Tag: sony pictures

ghostbusters: frozen empire – marketing recap

How Sony Pictures has sold the supernatural sequel

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire movie poster from Sony Pictures
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire movie poster from Sony Pictures

Three years ago writer/director Jason Reitman brought us Ghostbusters: Afterlife, bringing the franchise up to date and pandering more than a little to the angry individuals who felt that 2016’s Ghostbusters: Answer The Call was a desecration of the only personality trait they’d cultivated over the last three decades. They were wrong, but they were also loud.

Now the story continues in Ghosbusters: Frozen Empire, hitting theaters now. The movie finds Callie, Trevor and Phoebe Spengler (Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace) along with former science teacher Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) moving from Oklahoma to New York City to fully embrace their ghostbusting responsibilities. Once there they connect with the original team of Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) and Ray Stantz (Dan Ackroyd) along with erstwhile support Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts) as a new supernatural threat emerges to plague the city.

Whereas the campaign for the first movie pretended that the original cast wasn’t participating, this time around they’re a major component of the marketing effort. Not only that but William Atherton returns as the infamous Walter Peck, now mayor of New York City. Patton Oswalt, Celeste O’Conner and Kumail Nanjiani are also along for the ride.

Reitman is still credited as a cowriter on this film along with Gil Kenan, who wrote the first installment and steps into the director’s chair this time around. So with all that setup, let’s look at how it’s been sold.

announcement and casting

Sony announced the movie had been greenlit for production in April 2022 during that year’s CinemaCon.

At a special fan event on Ghostbusters Day in early June of that year, Reitman updated fans that the next movie, codenamed “Firehouse”, was currently being written and would continue the story of the Spengler family. There were also lots of other announcements, including that an animated feature was in development along with a new cartoon series, comic title and more. A December 2023 release was also announced at this time.

Most of the cast from Afterlife confirmed they were returning in late 2022, the same period in which it was revealed Kenan was taking on directorial responsibilities, with Reitman remaining as writer and producers.

The first day of filming was marked in mid-March 2023. A month later more details – including the New York City setting of the story – were shared when some of the cast appeared via video message at CinemaCon.

The return of the original series’ cast was slowly revealed both unofficially and officially in mid-2023. Sony also moved the release date to March 2024 because of the dual strikes impacting not only production but also publicity efforts.

the marketing campaign

Sony kicked off the campaign in earnest in November of last year with the release of the first teaser trailer (2.6mm YouTube plays). It opens with beachgoers being overtaken by a mysterious and deadly cold snap, an event that gets the Ghostbusters both new and old back into action .

Later in November Dark Horse Comics shared more about the tie-in comics series and Sony launched an AR experience for the various social media platforms that cast a ghostly chill over people’s videos.

Toward the end of last year there was a major push involving local Ghostbusters clubs, the people who create their own costumes, proton packs and such. Part of that included toy and food drives around the holidays, part was just about getting them on film doing goofy things involving theater standees for the film. It was a fun effort and nice to see the studio embracing these hardcore fans.

Murray’s involvement was finally double-confirmed for real this time in an Empire interview with Kenan where he talked about what the story was going to be and how much fun it was working with everyone.

The first real teaser poster came out in mid-December and shows the team exiting Ecto-1 onto a New York street that’s completely iced over, with some very intimidating demons and ghouls – and Slimer – coming at them. The design has the new members clearly visible, albeit from behind, while shadowy figures that are of course the old team further away from the camera.

More new images were shared by Empire in January along with comments from Reitman, Hudson, Kenan and others.

The official trailer (3m YouTube plays) came out in late January and opens in the greatest way: With Walter Peck berating the assembled Ghostbusters for once again causing havoc in New York and this time endangering minors while engaging in shenanigans. After that a strange item is delivered to Ray at his occult shop, one that may be part of a major evil that’s about to rise and scare everyone in the world to death.

Fandango shared four new posters in late February, some of which show different groupings of the cast and some of which focus on the monsters that the heroes will be fighting.

TV spots also began running at this time, presumably also being used on other platforms. Most don’t show much that’s new, just recutting some of the bigger fan service moments from the trailer.

Another group of new posters came from Collider, including solo one-sheets for one of the mini Marshmallow guys and Slimer.

An exclusive featurette came from Fandango that focused on the connections between the old and the new generations as well as what’s brand new here.

At the beginning of March the final trailer (446k YouTube plays) was released. This one is slightly less interested in nostalgia and is more focused on the threat the heroes have to assemble to fight back against.

Wolfhard had already appeared on “First We Feast” at this point, as more publicity efforts began emerging. That included some collaborations with Adam Savage as he examined, built and tested various props and effects from the movie on his Tested YouTube channel. Later on Rudd appeared on both “Late Night” and “The Late Show” while Murray and Hudson showed up together on “The Tonight Show”. Coon also appeared on “Tonight” while nearly the whole cast came together on “CBS Mornings”.

The first clip came out in early March showing the new Ghostbusters chasing a specter down the streets of New York.

A TV spot with Peyton and Eli Manning donning quarter-zip outfits to fight ghosts was meant to appeal to…I’m honestly not even sure.

Everyone involved hit the red carpet for the New York City premiere a little over a week before release, talking about why they returned, what a good time audiences could expect and how much fun it was to play Ghostbuster again. Some of them also traveled to London for the premiere event there.

Coon was interviewed about the role her character plays in the story while an interview with Kenan had him talking about the pressure of stepping into the shoes of the late Ivan Reitman.

overall

Reviews have been fairly good so far, which is a positive sign given the main criticism of Afterlife is that it was a comedy sequel that showed little to no interest in being funny. And interest seems relatively high, with an opening weekend box-office take of about $45mm projected.

It does feel a bit refreshing that this time around everyone has dropped the pretense of the original cast not being part of the movie. Not only does that allow them to be more actively involved in promoting this one but it also creates a major selling point to communicate to the audience, one that is hammered home repeatedly.

While there is a lot more fun on display here than was seen in the marketing of Afterlife, it also still feels oddly serious. At least it feels like the movie is taking itself very seriously. But I guess that what the groups who were the most vocal about girls being let into the clubhouse wanted and continue to look for, so it’s what is being sold here.

