1885 airdrop period
Generally speaking, the release date of a movie often needs to be set one year or even two years in advance, especially for commercial movies targeting the box office market. On the one hand, it is to develop a release schedule and provide guidance for the crew's shooting progress. Reference; on the other hand, in order to understand the surrounding competitors in advance, film companies communicate with each other, just like enclosing territory, announcing the ownership of the schedule early.
In addition, on the other hand, it is to carry out preliminary publicity in a planned and step-by-step manner according to the schedule..
Movie promotions in the Internet age have become more and more diverse, from posters to trailers, from viral videos to street activities, from Super Bowl ad time to YouTube video ads... and so on, the entire promotion has become three-dimensional and vivid. Come alive, the distribution department must formulate corresponding plans, and then release more news in a relaxed manner according to the progress of the crew's filming work, in order to attract the attention of the audience.
In this era of information ocean where “the smell of wine is as good as the depth of the alley”, the role of publicity is becoming more and more important. Correspondingly, the cost of publicity is also rising.——
Are there any film works that rely on word-of-mouth to achieve counterattack despite the lack of publicity? Of course, there are such dark horse miracles almost every year. With the help of social networks, those unknown and low-cost works have also won the opportunity to come forward; but in the final analysis, they are still a minority, and the power of publicity is crucial, especially for summer releases. This is especially true for commercial blockbusters.
Lack of publicity is often a precursor to a movie’s box office collapse.
By determining the schedule a year or more in advance, the publicity and distribution department can start from the early stage of preparation and casting based on the schedule, then launch the second phase of promotion based on the filming progress of the crew, and then launch the third phase based on the post-production progress. stage and subsequent publicity before the official release..
This is a huge and scientific project, and the detailed process is more professional and cumbersome than imagined..
According to the plan, "Interstellar" will be officially released on Thanksgiving this year, and Warner Bros. has also launched pre-publicity and promotion in an orderly manner; however, a series of accidents disrupted the plan. After the Oscars, after careful consideration, Warner Bros. , has officially decided to move "Interstellar" from November 7 to June 6, joining the competition for summer releases..
There is no doubt that this is the most sensational and important news before "Captain America 2" is about to kick off the summer season. Warner Bros.'s move to raise the film instantly disrupted the entire summer season..
It is true that when the release of "Captain America 2" was announced, there were still six full weeks before the release of "Captain America 2", and there were still three and a half months until the release of "Interstellar". There is still room and room for adjustment in all plans. , but for the 2014 summer season, this is still a big news that cannot be ignored. It is very likely that all major projects will be reshuffled..
Uncertainty suddenly increased, even for the "Interstellar" crew themselves.
From November 7th to June 6th, it is a full five months ahead of schedule. This also means that the promotion time is shortened by a full five months. So, is the communication effect sufficient? Are the intended effects sufficient? Is the feedback effect enough? More importantly, is there enough time to revise the promotional plan and market positioning?？
In the past, the promotion has been centered around the theme of "going home", and all aspects have been aimed at the Thanksgiving schedule, but now they have to enter the competition for summer slots. The theme of "going home" seems too warm, and the focus of promotion must be Adjust to "hard science fiction" and strive to tap the summer science fiction market.
Now we only have three and a half months to complete the preparation and preparation. It is too hasty and too urgent. Is it too late? Is the effect sufficient?？
Of course, "Interstellar" still has advantages that other movies cannot match.：
First of all, Christopher Nolan has strong appeal in the field of science fiction movies. After the continuous foreshadowing of the "Batman" series and "Inception", his name has become a hard sign, which has been continuously emphasized in the early publicity. A little bit, which established enough ferocious momentum for the movie.
Second is the influence of Renly Hall, which has been rising steadily since the Oscars ended, suppressing the reputation and popularity throughout the awards season and launching a full-scale counterattack; considering the far-reaching impact on the Sundance Film Festival, from "Explosion" The reputation of "The Drummer" exploded to the popularity of the live broadcast of the symposium. "Interstellar" had an inherent advantage early on, and its popularity and popularity reached a certain height in the first two months of 2014..
Once again, it is the return of the core theme of "going home". Even in the summer season, this theme is in line with market expectations and may unexpectedly attract family audiences other than science fiction fans. The "PG-13" rating is placed on Thanksgiving It is standard here, but it is an unexpected advantage when placed in the summer package..
