoted online and on media sites such as Twitter and Facebook and was dubbed the ‘most talked about film on Twitter.’ The posters also created a very clear perception, as they were all consistent in format, font and colour, which reinforced the same message over and over. Avatar means a different representation of a person and that is what the audience receives in the film. The amazing publicity Avatar got from its good marketing shows, as is the biggest grossed film at box office of all time.

John Carter on the other hand did not manage to create a clear perception. The trailer is confusing with an unclear narrative, characters and no expectations made. The trailer also didn’t create a clear genre and so sends mixed messaged towards the audience. Disney failed to capitalise on the horizontally integrated business they operate, as they did not manufacture toys or video games that they could sell and promote in their shops. The posters were also rather bad, there was no consistence within the format, colours and what the film had to offer (IMAX 3D), each poster looks as though it is taking on a different genre and in some (horror) does not look suitable for its target audience of teenagers. The unclear perception that marketing created made for negative publicity which Disney made no significant attempt at challenging. John Carter, which would of fit in perfectly, did not in fact go to Comic-con and so the film lost out on huge publicity. The title John Carter is very non-descript and so does not give an indication as to what the film is about. The poor marketing from Disney shows as the film turned out to be one of the biggest box office flops of that year.