Personally I want more of William Atherton scolding everyone for acting childish. More to the point, I want everyone acting kind of childish, thumbing their nose at the authorities and going out on limbs just because it seems like a cool thing to do.

madame web – marketing recap

How Sony is selling the latest kinda sorta Spider-Man spinoff

Madame Web movie poster from Sony Pictures
Madame Web movie poster from Sony Pictures

Madame Web, out this week from Sony Pictures, stars Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Cain, a Manhattan paramedic partnered with Ben Parker (Adam Scott). Cassandra develops psychic abilities allowing her to glimpse the future after being involved in an accident. One day she encounters three young women – Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney), Anna Corazon (Isabela Merced) and Mattie Franklin (Celeste O’Connor) – all of whom have been targeted by Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim), an explorer who gained powers of his own from a spider in the Amazon. Sims believes all three of those women present a future threat to him when they become different incarnations of Spider-Woman. So Cassandra uses her abilities to keep them safe while also dealing with the fact that Sims was one of the last people to see Cain’s mother alive years earlier.

The movie is based on the Marvel Comics character Madame Webb, though this incarnation jettisons some of that character’s mythology while adding some new elements and pulling bits from the various comics’ versions over the years. Along with that it establishes a loose connection to the most recent cinematic Spider-Man played by Tom Holland, setting the story in the early 2000s.

Directed by S. J. Clarkson from a screenplay by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (who earlier wrote Morbius), the film also stars Mike Epps, Emma Roberts, Kerry Bishé, Zosia Mamet and others. So with all that in mind, let’s look at how Sony Pictures has sold it to the public.

announcement and casting

Sony hired Clarkson to develop an as-yet-unnamed Spider-Man spinoff in mid-2020, with the project confirmed as a Madame Web film in late 2021.

After completing the search for a lead actor, Sony made the movie official in February 2022 with Johnson in the title role. Sweeney joined the cast a month or so later with others, including Rahim and Roberts, coming aboard just before filming began in June of that year.

Sony originally planned for the movie to come out in July 2023 but then pushed that to October before eventually setting the current release date in

the marketing campaign

A featurette was the first shot in the marketing campaign back in November of 2023. In it Johnson talks about how much she loves the character while Clarkson explains more of who Cassie Cain is and what motivates her, along with how she’s connected to some of the others in the story.

A month later the first trailer (3.5mm YouTube plays) came out. It opens by showing Cassie confronting Sims – himself docked out in a very spider-centric costume – in order to protect his three targets. Then it jumps back to show her working as a paramedic, which leads to the accident where she gains her psychic powers, before jumping forward again as we see Cassie explaining what’s going on to her three charges, including her connection to Sims. There’s a bit more action and some slowed down pop music to set the tone, but no real clarity on what Sims’ motivations might be.

“Her web connects them all” the poster released at the same time declares as it shows Cain at the center of a web with Cornwall, Franklin and Corazon along the sides along with Sims. Because they’re all connected, you see. Yeah, you see. Each character’s costumed persona is seen in a small slice of the web alongside them.

An AR lens for various mobile apps came out shortly after that.

We get a bit more of Sims threatening Cain in a TV spot released in mid-January, though it largely features footage already seen in the trailer.

A series of mostly black-and-white character posters came out after that. Interestingly, the four women have their faces uncovered, with just the very top of their eventual super hero costumes seen. But Sims has his entire face hidden behind the mask he wears. Must be tough to be Tahar Rahim.

Those posters were accompanied by another featurette that has most of the main cast offering insights into how their characters are connected through Cassie and what that means for the story. Additional featurettes focused on how the story – which is about psychic spider-people – is so grounded in reality, who Ezekiel Sims is and what he’s after in the movie and what each character’s powers are.

Johnson appeared on “The Tonight Show” in January and “Late Night” in early February, shortly after she hosted “Saturday Night Live.”

Sony sponsored a Spotify feature where Madam Web “unwraps your future playlist”, meaning it shows a handful of songs you’re likely to listen to in the near future.

Exhibitor/format-exclusive one-sheets were created for IMAX, 4DX and ScreenX.

The cast and crew were in attendance at the film’s premiere last weekend, talking about why they got involved in the movie, how the script changed dramatically before filming and more. Clarkson also confirmed there was no post-credits sequence.

overall

It’s hard to get an accurate read on this campaign. Sony needs to keep their extensions of the Spider-Man universe going, all while not directly connecting to Spider-Man himself because of how it currently shares the character with Disney, so it keeps highlighting all sorts of spider-like characters and asking the audience to do the heavy lifting.

The brief glimpses of the various Spider-Woman characters in costume is likely a bit of misdirection, probably pulled from one or two sequences of Sims or Cain glimpsing the future, but here those looks are used by the studio to make sure a good portion of the audience thinks this is a full-fledged super hero movie, not an action drama about a psychic trying to protect three young women with no powers.

Johnson gives her best effort to make it seem she’s really excited about the project but it’s hard to believe most of that, the exception being when she was asked about clunky line of exposition in the trailer going viral and admitted she didn’t know it had happened while also being indignant that one line of dialogue was pulled out for scrutiny free of context. And it turns out that line isn’t even in the finished film.

All of which helps to explain the anemic $20-25mm opening weekend the movie is projected to have.

dumb money – marketing recap

How Sony Pictures is selling a story of capitalism as activism

Dumb Money movie poster from Sony Pictures
Dumb Money movie poster from Sony Pictures

Rebecca Angelo and Lauren Schuker Blum wrote and Craig Gillespie directed this week’s new release from Sony Pictures, Dumb Money. Despite the title sounding like a Rodney Dangerfield vehicle from 1987, the movie is actually a fictionalized version of real life events from just a few years ago. Specifically, the brief moment when a group of amateurs bought a bunch of stock in retailer GameStop to essentially bet against Wall Street, which was largely writing the company off.

Paul Dano plays Keith Gill, an investor who started posting on a subreddit thread about how GameStop stock was undervalued and encouraged others to take a look at the stock. When masses of others begin buying shares the price went up, angering managers of hedge funds who had shorted the stock and who were, because of the price increase, now on the hook for payments. Eventually the powers that be, including at some stock trading apps, shut this groundswell down to protect the bigger players.

America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Seth Rogen, Vincent D’Onofrio and others play the people who are either rooting for Gill and others or actively working against him to maintain the status quo.