However, how to superimpose and release all these advantages in three and a half months, and further evolve them into a driving force to attract audiences into the cinema, is a serious issue..
In the final analysis, the time is still too short. "Interstellar" can almost be said to be airborne on the summer release. All preparations are seriously insufficient. Compared with other competitors whose early promotions take half a year and a year, Warner Bros. The action almost pushed "Interstellar" to the edge of the cliff.
Industry insiders don’t even know if Kevin Tsujihara is taking a bold risk or losing his mind, but what is certain is that the current general view in the industry is that they have lowered expectations for the premiere box office data of "Interstellar"——
Perhaps the follow-up box office can rely on word-of-mouth advantages and the appeal of Renly and Christopher to complete a counterattack, just like the long-term explosive power of "Gravity"; but without the pull of publicity, the explosive power of the premiere box office will inevitably be directly and positively affected. These are objective circumstances that cannot be ignored.
In addition, judging from the word-of-mouth feedback from internal test screenings in early March: the overall evaluation still maintains a positive trend, and praise for Christopher and Renly still dominates; however, professionals who participated in the test screenings generally said that this It is a hard science fiction film involving profound theoretical knowledge, and the importance of theoretical knowledge exceeds that of "Inception", which also means that the audience's acceptance level needs to be higher..
To use a common saying, the popcorn index in the summer season is not high enough, and it is impossible to clearly predict how the market will respond..
Feedback from test screenings has also added further uncertainty to the summer box office prospects of "Interstellar". This can be seen clearly by referring to the summer box office of "Inception"——
2010It premiered on July 16, 2011, with a box office of 62 million during the opening weekend. The final box office in North America was 290 million and the global box office was 828 million. Overall, the premiere box office data is still low. Subsequently, relying on word-of-mouth explosion, the North American box office unfortunately failed to cross the 300 million threshold, but relied on the overseas box office to break through the 800 million feat; but the problem is that the filming locations of "Inception" involved overseas cities such as London and Paris, and These advantages no longer exist in "Interstellar".
As mentioned before when "Edge of Tomorrow" and "Gravity" were released, the box office trend of science fiction movies has begun to become unstable in recent years, and many uncertain factors may become a negative influence restricting box office growth. "Interstellar" "Time Travel" has already faced such a dilemma, and now that there is a move to raise the file, the development of the matter has added more uncertainty..
This will also become Fisher and Diesel's "hope"”——
If the final box office of "Interstellar" really fails unexpectedly, after all, the summer season is a mass grave where risks and opportunities coexist. It may soar into the sky or be shattered to pieces; then this will also become the "undefeated" career of Renly. The first flaw in "Halo" would also be the first notch for Diesel to gain some breathing space..
For Renly now, the disastrous failure of a work is not enough to shake his status in the industry, but it is undeniable that the negative impact still exists more or less objectively. What needs special attention is that the "Interstellar" The special nature of the movie brings together the grievances and grievances between Kevin Tsujihara, Thomas Tull and Renly Hall. Its box office failure will inevitably involve more power disputes..
Most importantly, this also allows studios such as Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures, Disney, etc. to gain more breathing space for Diesel when weighing the confrontation between Renly and Diesel. Not much But precious.
After suffering continuous blows, Diesel is already standing on the edge of the abyss and in a desperate situation. He must seize any chance to breathe, otherwise he may really be shattered to pieces..
Therefore, Diesel now begins to pray sincerely and devoutly: "Interstellar" must fail miserably, preferably a complete collapse; at the same time, he is looking forward to the full explosion of other summer works, and it is best to put layers of pressure on "Interstellar" The increasing pressure is squeezing the box office market bit by bit. Any work that can pose a threat to "Interstellar" will now become Diesel's ally..
Sincerely, Diesel needs to gather the essence of the sun and moon in Hollywood, and then accumulate the strength to hope to destroy Renly's "invincible halo". If possible, he is willing to go to church every week to express his sincerity.
Although Fisher thought Diesel's idea was a bit ridiculous, and that instead of expecting his opponent to fail, he should focus on himself, Diesel was still a little confused; but... if "Interstellar" really fails miserably Yes, Fisher also liked it, so he didn't stop Diesel..
Surely everything is negative?？
Obviously not！
Warner Bros. is not a fool, and the risks of raising the schedule are naturally clear, but they still chose to raise the schedule. This also sends a signal to all viewers and industry peers: We are full of confidence.！
This is an important statement for the entire film industry.
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