the greatest showman

Picking Up the Spare: Woman Walks Ahead, The Greatest Showman and More

Woman Walks Ahead

Another feature with star Michael Greyeyes where he once again talks about the kinds of Native American character roles he’s offered and how he sees this movie as being a great example of specific representation of a Native culture, not just something vague.

Not only does the movie’s soundtrack continue to go gangbusters on the chart but there’s apparently another album coming later this year featuring pop artists covering some of the songs from the film.

Uncle Drew

Good background story here on how the movie got made, acknowledging that films and TV shows based on commercial campaigns aren’t always the most universally successful.

Ant-Man and The Wasp

There have been a number of additional TV commercials like this one released in the last few days, all of which hope to sell the audience on a funny, light-hearted summer action movie. There are also spots like this that hit just today and which play up the shocking ending of the movie.

Marvel Studios also released a fun “Tiny BBQ” video to mark the Fourth of July.

One narrative that has been picked up in the last few days is that this is the first MCU movie where a female character shares top-billing with the male hero, something addressed here as Evangeline Lilly talks more about crafting a character little girls could relate to and connect with.

Another profile of Hannah John-Kamen, who plays the villain Ghost, where she talks about how a recommendation from Steven Spielberg helped her land this role and Peyton Reed helped her create the new version of the character.

There was a special poster created for Real 3D screenings of the first movie and this new one as a double feature. The poster shows both Ant-Man and Wasp seeking cover behind a coin that has “Opening night fan event on it.”

Peyton Reed covers a whole range of issues here, including his reaction to how offended some idiots were by Wasp receiving equal billing in the movie’s title. And the NYT covers how the filmmakers consulted with scientists to bring at least a bit of believability to the goings-on at the same time it offered a quick interview with Rudd.

Sorry to Bother You

Lakeith Stanfield received a substantial profile in The New York Times covering how he’s made a decent career to date by playing off-kilter characters.

There’s also been lots more coverage of writer/director Boots Riley, including this feature where he talks tech and this one where he weighs in on the role activism should play in the life of the artist.

I, Tonya

While it’s not directly tied to this movie, the interest and attention it received presumably lead NEON to acquire the old documentary “Sharp Edges” about Tonya Harding prior to her gaining national notoriety. Still, it’s somewhat surprising given the backlash to the movie centered around the questionable decision to make the villain in the story sympathetic while almost completely ignoring the victim.

Chris Thilk is a freelance writer and content strategist who lives in the Chicago suburbs.

Picking Up the Spare: The Greatest Showman, Pacific Rim Uprising and More

Pacific Rim Uprising

There’s been a lot of press, exemplified by this story, about John Boyega’s role not only in front of the camera but also as a producer on the film and how he sees that as a natural part of his career arc.

This is also a really great op-ed about how Uprising represents something unusual: A cinematic universe *not* based on 60 year old IP.

The Greatest Showman

Commercials like this one for the home video are designed to specifically appeal to the segments of the audience who called for a sing-along theatrical release of the movie, something that happened earlier this year.

The Cloverfield Paradox

Paramount COO Andrew Gumpert confirmed in this interview that the decision to sell the movie to Netflix at the last minute was based on the studio having questions about its commercial viability.

Chris Thilk is a freelance writer and content strategist who lives in the Chicago suburbs.

Soundtracks Could Be Uniquely Positioned To Succeed

For the last couple months movie soundtracks – especially those for The Greatest Showman and Black Panther – have been dominating the album charts. That, as the THR story points out, is just the latest example of a trend that’s also included collections for Coco, the Fifty Shades movies and a number of others.

Some of the reasons behind this resurgence are identified in the story, including how they include songs by some of the biggest music talents around right now. Thus it has ever been. The Top Gun soundtrack did that with Kenny Loggins, Cheap Trick and Berlin. All you need is 15 to 20 good pop hits, after all.

There are at least a few other factors that make movie soundtracks uniquely suited to thrive at a time when music sales overall are dropping year after year after year.

They’re Branded Playlists

One of the big reasons Spotify is so popular is its playlists. Artists and their representatives fight hard to be included on the biggest ones, those with the most subscribers. If you open the app it’s going to recommend playlists to you well before it starts showing albums. The company has even recently tested a playlist-only stand-alone ad-supported app to encourage the kind of themed, hour-long listening they offer.

So what is a soundtrack like Black Panther but an expert-curated (in this case by Kendrick Lamar) themed playlist? This is exactly the kind of music experience people are looking for and by attaching it to something that’s culturally relevant in and of itself, it becomes an even hotter property.

They’re Souvenirs of the Experience

Movies are one of the few mass cultural experiences you don’t take anything away from. You might save your ticket stub (if you even got a physical ticket these days) or bring home a collectible popcorn bucket you’ll quickly throw in the recycling bin, but you don’t exit through the gift shop. For the most part, though, you can’t leave with a tangible reminder of the experience. You’re not even given the opportunity to immediately get the digital or physical home video release (which I think you should).