Let’s look at how the marketing campaign has played out.

announcements and casting

MGM greenlit a movie based on what at the time was a book proposal from Ben Mezrich in early 2021, before the ink on the real-time coverage of the event was dry. At the time the movie was intended to have the same title as that book, “The Antisocial Network.”

Rogen, Dano and others were cast in the film in September, 2022, around the same time MGM dropped the project, now sporting its current title. Sony eventually acquired distribution rights in mid-October of that year.

Additional casting was announced at that time as well, including Anthony Ramos, Shailene Woodley and more.

the marketing campaign

Sony brought footage from the movie to CinemaCon in April to show exhibitors what they could expect.

The first red-band trailer (10m YouTube plays) was released in June. It opens with Gill being shocked at the amount of money suddenly in play while professional analysts and others are gobsmacked at not being in control of everything for like five minutes. Flash back to all this started several months earlier and we see Gill created a movement among his social media and video followers who saw an opportunity to not only make some money themselves but also send a message to the power brokers that they weren’t the only ones in charge. Of course Big Wall Street pushes back on that challenge, leading to some general disillusionment with the very very rigged system.

In July news came the movie’s premiere was scheduled for September’s Toronto International Film Festival.

Dumb Money movie teaser poster from Sony Pictures
Dumb Money movie teaser poster from Sony Pictures

The first poster, which shows a massive middle finger made out of stacks of money, came out in July as well.

Sony had originally planned to give the film a single wide release date but in August changed that to a phased rollout that began on 9/15 in Los Angeles, expanded a bit more last week, will be in more theaters this weekend and then finally hit “wide” release status on 10/6.

The first short vignette featuring comments from Rogen, Ferrera and others came out in early September as they recap the real story amidst footage from the movie itself.

Rotten Tomatoes debuted an exclusive TV spot that mostly featured footage already seen in the trailer.

The TIFF premiere was very well-received by audiences there, though it lacked the usual pageantry because the stars were absent due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. Shuker Blum and Angelo were there, though, as they are executive producers on the movie and talked briefly about its underdog story.

A theatrical poster was released in August, this one showing the cast arrayed at the bottom in front of a group of protesters. Copy at the top makes it clear this is based on a true story about fighting the power of Wall Street.

They and Gillespie were interviewed about how the project got started, including the personal connection the director had to events and how they were following developments in the news, eventually deciding there was an incredible story to tell here.

Another featurette focuses on Rogen explaining how his character is a “normal guy” who has bet against GameStop and sees his very comfortable perch become a lot more shaky as Gill and others undermine his work. Dano does a similar thing in his own featurette.

The writers took part in a Reddit AMA, an interesting tactic given shutting down the original subreddit was one of the ways Wall Street sought to take control of the situation back.

As the film was beginning its controlled release one more poster came out, this one grouping the characters into “The Top 1%” who think “…You’re Dumb”, with the latter group in the bottom segment of the design.

overall

This is a very interesting campaign. If you ask me (and why else are you here?) it leans too heavily on making the power brokers of hedge funds and other professionals a bit too sympathetic for a true “stick it to the man” story. And there’s almost nothing in the trailer or other spots about just how powerfully those entrenched interests sought to quash what they viewed as a rebellion among the peasants who threatened their right to take it all.

How well you react to the marketing Sony has put together, which has also been impacted by the dual strikes in Hollywood over the last few months, likely hinges on how much you enjoy ripped-from-the-headlines stories.

One final note: Apparently Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss – yes, *those* two – are producers on the movie, a hilarious point given the two have never met a tech investment they couldn’t ultimately fail at over the years.

gran turismo – marketing recap

How Columbia Pictures has sold an unorthodox video game adaptation

Gran Turismo poster from Columbia Pictures
Gran Turismo poster from Columbia Pictures

Most movies based on video games attempt, however clumsily, to replicate the gameplay that people have become accustomed to. So Doom tries to setup and use the first person POV the game made famous and so on.

Gran Turismo arrives in theaters this weekend in slightly different form. Instead of being an adaptation of the game itself it’s inspired by the true story of Jann Mardenborough (played by Archie Madekwe), a professional Gran Turismo player who uses the money he gets from sponsorship deals to realize his dream of becoming an actual race car driver.

Djimon Hounsou and Geri Halliwell plays Mardenborough’s parents and David Harbour plays Jack Salter, Jann’s trainer while Orlando Bloom plays a Nissan executive who sponsors Jann’s gaming career and his subsequent transition to real life racing.

With a screenplay by Jason Hall and Zach Baylin and with Neill Blomkamp directing let’s take a look at the marketing campaign from Columbia Pictures.

announcement and casting

Blomkamp was named as director when Sony announced the movie in May 2022 but that was only after a previous version of the project with Joseph Kosinski directing was scuttled

Both Madekwe and Harbor were added as the leads a few months later and the supporting cast was rounded out before the end of 2022 as Sony marked the beginning of production.

the marketing campaign

The opening salvo of the campaign was a teaser “first look” video released in early January. It doesn’t have a whole lot in terms of footage from the movie but does feature the three leads introducing the story and promising the audience a roaring good time in theaters.

Sony brought Blomkamp to CES around the same time to show off footage from the movie and talk about the Sony cameras that were used in production.

Fast forward to April with an interview with Blomkamp about how the driving seen in the film is done with real cars and real drivers and how the focus is always on the characters and their journey.

Both Bloom and Harbor then appeared on stage during Sony’s CinemaCon presentation to show off the trailer and talk about the visceral experience audiences will have when they see the movie in theaters.

That trailer (15.8m YouTube plays) was finally released in early May. It opens by showing us Jann’s confidence in his driving abilities given his game experience and how that is part of his dream of becoming a real race car driver. His opportunity comes when Nissan sponsors an event to let gamers get behind the wheel, with Salter enlisted to help get them into shape. Jann is the only one to make the cut and is soon facing real opponents on the track.

The poster that came out at the same time is none-too-subtle about setting up the premise, explaining it’s the story of “From Gamer to Racer” with the lead cast and the game’s logo prominently displayed.

Later in the month a featurette came out with everyone, including the real life Jann, talking about how the movie’s story is inspired by a true story.

