Black Panther
Whole-heartedly agree with Owen Gleiberman at Variety when he says Black Panther’s massive success (especially combined with Girls Trip, Get Out and more) should be a clear sign to middle-aged white male Hollywood executives that they’re no longer the sole audience out there. Check out how the demographics of opening weekend moviegoers were quite a bit different than is common for blockbusters like this, something I think directly contributed to how Fandango accounted for over 30% of ticket sales. And it’s what is making initiatives like this to tie voter registration into movie screenings so powerful.
Very interesting deep-dive into Lexus’ partnership with Marvel Studios to promote its LS model in conjunction with the movie. While there are lots of great details on the execution and how it fits into Lexus’ overall marketing, it’s notable that the opportunity came in through the carmaker’s “minority markets” agency. The original comic created for Lexus is now available as a motion-comic.
Unsurprising given the prominent role music had in the marketing, but the Kendrick Lamar-curated soundtrack debuted at the top of the charts. That success may have wide-ranging implications for the future of the music industry.
Kenyan photographer Osborne Macharia was commissioned by Marvel to create exclusive artwork for exclusive artwork that’s stunning to behold.
Nice interview here with Don McGregor, who created the character of Killmonger in Black Panther comics in 1973.
Jeff Beer at Fast Company has a good take on how the movie itself, more than any particular tactic, was the single best marketing movie Disney/Marvel Studios made.
Disney reportedly spent $37 million on TV ads for the movie.
Half Magic
Finally, the kind of story I was waiting for about this movie and its relation to the current cultural atmosphere comes from Kate Erbland at IndieWire, with her talking with director/writer/star Heather Graham about the struggles in getting the film made, the story she wanted to tell and why it coming out now feels so important.
Mute
Paul Rudd made an appearance on a special abridged version of “The Tonight Show” where he kinda sorta was able to promote the movie.
Director Duncan Jones talks here about the effect his father’s “Berlin” period had on his writing and development of the story, which is set in that city.
Annihilation
Her comments about working with Roman Polanski have gotten the most press, but Natalie Portman talks about her current film quite a bit in this Buzzfeed interview as well.
Two new interviews with director Alex Garland where he talks about the movie and its story, one at The Verge and one at Entertainment Weekly.
Chris Thilk is a freelance writer and content strategist who lives in the Chicago suburbs.
Cinematic Slant 