So a soundtrack becomes the one avenue through which you can relive the movie in any way. Turn on the album and you’re transported back to that moment in the movie when X happened to that musical cue. You can replay it in your mind while belting out a particularly inspirational or powerful tune.

They’re Attuned To The Culture

The Black Panther soundtrack wouldn’t have been as big a hit if it didn’t have Kendrick Lamar’s name attached and if he hadn’t worked to assemble a bunch of top-notch talent. The Greatest Showman’s soundtrack wouldn’t have been as big a hit if it didn’t feature a song that seemed like a rousing empowerment album but which has been kind of misinterpreted. The Empire Records soundtrack wouldn’t have been such a hit if it didn’t capture the mainstream alternative genre quite so perfectly.

These albums become time capsules of a sort, speaking to the moment they’re released in immediately and then reflecting back what was to future generations. “What was music like in 1987?” someone might ask, to which you could reasonably respond with the Say Anything… soundtrack and feel that while it might not be perfect it’s going to lead the person in the right direction.

They’re Basically Mixtapes

Along the same lines as the playlist point above, soundtracks convey a message. That’s mainly about promoting the movie they’re associated with, but it’s more than that even. The music is meant to represent the characters, stories and style of the movie in a way that’s relatable. So they serve the same purpose as the mixtape you lovingly assembled for the girl you had a crush on in high school, whether you gave it to her or not.

I’d expect to see more moments where soundtracks dominate the album sales charts, at least in those moments between massive releases from artists like Adele, Rihanna and Taylor Swift. They check a lot of the boxes for what will keep working as streaming continues to put distance between it and physical media, offering something unique to listeners they can’t get anywhere else. If this kind of activity continues I could even easily see them being withheld from streaming services like Spotify by the labels to goose sales not seen anywhere else.

Chris Thilk is a freelance writer and content strategist who lives in the Chicago suburbs.

Picking Up the Spare: Logan, Pitch Perfect 3 and More

Logan

Before the movie was released, 20th Century Fox reportedly worked directly with Twitter to analyze fan conversations, sentiment and intent around it, drilling down into very detailed information and using it to gauge the movie’s chances for success.

Pitch Perfect 3

Apparently (and I’m taking some of this with a grain of salt) the U.S. Department of Defense was heavily involved in the production – including script approval – of the movie, which is being slammed as a piece of pro-globalization military propaganda. No one show this writer Top Gun. As I said weeks ago, the marketing *was* kind of weird, particularly in how there was suddenly this espionage caper being tacked onto the franchise, albeit one that flitted in and out of the campaign.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Another very cool set of artistic posters have been released that were given away at select IMAX screenings, each one depicting a pivotal moment from the film.

Hostiles

Another poster has come out for the movie’s wide release (which was just pushed back a week to allow for more word of mouth to build) that puts all the characters against a faded American flag. This one is pretty great and better than the first one largely because it at least comes closer to putting the three main characters on an equal footing.

The Greatest Showman

A couple new posters have come out, including one that presents a very Drew Struzan-esque picture. Seriously, if we’re going to go back to this approach I’m completely on board but let’s give credit where it’s due.

You remember how the marketing for the film couldn’t (at least after the first trailer) keep the characters from singing? That emphasis on the music has helped the soundtrack not only hit #1 on the Billboard charts, but do so two weeks in a row, only the fifth such album in the last decade to score consecutive top slots.

Molly’s Game

Jessica Chastain is hosting “SNL” this weekend, giving the movie a nice additional boost and certainly taking advantage of her position as a supporter of all the women coming forward with stories of sexual harassment and abuse.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

The VR adventure based on the movie is coming to virtual reality arcades around the world, allowing players to immerse themselves in a story where they guide and help characters from the film.

Chris Thilk is a freelance writer and content strategist who lives in the Chicago suburbs.

Picking Up the Spare: The Last Jedi, The Post and More

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

A great feature on the women of Lucasfilm who are integral to the franchise’s ongoing success. That’s a nice touch considering how important female characters are to the revitalized series and culture as a whole, particularly in light of all the terrible men who have been heralded as “geniuses” over the years.

The Greatest Showman

Part of the pushback to the movie (which didn’t impact box-office very much, it seems) has been that the portrait of P.T. Barnum it paints isn’t super-realistic. Features like this show the true story of one aspect the movie takes liberties with.

All The Money In the World

A new trailer came out shortly after the movie was released highlighting the tension between the elder J. Paul Getty and the pressure to pay the ransom to release his kidnapped grandson and uses some of the positive reviews the film has garnered.