The cast and crew made a few international appearances then, first at the closing night of the Cannes Film Festival and then at the Monaco Grand Prix.

From the end of May and into early June there were a series of TV spots that aired during the NBA Finals and which featured NBA players doing some video game racing of their own. There were also more traditional spots that kept reminding us this is based on a true story and making it clear it’s an inspiring true story of Jann’s determination to not quit without making his dreams come true.

If anything the official trailer (9m YouTube plays) is even more inspiring than the first. It hits a lot of the same story and emotional beats but shows the struggles Jann goes through after he hits the racing circuit and all of a sudden everything is a lot harder than it was either in practice or on the screen.

Similarly the next poster uses a lot of the same elements as the first one, just rearranges them to make the finished product appear more slick. There was also an exclusive poster released by Dolby.

Professional drivers took a handful of civilians – presumably influencers of some sort – around the track a few times in a race car to show them how thrilling and dangerous the experience really is. Sony also held a series of advance screenings with an eye toward getting attendees to start some word of mouth. Blomkamp and the real life Mardenborough attended just such a screening in Los Angeles a few days before the movie arrived in theaters.

A photo upload tool let people create their own driving academy license, complete with their own specs and descriptions.

overall

Let’s be honest at the outset: You’re never going to be able to make a better movie about racing than Days of Thunder. That’s just reality.

Tom Cruise GIF by Paramount Movies - Find & Share on GIPHY

That’s why this campaign largely doesn’t try to sell the movie on that basis but instead takes the Ford vs. Ferrari route to sell the true story behind the racing.

By that measure it does a pretty good job, especially in how the studio tried to appeal to the younger crowd by enlisting the kind of influencers they get their recommendations from to talk it up. And that’s good because with a story about how playing video games is a legitimate life choice especially if it’s being used as a launching pad for something else it’s hard to imagine the marketing here appealing to older crowds.

no hard feelings – marketing recap

How Sony Pictures has sold a comedy about coming out of your shell

No Hard Feelings movie poster from Sony Pictures
No Hard Feelings movie poster from Sony Pictures

Jennifer Lawrence stars as Maddie in this week’s new release No Hard Feelings, written and directed by Gene Stupnitsky. Maddie is a perennial underachiever, unable to hold onto jobs and without a car to be an Uber driver, she answers a Craigslist ad from Percy (Matthew Broderick) and Allison (Laura Benanti). The couple are looking for someone to help their son Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman) get some “experience” before he heads off to college. Maddie agrees to help them out in exchange for a car to help her get back on her own feet.

Natalie Morales, Hasan Minhaj and others costar in the comedy, the premise of which seems simultaneously dated; parents want to help their son be a man, and up-to-date; a young woman is struggling to make ends meet with modern dead-end gig work etc. So with all that laid out, let’s look at how Sony Pictures has sold it to the public.

announcement and casting

Sony acquired the project, which had Lawrence in the lead role and Stupnitsky directing, in October, 2021 following what was reported to be a bidding war of sorts with Apple and other distributors also interested. The story came from Stupintsky, who based it on a real craigslist ad he’d seen and, being friends with Lawrence already, he had her in mind from the start.

Feldman, Benanti, Broderick and others joined about a year later.

the marketing campaign

It was early March when the marketing kicked off for the movie, beginning with a red-band trailer (16.5m YouTube plays). Maddie is getting her car repossessed as it opens, leading to a crisis since that’s how she earns her living. When the perfect opportunity comes along with that craigslist ad she reluctantly signs on, especially after Percy’s parents explain what they’re looking for. But Percy is so shy and introverted even Maddie’s best moves aren’t able to loosen him up, leading to all sorts of hijinks as she ups the ante again and again.

The first poster didn’t come out until late April, showing the two lead characters with “Pretty” over Maddie’s face and “Awkward” over Percy’s to make sure everyone understood the dynamic.

Both Lawrence and the director then appeared at CinemaCon in April to hype up the movie as just the kind of smaller, non-franchise movie exhibitors keep saying they want more of. They also showed those in attendance and extended clip.

A TV spot that debuted about a month ago offers a trimmed down version of the trailer, mostly hitting the same gags and moments.

Stupnitsky was interviewed about the origins of the story and how he wrote the role for Lawrence

There were a series of pre-roll and TV ads that opened with a scene of Maddie crying on a beach and voiceover touting Lawrence’s Academy Award-winning credentials, promising another stunning performance before giving way to the foul language and crude humor this movie actually contains.

The second trailer (8.9m YouTube plays) came out in late May. It uses some different scenes but mostly sticks to the same message as earlier materials, showing how Percy is so awkward he’s immune to Maddie’s charms, which she keeps having to amp up because it’s the only way out of her situation.

We get a slightly extended look at the Long Island Iced Tea scene in the first clip from the film. Additional clips show Maddie checking out the craigslist ad,

Lawrence’s media appearances included a stop at “Good Morning America” and other news talk shows because the late night ones are off because of the WGA strike.

She and the rest of the cast and crew all turned up at the London premiere a couple weeks ago. They then headed to Spain for the premiere there and then Berlin before coming back home for a yellow carpet in New York City, where Lawrence assured everyone they were likely to be offended by at least something in the movie and everyone talked about how funny it was.

As things wound down there were a few more interviews with Lawrence and Stupnitsky as well as a continual stream of new TV spots and online promos. Feldman was also profiled about how he made the transition from filming this movie to going to Harvard.

overall

It’s on track for an estimated $12 million opening weekend, but that may be wishful thinking given the general state of the theatrical landscape and audience attitudes of late, not to mention how comedies have largely been ignored by moviegoers in the last several years.

But the campaign itself is quite funny, mostly because it promises “Jennifer Lawrence as you’ve never seen her before” and then pretty much delivers on that.

https://giphy.com/clips/sonypictures-sony-pictures-no-hard-feelings-GcTj6q4lRvQPUvWdOn

picking up the spare

Lawrence talked more about her willingness to engage in the more extreme raunchy elements of the comedy. And Benanti seconded how fearless Lawrence was when it came to pushing the limits for the laugh.

spider-man: across the spider-verse (part one) – marketing recap

How Sony has sold the latest (albeit different) Spider-Man movie

spider-man: Across The Spider-Verse movie poster from Sony Pictures
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse movie poster from Sony Pictures

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse arrives in theaters this week with a lot of anticipation on a number of fronts.

