Over the past seven years, the movie business has had to navigate everything from coronavirus shutdowns to box office delays due to strikes to intense competition from high-priced streaming content.
The shrinking number of theatrical releases and the slump in post-pandemic box office revenues have increased the risk of releasing all kinds of films, from blockbusters to works of art, according to theatrical marketing experts who spoke at a roundtable on April 24. A group of top executives said so. varietyAnnual Entertainment Marketing Summit hosted by Deloitte.
“If it’s not an event movie for someone, it’s not a movie for anyone,” Josh Goldstein, president of worldwide marketing for Warner Bros. Picture Group, said at the day-long SRO event at the Beverly Hilton. It’s the same as that.”
Mr. Goldstein pointed out that since around 2017, “the $100 billion worth of streaming content that has entered the market” has raised the bar for theatrical movies. Dwight Keynes, President of Domestic Marketing at Universal Pictures, added, “Our films are definitely events — big-screen, get-off-the-couch, immersive experiences.”
Mark Weinstock, president of worldwide marketing and distribution for Paramount Pictures, agrees. “There’s no denying that people who rarely go to the movies say, ‘Oh, I didn’t think about this. I hear it’s a really good movie.’ The reviews seem great. It’s a culture. It’s everywhere.”
Netflix’s Lee brought the perspective of a subscription-based platform.
“Every night is movie night for us,” she said. But the challenge isn’t all that different from a studio wanting to pack a multiplex. “We have to get into that conversation. We have to be part of the zeitgeist. And at least when we come to see movies and shows that are in the zeitgeist right now. , we think people will stay there because it offers them something different. We know our customers well and understand that we can customize the content delivered to them. But the challenge remains the same: you’re competing for attention.
Hosted by Brent Lang, variety”s editor-in-chief, five marketing gurus talked about incorporating social media into marketing plans and balancing reboots and resurgences. Collaborate with filmmakers as a “midwife” for childbirth films. Effect on Tiktok promotion. The elusiveness of people who rarely go to the movies. And trailers continue to dominate as a marketing tool that sets the tone for upcoming movies.
“What’s really incredibly important about trailers is that they can capture people exactly where they’re going to come see the movie,” said Searchlight Executive Vice President and International Marketing and Business Operations. Director Rebecca Keeley said. picture. “There’s no substitute for this in terms of hitting someone in the house where you want people to see it.”
One of the big changes in the world of trailers is the end of the decades-long tradition of having completely different reels for international markets outside of the United States. In the past, the norm was to have completely different international trailers and the two would never meet. Keely said. “Now the pieces of the puzzle are all interconnected. The world is a much smaller place.”
It didn’t take long for the conversation to turn to the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon that took over last summer’s box office. For the team behind Warner Bros. “Barbie” and Universal’s “Oppenheimer,” that moment was born entirely from the grassroots of TikTok and other social media, which made it all the more memorable and impactful.
Goldstein thought the fan-fueled “Babenheimer” memes and videos reflected a rare feel-good moment of national unity.
“It really struck this kind of cultural nerve, and it just so happened that these two movies were coming out on the same day.” [July 21]” Goldstein said. “What was most fascinating and positive was that the internet is a tool of division. You’re on this team or you’re on that team… There was a moment where the idea that people could be both was born.”
Goldstein said Warner Bros. was “too busy dealing with ‘Barbie’ and the way it permeates culture in the most unexpected ways” and decided to give up the concept for “Barbenheimer.” He pointed out that he was unable to launch a covert campaign to promote it.
Mr. Keynes acknowledged that Universal’s options were limited by the weighty subject matter of Christopher Nolan’s biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb. But that doesn’t mean the studio didn’t recognize the importance of the “Barbenheimer” moment.
“Our position was that this was the most important person in the world who worked with a team of scientists to invent the most world-changing thing,” Keynes said. “So we didn’t lean into the fun of ‘Barbenheimer.’ But what we wanted to do is say, ‘Wow, something is happening in the culture.’ Audiences have decided that these two films of his are the two films of his we want. And they felt ownership of them in a way that they could know if they were going to get lucky just once in their career, and that’s what happened. ”
Lang asked five marketing gurus about the balance of rebooting popular franchises, such as Netflix’s upcoming revival of Eddie Murphy’s Beverly Hills Cop series of action-drama movies. “Nostalgia is huge,” Lee said. “We’ve got to introduce it to a whole new audience that didn’t even know who Axel Foley was, and then we’ll hopefully start a rewatch campaign. And then they’ll go back and watch it all. It’s an event that precedes the release of the film.”
Weinstock acknowledged that Paramount Pictures stumbled in 2019 with its first film starring the popular video game character Sonic the Hedgehog. When launching a reboot or revival, it’s always easier to get the core fans excited first and then radiate that outward. But we fixed it.”
Goldstein says the level of two-way communication in Paramount’s reworked plans for the successful 2024 release of Sonic the Hedgehog reflects the harsh realities of the film’s turbulent environment. he said.
“One of the things we’ve all realized is that you can’t buy movie openings anymore. “We live in a world where,” he said. “Advertising is very easy to avoid in the digital space. You need to create engaging content that people want to see. And you need to launch it in an incredibly compelling way. .”
(Top photo: Brent Lang, Josh Goldstein, Rebecca Keeley, Marian Lee, Dwight Keynes, Mark Weinstock)