How Important is Merchandise to Producers and Audiences? (40) [COMPLETED]

Merchandise is a central facet of the modern, Western film industry. Producers rely on merchandise heavily in order to sell films. One reason merchandising is so important is that it allows the producer to keep the film in the audiences mind long after they’ve left the cinema. This makes the film more profitable as the audience member may be more likely to return to the cinema to see a later instalment in the film franchise as well as turning the film into a platform to sell merchandise for its profit. This business method is a key part of ‘horizontal integration’ and merchandise is one of the many ways in which producers are expanding their revenue streams. Modern films no longer make money solely through the box office and subsequent DVD and TV releases, they also make money through toys, spin-off TV shows and videogame adaptations. One example of this is the total revenue of the Star Wars franchise. Box Office sales for the Star Wars Franchise were almost a third that of the total toy sales related to the franchise (Box Office sales being at $4.2 Billion whereas Toy Sales where at $12 Billion). This shows how merchandise is extremely important to producers as it can eventually earn more money than the box office itself if the franchise is popular enough.

Merchandising can also be used as a tool in a wider marketing campaign, including interviews, trailers, posters and viral marketing. If an audience member sees someone wearing a ‘Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ t-shirt, they might be inclined to search for the films name and the film might just pique their interest enough to pay for a ticket to see it. Thusly, merchandising is its own form of advertising that the audience pays for, thus also earning the studio money. Thus, merchandise is important for producers as it allows them to both market the film and earn money through another revenue stream.

However, merchandise cannot help to sell every film. Typically, the merchandise has to be related to a large franchise with a pre-existing, active fan base in order to be successful. If someone does not care about the film franchise, they’re not going to care about the merchandise associated with it. Thusly, merchandise may not be important thing for producers as it is not a universal marketing and business tool. One example of this is the audience reception to ‘Beaches’ (1988) and ‘Reservoir Dogs’ (1992). The typical audience member is shown to think that the ‘problem with modern films is that they are just planned so that toys can be made’ and claim that these two films are ‘great movies because their original content was more important to the filmmakers than merchandising’.  This shows how Producers can’t use merchandise in order to sell every single film they produce. The more ‘art-house’ and non-franchise films would perhaps lose their appeal to an audience disinterested in franchise films if they began to use merchandise in order to sell and promote the film. This shows how merchandise isn’t important to producers for every film release.

Another disadvantage of merchandise is the fact that it’s not a sure sell even for popular franchises with pre-existing. One example of this was the tie-in novel release for the 1999 film Star Wars I: A Phantom Menace. The book publisher Dorling Kindersley printed over 13 million books in anticipation for the release however only managed to sell 3 million, meaning they suffered a £3,000,000 loss and a £14,000,000 write off. This shows how even something has huge and popular as Star Wars cannot guarantee the success of merchandise for a film, meaning producers can’t solely rely on merchandise.

In my opinion, Merchandise is only important for audience members who are interested in large franchise films. For example, Marvel is famous for having a large selection of merchandise associated with the release of its films. Collectors and franchise fans have built up a fan base and a community based around collecting rare or ‘special’ merchandise, this allows audience members to feel closer to other people and builds communities to share a passion of a certain film franchise. However, merchandise is irrelevant for an audience who are interested in ‘serious’ or art house films. Such audience members may build a fan base on the merits of the film alone rather than the merchandise associated with it. For example, Citizen Kane is merited as one of the greatest films of all time; however it is likely that this film would be negatively received by film enthusiast audiences if a franchise and subsequent merchandise/toy tie-in were to be announced. Another negative for film enthusiast audiences is that it could possibly create divisions between people and fan bases. For example, a film enthusiast may not be able to appreciate a film such as Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens due to the huge amount of merchandising that was released with the film; despite the overall quality of the actual film.