First there’s the excitement of fans, who loved the first movie in 2018, especially for its varied and inventive animation styles, the emotional story it contained and the performances of its voice cast.

Second, there’s the anticipation of the movie industry itself, which has seen a number of big franchise films fall relatively flat at the box office in the last several months, leading to a significant amount of hand-wringing over whether the strategy that’s guided Hollywood and exhibitors for the last 15 years may be fading.

This movie picks up a year after the events of the original and finds Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) approached by Gwen Stacy/Spider Woman (Hailee Steinfeld) to help stop The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), a villain who can travel through dimensions using the portals his body is covered with. To do so they’ll also need the help of The Spider Society, a group made up of Spider People from across the multiverse, meaning just about every iteration of Spider-Man shows up at some point or another.

Brian Tyree Henry, Issa Rae, Jake Johnson, Amandla Stenberg, Oscar Isaac, Daniel Kaluuya and a host of others provide the voices for some of those and other supporting characters. Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and David Callaham wrote the screenplay and Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson directed the film, so let’s take a look at how Sony has sold it to the summer movie-going public.

announcements and casting

A Tweet from Sony in early October of 2019 served as the official announcement the movie was coming. It was much later, in April 2021, that a three-man directing team was announced.

Rae was added to the cast in June of that year.

A “first look” was released in December 2021 at Brazil Comic-Con. It shows Gwen making an unexpected cross-dimensional stop by Miles’ room, which is extremely embarrassing for him on multiple levels. After she gets him to come with her we see lots of animated craziness, including a brief appearance by Spider-Man 2099, that hints at what’s to come.

Lord and Miller were interviewed a short while later about the varying styles of animation the movie would feature, an ambitious undertaking available to them because of the multiple dimensions the story could travel to.

Unfortunately in April 2022 Sony announced that both this movie and the third installment were being pushed back by several months, moving this one from late 2022 to summer 2023.

A short while later Lord and Miller appeared at Sony’s 2022 CinemaCon presentation to offer updates on and footage from the movie, especially touting the size of the production crew and the number of characters that would show up. That presentation also came with the news this was “part one” of the second movie, with “part two coming later.

The villain spot was introduced in mid-June while the film was being promoted at the Annecy Animation Film Festival, along with the fact the character was being voiced by Jason Schwartzman. Kaluuya was announced as the voice of Spider-Punk in November.

In November of last year Lord and Miller talked about the varying animation styles being used in the movie and later teased where Miles and other characters are in their arcs as this second movie begins.

the marketing campaign

Sony kicked off the marketing of the movie in December, 2022 with the release of the first trailer (33.8m YouTube plays). It uses the framing device of a talk Miles is having with his mother and how much she wants him to be safe and loved in the world as he gets older to show us first a collection of scenes from the first movie and then a bit from this new one. Before it ends it establishes just how many Spider People we’re going to see and that Miles and Gwen will be butting heads with Spider-Man 2099 over the role of the hero.

After that trailer dropped Sony hosted a conversation with Lord, Miller and Steinfeld on YouTube premium where they dropped a few more hints about what fans could expect and how excited they were to share this new movie.

Miles is out in front of the collection of the others from the multiverse on the first poster, the primary purpose of which is to show off just how obscure the filmmakers got when selecting which versions of the characters to highlight.

That variety was again showcased in a series of symbols teased in mid-January.

More new images from the movie were revealed by Empire along with comments from both the directors and producer Amy Pascal.

In late March the studio drummed up some attention by creating Spider personas for a number of celebrities on social media such as this one for Kumail Nanjiani.

Also in March Sony announced a new short set in the world of the movies was scheduled to debut at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June. That was accompanied by the news of a new mentorship program designed to foster young talent.

April started with another new trailer (40.2m YouTube plays). It more firmly sets up The Spot as the villain of the story, which leads to Gwen introducing Miles to the Spider Society, which leads to the philosophical conflict with 2099 and Miles’ determination to defy the odds and attempt the impossible.

Gwen, Miles and 2099 were added as emojis on Twitter after the trailer came out. There was also a number you could text to “join the Spider Society” and get updates about the movie, something that was promoted to those attending Coachella via billboards and other signage. A website also let you upload a selfie and get a custom image back of your Spider-Verse self.

Some of the cast were in attendance at CinemaCon 2023, where Sony showed off footage from the movie and executives hyped it to exhibition executives and journalists.

Miles and Gwen are both featured on the next poster, with the amount of other characters in the background slimmed down to just those that will presumably be focused on in the movie. Another came out to celebrate #NationalSuperHeroDay, this one showing the action reflected in the eyes of Miles and Gwen. A more traditional super hero design is used on yet another one-sheet released at the beginning of May.

A slimmed down version of the trailer was used as a TV spot debuting during a UFC match after tickets went on sale. Later there was an exclusive promo for ESPN’s “SportsCenter” with the hosts trying to outdo each other as the bigger Spider-Man fan.

Exclusive posters from IMAX, Dolby and 4DX all used some variation on Miles falling through the air as Gwen and the other Spider characters spin around him.

Additional TV commercials and pre-roll ads used more footage from the film showing not only the conflict at the heart of the story but also how Miles is still a bit awkward as a hero along with the relationship between him and Gwen. Some also offered more in-depth introductions to new characters like Jessica Drew and Pavitr Prabhakar.

Hyundai, which in June of 2020 signed a multi-film promotional deal with Sony and which launched a TV spot as part of a campaign more recently featuring music from the film’s soundtrack.

The first clip came out in mid-May showing Miles in the middle of a meeting between his parents and principal about his grades and attendance record. Another has Gwen explaining the concept of the Spider Society to Miles, who’s trying to show off in front of her. IMDb also shared one with Gwen, Miguel and Jessica saving a helicopter crew. More were released by other outlets or through official channels over the course of the next few weeks.

TikTok users could add a filter to their dance videos that put graphics in the movie’s style around them. Meanwhile Alexa users could get showtimes and purchase tickets by adding the Spider-Verse theme to their devices. Web-shooters and other movie themed costumes and quests were added to Fortnight as well. A Snapchat filter not only added effects but also music by Metro Boomin’ from the movie’s soundtrack while Giphy stickers allowed you to add some adorable versions of the characters to your photos and videos.