Director Ridley Scott talks more here about the speedy reshoots he undertook when he cut Kevin Spacey’s performance from the film and brought Christopher Plummer off the bench.

The Post

A new series of TV spots like this have come out since the film hit theaters that position the Washington Post reporters in the story as being on a high moral crusade to save lives and expose corruption.

The New York Times is poking a thumb in the eye of the Washington Post with a full-page ad for the book based on the “Pentagon Papers” based on the Times’ reporting, even name-dropping the film while doing so.

Nice profile here of costar Bob Odenkirk, who’s having a great year, including a substantial role in the film.

A new featurette strongly leans into how the movie is about a woman who takes charge of not just a company but also a movement, as well as focusing on the women who helped make the movie on all levels.

Molly’s Game

Another profile of the real-life Molly Bloom where she talks about the journey depicted in the film.

Bright

Though Netflix, as always, disputes the numbers, Nielsen reported the movie was watched by over 11 million people in the first three days of release. It’s worth noting that Netflix has a point and Nielsen’s measurement techniques for streaming content are far from comprehensive. Netflix apparently has faith it was a hit, though, and has already announced a sequel despite the critical beating it took.

Chris Thilk is a freelance writer and content strategist who lives in the Chicago suburbs.

Picking Up The Spare: The Last Jedi, The Killing Of A Sacred Deer and More

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

An outdoor campaign run in conjunction with Twitter rotated pictures from the movie and fan Tweets about it on giant billboards in Toronto and New York.

There’s a game called “Porg Invasion” that can be played within Facebook Instant Games, a feature the social network has been eager to promote since it means working within an environment many young users are increasingly preferring.

Director Rian Johnson gives credit here to the technical team he brought together to oversee the massive production. And he spoke here about how he made it a priority to make the movie the most inclusive of characters who were other than white males.

Costar Laura Dern has been making a few media appearances to talk about joining the series and what it was like to join such a massive production.

According to a story on MediaPost, the movie’s promotional partners spent over $27 million to help market their tie-ins.

Kelly Marie Tran continues to enjoy her moment in the sun and get a lot of mainstream attention with this interview. That she’s been seen as such a breakout by audiences and critics both for her performance and her position as a welcome bit of inclusiveness has not gone unnoticed by Disney, which released this short featurette on her casting.

The movie’s Rotten Tomatoes score has become a serious subject of debate, particularly in light of claims made by those within the alt-right movement that they’ve used bots and other tools to artificially lower the score because they’re upset at all the women in the story. This should serve as a reminder that sexism is as much a core philosophy of these jackweeds as racism.

The Killing Of A Sacred Deer

A24 is out with a slightly disturbing holiday-themed spot promoting the movie’s upcoming home video release.

Bright

Bryan Bishop at The Verge has a great piece on how Netflix used its own recommendation system and user profile targeting to display trailers and other promotions for the movie on the site itself, an effort that ran alongside the external campaign. That kind of targeting is one thing when it’s done on the wide web, it’s another when it’s contained to a platform and has a clear call to action.

Despite what has been widespread negativity from critics, Netflix is so committed to producing films on par with theatrical releases it’s already ordered a sequel. For what it’s worth, I pegged the movie as being the best chance to be the first streaming-original franchise last month.

The Post

Members of the cast talk about production here, with Hanks talking about the nerves of shooting his first emotional scene with Meryl Streep and Bob Odenkirk talking about how Hanks helped costars get used to the unconventional set director Steven Spielberg runs.

Wonder

While the movie hasn’t been the subject of much debate or conversation online, it’s been quietly consistent at the box-office, currently sitting at $111 million in sales. That shows strong word-of-mouth. Lionsgate is hoping to goose that and take advantage of the lack of “inspirational” fare in theaters right now with a new TV spot positioning it as a great holiday choice for the whole family.

The Greatest Showman

Seems James Mangold, who had experience working with star Hugh Jackman on a few different films including the last two Wolverines, came in to provide advice and support to first time director Michael Gracey as well as manage some reshoots.

Chris Thilk is a freelance writer and content strategist who lives in the Chicago suburbs.

The Greatest Showman – Marketing Recap

It’s interesting timing that a movie telling the story of how P.T. Barnum began his famous (and sometimes infamous) American Museum comes the same year the circus that for 146 years bore his name shut down. The Greatest Showman sees Hugh Jackman starring as Barnum, beginning at a low point in his life and career, suffering one setback after another. He soon devises the idea to collect oddities and people of interest and fascination under one roof, then charge admission for the public to see them.

Descriptions of the movie have been careful to use the word “inspired by” when alluding to how much of the story should be taken with a generous helping of salt. That story includes Barnum’s wife Charity (Michelle Williams) and Philip, the production assistant who joins him in his quest for show business fame (Zac Efron) as well as Anne, the young performer who catches Phillip’s eye.

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