A positive for merchandising such as videogame tie-ins is that the audience is able to continue the world of the film outside of the cinema. For example, the videogame ‘Star Wars: Battlefront’ was released near the release date of Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens’ – in this game the player could experience and explore an unexplained event within the film. This gives the audience a new level of interactivity and involvement, and the player/audience can be an active part of the film world. Another advantage to videogames and specifically games like Star Wars: Battlefront is that these games have a heavy multiplayer and co-operative focus. This means that friends may be more likely to recommend a videogame to a friend as well as play the videogame with a friend. This raises the publicity of the film, making the public more aware of it, and also building strong communities of franchise fans for audiences. Furthermore, someone who played and enjoyed Star Wars: Battlefront may be more likely to pay to see the film as a result. However, the benefit of having interaction with the world of the film only extends to videogames and other forms of merchandising such as shirts, toys and soundtracks do not carry this advantage and are more often than not a way for an audience member to show they are a fan of something.

A disadvantage of merchandising for audiences is that it tends to target children. This is apparent with the recent release of Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens. Many of the products that were released alongside the film were targeted at children including toy ‘lightsabres’ and Lego versions of prominent characters from within the film. This is a disadvantage as a lot of film goers may feel as though merchandise and the films the merchandise is trying to sell is more focused on children; thus, this audience member may skip on seeing the film at the cinema as a result of believing they won’t enjoy the film.

Films that have been heavily marketed and pushed into the public eye tend to create a lot of hype. One example of this is the 2009 film ‘Avatar’. The film had a vast marketing campaign that was ubiquitous, omnipresent and took advantage of both traditional marketing and merchandising as well as viral marketing to make it the second biggest earning film of all time. However, the film was criticised by many for its lacklustre story, basic characters and forced themes – the marketing and merchandising promised an amazing film and audiences only seemed to receive it as a visually impressive film with a mediocre story. This is reflected by how little Avatar seems to have penetrated pop culture and compared to another massive Sci-Fi film (Star Wars, 1977) it seems to have been largely forgotten about. This shows how over-marketing and over-merchandising can harm a films public and critical reception and thusly damage its chances of becoming a larger franchise. Whilst a sequel for Avatar is in production, it has been 6 years since the original was released. For comparison, it took 6 years for the entirety of the original Star Wars trilogy to be released. This shows how Avatar, while being one of the largest grossing films of all time, has failed to establish itself as a popular franchise partly as a result of the mass marketing and merchandising.

A disadvantage of merchandising for both audiences and producers is that while merchandising may appeal to people with lower amounts of income, they can’t reach this audience effectively. For example, they will not be able to afford a fully priced version of Star Wars: Battlefront – thusly they may not get to experience the interactivity and involvement that the videogame offers them. This means they may be less likely to see the film. However, this doesn’t mean that merchandising cannot target people with lower incomes at all. The person may know a friend whom does have money and allows them to experience the merchandise, thus the person with the lower income can still be persuaded to see a film by merchandise. Regardless, merchandising is still most effective when appealing to people who have adequate funds to pay for it.

It is apparent that merchandising is not entirely necessary for a film to succeed at the box office. One of the best-selling films of 2014 was ‘Interstellar’, the film was an original IP and didn’t market itself through merchandise – rather through traditional means such as trailers and star power. This shows that audience may not care about merchandising as much as producer’s think, as they still paid to see the film. However, Interstellar may not be a good example due to the fact that it was directed by Christopher Nolan, who just 2 years before the release of Interstellar had released the popular ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, the conclusion to his popular “Dark Knight Trilogy”. Nolan had also directed the extremely popular ‘Inception’, thus showing audiences that he could both handle an existing universe as well as creating an original idea. Thus, the success of the film may have been based on the star power of Christopher Nolan – meaning that an equally good film directed by a lesser known director without merchandising may have failed where Interstellar succeeded.

In summation, merchandise is a valuable tool for producers as it allows them to market the film to audiences as well as earning revenue through another stream; reducing the risk of box office failings of completely damaging a studio. However, merchandise is not a universal tool for producers and cannot be used to sell any type of film to any type of audience, and studios cannot guarantee the success of merchandise. Merchandise is important for audiences as it allows them to continue the world of the film outside of the cinema, show their support and love of a film as well as building communities based on being a fan of a certain franchise. However, merchandises can actually damage a film for an audience if it becomes overhyped and disappoints the audience.