A series of individual posters offered better looks at some of the main characters, including The Spot.

Lord and Miller hosted a “friends and family” screening of the movie in L.A. toward the end of May, with the official red carpet premiere held a few days later. The producers, directors and other talent all talked about what was new, what was exciting and more.

A lyric video for Metro Boomin’s “Calling” capped off a portion of the campaign that heavily leaned on his work for the film’s soundtrack and sought to activate his fans for the movie.

overall

Feeling hip and relevant is easy for the campaign as a whole given the people involved and the attitude they’re working to convey. And that’s the main point, to let the audience know this Spider-Man movie is loose and fun and emotional, not stuffy and over-filled with world-building details.

But mostly, it sells that the film has heart in addition to featuring incredible animation. That’s why it’s garnered such overwhelmingly positive reviews and word of mouth in addition to a projected $80 million opening weekend.

Spider-Man Spiderverse Movie GIF by Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse - Find & Share on GIPHY

65 – marketing recap

How Sony has its latest sci-fi action flick

65 movie poster from Sony Pictures
65 movie poster from Sony Pictures

Adam Driver stars in this week’s new theatrical release 65. The title refers to how many million years back in Earth’s history a pilot named Mills (Driver) finds himself after his craft crashes on what at first appears to be an unfamiliar planet along with fellow survivor Koa (Ariana Greenblatt). The two then have to survive an environment filled with a multitude of dangers, including the massive dinosaurs that dominated the planet at the time and make their way to the one point that offers them a chance to return to their own time safely.

Directed and written by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods – who previously wrote A Quiet Place – the movie costars Chloe Coleman and Nika King. Sony Pictures’ campaign hasn’t been all that extensive, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

announcement and casting

Driver was the first of the cast to sign on in September, 2020 with the others joining between then and the end of that year.

The directing pair marked the first day of production in December, 2020 and the last day of filming a couple months later.

the marketing campaign

Without much preamble the campaign kicked off in December of last year with the first trailer (24m YouTube plays). After it establishes itself as coming from the writers of A Quiet Place we see the premise, that Mills’ transport ship has crashed and can’t communicate with his base. He believes he’s on an alien planet, albeit one with breathable air and potable water. The truth of the situation becomes apparent, though, when he and Koa start encountering what are clearly dinosaurs on ancient Earth, but that doesn’t make things less dangerous as they try to find a way home.

The poster that came out at the same time sets things up by not only making the same pitch about the story’s origins but by showing Mills with his rifle at the ready while a dinosaur lurks behind him.

In keeping with how the movie has been heavily branded as coming from the writers of A Quiet Place, there’s no dialogue in the TV spot Sony aired during February’s Super Bowl broadcast. But there are plenty of jumps and scares and big dinos terrorizing the human characters.

Additional commercials began running shortly after that both on TV and as online pre-roll spots. They offer more explanation of the movie’s story, but still rely heavily on promising the audience a lot of thrills.

Sony again went to make an appeal to sports audiences with a commercial that aired during an NBA game broadcast in late February and which features basketball star Anthony Edwards, who’s digitally inserted into the action to react to what’s happening and make fun of what Mills is doing.

Another poster came out earlier in March that shows both Mills and Koa making their way through a cave, with the T-Rex stalking them through the waterfall they’ve already passed.

Driver appeared on “The Tonight Show” to promote the film and talk about a handful of other things. Earlier in the month Greenblatt responded to fan questions in an Instagram AMA session and later on the directing duo along with producer Sam Raimi participated in a Reddit AMA.

The cast and crew turned out for the premiere screening in New York City earlier this week

Both Driver and Greenblatt were interviewed about their experience making the movie, including working with all the special effects, the physical demands of their roles and Greenblatt’s attempts at making the famously focused Driver break up a little on set.

overall

The weak sub-$10 million opening weekend projected for the film shouldn’t, I don’t think, reflect on the quality of the campaign. While this certainly can’t be said to be a massive or all-encompassing effort, it’s well put together and knows what’s being sold.

Its biggest hurdle is one faced by a lot of movies these days that aren’t already part of a franchise, series or established IP. Specifically, that while the campaign may have generated sufficient awareness it wasn’t able to convert that into interest.

That’s why at every opportunity the marketing reminded audiences that the movie involved the writers of A Quiet Place. Without a brand of its own to rely on, this was the next best thing.

a man called otto – marketing recap

How Sony is selling a grumpy old Hanks

A Man Called Otto movie poster from Sony Pictures
A Man Called Otto movie poster from Sony Pictures

A Man Called Otto is the English-language feature adaptation of the Swedish novel A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. Tom Hanks stars as Otto, the neighborhood curmudgeon who rails against neighbors who don’t follow the rules while still grieving the passing of his wife Sonya. His routines are thrown for a loop when a new family moves in next door and he finds himself increasingly entangled in their lives as he helps them navigate various problems, teaches them new ways of doing things and begins to open his heart a bit.

Mariana Treviño, Fredrik Backman, Rachel Keller, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Cameron Britton and Mike Birbiglia star alongside Hanks while Marc Forster directs the film, which gets a wide theatrical release after first hitting select screens in an awards-qualifying run at the end of December.

Let’s take a look at the marketing.

announcement and casting

Hanks’ Playtone announced it was producing the film in September 2017, with the actor also attached to star. Nothing happened for a while as it seemed to linger in pre-production until Forster was announced as director in January 2022.

Sony acquired the project a month later and soon set a mid-December release date. Britton, Birbiglia and others joined the cast shortly after that.

In October Sony pushed the release date to January but still maintained the limited December schedule for awards consideration.

the marketing campaign

We quickly see what Otto’s attitude toward people is in the trailer (10m YouTube views), released in late October. He picks arguments with or verbally jousts with his neighbors for no real reason other than to express his general displeasure. When a family moves into the home next door he starts helping them do things like maneuver a trailer, learn to drive and so on, including babysitting the two young girls. All that, as well as the appearance of a stray cat he can’t get rid of, begins to melt his gruff exterior and expose the caring person within.

Otto sneers at the audience on the poster released at the same time, the condo complex where much of the story takes place in the background and the cat he grudgingly adopts in the front to make it clear there’s some feline entertainment here as well. If all that doesn’t convey the film’s attitude, it’s reinforced by the copy at the top reading “Fall in love with the grumpiest man in America.”

A cutdown of the trailer came out in early November for use as online pre-roll and other ads.

Rotten Tomatoes shared the second trailer in early December. It’s only about half as long as the first trailer and offers a few different looks at the movie, but mostly through alternate versions of scenes already shown.

Rita Wilson shared “Til You’re Home”, her original song with Sebastián Yatra, for the film’s soundtrack, shortly after that.

The cast and crew assembled for a screening of the film that included a Q&A. Another screening was held in Mexico City a few days later.

Rotten Tomatoes then got the first clip from the film, an extended look at the moment Otto meets his new neighbors and makes a first impression.

Additional premieres took place in the U.K., Sweden, Madrid and elsewhere throughout December.

A full TV spot came out just as the movie was entering limited release.

About the same time there was a profile of Treviño that covered her career to date, including her experience working with Hanks and more.

overall

It’s a pleasant little campaign, but feels less like an awards season release than the kind of mid-range studio title that used to come out in April or May and easily make its budget back with the help of adult audiences looking for enjoyable dramas with big stars.

My one concern with the marketing is that it focuses too much on Otto’s unfriendly behavior and not enough on the redemption arc the character undergoes in the original novel. That’s not to say it needs to be all sweetness and light, but aren’t we all dealing with real world versions of this guy enough every day?

the woman king – marketing recap

How Sony has sold a period drama about African warriors.

the woman king poster from Sony Pictures
the woman king poster from Sony Pictures

Viola Davis stars in this week’s The Woman King, in theaters this week from Sony Pictures. Davis plays General Nanisca, the leader of the Agojie, an all-female group of guardian warriors in the kingdom of Dahomey. Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch and Sheila Atim costar as the latest generation of warriors to be trained by Nanisca, with John Boyega as the nation’s king. The Agojie must be trained to help fight against the latest threat to their people: The expansion of French colonizers deeper into the African continent.

If the concept of the Agojie sounds familiar, it’s because the real life defenders were the inspiration for the Dora Milaje in Christopher Priest’s “Black Panther” comics run, a group that of course later appeared in several installments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, the movie was written by Dana Stevens, who developed the story with producer Maria Bello. Let’s take a look at how it’s been sold.

announcements and casting

The movie was announced in July, 2020 as Prince-Blythwood’s follow-up to the massively successful The Old Guard on Netflix.

News of Davis’ casting was followed in September 2021 by Boyega joining the project. Lynch was cast shortly after that, right in the middle of her getting rave reviews for her role in No Time To Die. Lawson, Tiffen and others joined shortly after that.

the marketing campaign

Davis offered the first real look at the film in February of this year when she posted a couple stills showing just how fierce she looks in costume.

Both Prince-Blythwood and Davis made an appearance on stage at Sony’s April 2022 CinemaCon presentation to promote their film. Davis was also given the event’s first-ever Trailblazer Award for her body of work.

A few weeks later Empire Magazine shared a first look still from the film.

Prince-Blythewood talked about the movie when she appeared at the American Black Film Festival in June, with the director debuting the trailer there for the festival’s audience before it went out to the general public.

More photos along with an interview with Davis came in Vanity Fair at the beginning of July.

Also in early July came the first trailer (10.4m YouTube views), which opens with King Ghezo warning of a new evil coming that must be fought with the Agojie. Nanisca convinces the king to fight back against the threat of the Europeans looking to expand their influence. We see the kind of training the Agojie go through and just how effective they are in combat, all of it adding up to a powerful trailer.

Banner ads on YouTube drove people to the film’s official website when the trailer debuted.

the woman king YouTube ad
the woman king YouTube ad

Later that month the announcement came that the movie’s world premiere would happen at the Toronto International Film Festival. Davis was later slated for a conversation as part of the film’s screening at the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival in mid-August.

The first poster came out a bit later. It shows Nansica alone with her weapon held high, standing in what seems to be a fiery conflagration blazing all around her.

Bello was interviewed about her love of the African continent and how that played into developing this story.

A short vignette has Davis and Prince-Bythewood talking about the real life warriors portrayed in the film and how they’re surprised they didn’t know more about this before.

Trainer Gabriela Mclain spoke in this interview about how she put each one of the primary cast through their paces in preparation for such physically-demanding roles that required they *look* the part of fearsome warriors.

That training was the subject of another short featurette.

Mbedu was interviewed about the film’s incredible cast and more.

Cutdowns of the trailer started running in late August as TV spots and online promos, including pre-roll ads.

The second poster, released at the end of August, has the entire main cast of characters assembled and staring intensely at the audience amidst the same fiery background seen earlier.

An Essence cover story featured a conversation with the main cast about the story and what it was like working with everyone else. That was followed by a THR cover story with Prince-Bythewood and Davis in part covering the battles they had to take part in just to get the film made for reasons that are likely obvious.

An interview with Lynch focused again on the rigorous training she had to take part in.

Fandango debuted an exclusive clip of Nanisca pushing the warriors she’s training to be better than they ever thought they could be in order to defend their nation.

The bonding the cast underwent during filming was the subject of another short vignette.

That lead into the TIFF premiere screening, which garnered *very* positive reviews and buzz, and the Q&A with the cast and crew that went along with it.

Costume designer Gersha Phillips shared the real life inspiration that went into the costumes along with the fact they were made by actual African artisans.

Another TV spot from the last week featured football coach Jennifer King offering her thoughts on being a warrior along with clips from the film.

Boyega and Atim created Spotify playlists inspired by the film and their characters.

Davis went on to make appearances on “GMA”, “The Tonight Show”, “The View” along with others to promote the film and talk about how unique the story is in today’s marketplace.

overall

It’s not very surprising that there’s little in the way of overt reference to how the real life Agojie inspired the fictional Dora Milaje given the competing studios/companies in play. But that connection is very much there for anyone who’s paying attention.

Outside of that, the major message of the campaign is not only that this is a powerful film about an incredible group of warriors but that the existence of those warriors isn’t as well known in the general public as, say, the 300 Spartan warriors at the Battle of Thermopylae. If you pull on that thread more than a bit you’ll likely discover reasons that include racism, the fact that Europeans are clearly not the good guys in that story and so on.

But the story is being told in a big, bold fashion now and that’s what’s important. And the campaign has been moving, driven by the personal investment of Prince-Bythewood, Davis and others, including Bello, who seems to have taken the smart path and sat out most of the publicity and let others, particularly women of color, take the spotlight.

bullet train – marketing recap

How Sony is selling an action comedy

Bullet Train movie poster from Sony Pictures
Bullet Train movie poster from Sony Pictures

David Leitch directs Bullet Train, arriving in theaters courtesy of Sony Pictures. Written by Zak Olkewicz and based on the novel by Kōtarō Isaka, Brad Pitt stars as an American assassin known only as Ladybug. Despite wanting out of the life, Ladybug agrees to one last job snatching a briefcase aboard a bullet train heading from Tokyo to Kyoto. Once aboard the train, though, Ladybug finds a cadre of other international assassins there as well, all with missions that in some way connect to his own.

Sandra Bullock costars as Maria Beetle (also the original name of the source novel), Ladybug’s handler and the voice giving him directions on the train. Zazie Beetz, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Zoey King, Brian Tyree Henry and a host of others play the other assassins or other underworld types that cross paths with Ladybug.

With Antoine Fuqua producing and projections for opening weekend in the $30m range, let’s take a look at the marketing campaign Sony has cooked up.

announcements and casting

The film was announced in June 2020 with Leitch attached to direct and Pitt starring. Others like King, Henry and Taylor-Johnson were added over the rest of that year. A release date was finally announced a year later.

Of course that casting led to some entirely justified backlash and criticism of “whitewashing” since the original novel’s characters are Japanese and almost none of the actors in this film are.

Sony gave attendees of CinemaCon in August 2021 the first look at the much-anticipated film but that was it for a while.

the marketing campaign

Sony kicked the campaign off at the end of February with a teaser video that eschews footage from the movie (for the most part) in favor of a promotional video for NSL, the company that runs the train line in the world of the film. It’s filled with beautiful, peaceful images of the Japanese countryside before finally showing a scraped and exhausted Ladybug looking out the windows as the scenery passes by.

The first trailer (20.6m YouTube views) was then released at the beginning of March. A tone is immediately established as we see Ladybug and Lemon (Henry) have a threatening but polite conversation on the quiet car of the train. There are lots of moments like that as we meet the rest of the characters Ladybug will be interacting with and fighting against, get the backstory there are lots of people after the briefcase in question and more.

The teaser poster released at the same time doesn’t show that impressive cast but instead opts for an image of a train steward standing formally alongside a seat that, upon closer inspection, has blood on it, with more found on the floor.

Johnson talked about his role in an interview conducted by fellow actor Andrew Garfield.

Leitch and Bad Bunny both appeared at 2022’s installment of CinemaCon in April to offer updates, show off some footage and promise distributors the movie was coming soon.

Empire offered first looks at some new stills along with comments from Leitch, Pitt, Henry and others in May. Bad Bunny also offered some thoughts on the movie and more in a GQ profile.

At the beginning of June a new poster came out, this one showing Ladybug looking somewhat confused or frustrated as he stands in front of all the adversaries he’s going to have to fight his way through to complete his assignment.

That was followed by the second trailer (6.7m YouTube views). This one offers the same story and vibe, but adds the context that not only does Ladybug have legendary bad luck but that he’s crossed paths with many of the others that have now congregated on the train.

Henry and Johnson appeared in character in a series of short videos aired during the NBA Finals where they ask questions of various NBA stars.

We get a cut down version of the story and characters in the first TV spot that aired at the beginning of June. That spot was also used as pre-roll online.

Taylor-Johnson was on hand during Sony’s presentation at CineEurope in June to introduce footage from the film.

It was then Pitt’s turn for a GQ feature interview where he talked about not only this film but his career to date and some of the other recent projects he’s been involved in as a producer.

Fandango then unveiled a series of character posters, each of which has some sort of symbol or other item relevant to that character in the background.

Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat users could search for movie stickers to add to their content. Twitter emojis were also introduced.

As July began more TV spots rolled out that offered variations on the trailers or which went a little deeper in introducing one of the other characters in the story.

News also came that the movie was scheduled for August’s Locarno Film Festival.

King was then interviewed about the training she did for this and other recent films as well as the experience of working with Pitt.

The international press and publicity tour then kicked off in France, where Pitt and others were in attendance. Additional stops included Berlin, London and elsewhere. During this tour Sony made extensive use of YouTube’s #Shorts format to show off clips of the cast dancing around and having a good time. Pitt’s fashion choices would become the subject of not just one but two feature stories.

Henry and Johnson are back in a video announcing tickets going on sale in mid-July. They also showed up on an IMAX video explaining how watching a movie on your phone is a sub-par experience compared to theaters.

The IMAX-exclusive poster uses the style of Japanese paintings to show Ladybug looking out over the scenery as the train rushes through the title treatment. AMC Theaters’ poster shows him standing at the end of a train car with a handful of bad dudes waiting for him. The poster from ScreenX shifts to a landscape perspective to show Ladybug running down the top of the train with Momonga in pursuit.

Because NFTs are still a thing there were some of those as well. Nifty’s introduced a collection of them while an exclusive NFT of Momonga was offered to those purchasing advance tickets of large-format screenings.

Back in the world of real things, Tumi promoted its rugged aluminum briefcase that is the MacGuffin of the movie.

Manga artist Hiro Mashima offered his own takes on the character posters previously released.

The first (and at this point only) clip released shows a slightly extended take on the quiet car fight between Lemon and Ladybug.

overall

There’s a lot of fun stuff here, helped out by an entertaining and talented cast with Pitt out in front. My tolerance for Pitt varies from one film to the next, but here he’s at his most enjoyable with what looks like a loose performance matching the tone and vibe of the story. It helps that he has talented comic talents like Henry, King and others to play off, of course.

Of note is how often the campaign invokes Leitch as “The director of Deadpool 2” in an effort to amp up his credentials when it comes to action comedy. Not only that, but it’s an attempt to tie this movie into something the audience has already seen and largely enjoyed, bringing it closer to being a somewhat known quantity and therefore not as big a risk of entertainment dollars.