The unexpected online leak of the unedited version became a promotional point pushed by Duke and Warner Bros., but the film's regular publicity was also strong enough.
How can one ensure a movie becomes a box office hit? This is a question being studied across the global film industry.
The content of the film, the actors, and the director are of course very important, but the necessary exposure and publicity before the release are also absolutely essential. Especially under the current nearly white-hot competition, if a film wants to avoid being buried among hundreds of others, marketing and publicity might even become the decisive factor.
In Hollywood, for super blockbusters like Iron Man, with a total investment close to $250 million, the marketing and publicity costs usually account for about 50% of the total budget.
Although according to the usual practice of film marketing and promotion, this $100 million publicity budget also includes a certain proportion of advertisement resource exchange costs, where the production and distribution sides can exchange ad resources using character images and film copyrights meaning they don't really spend the full $100 million in cash it's already a market norm that the publicity expenses of Hollywood commercial films take up 30% to 50% of the total investment.
Cases where mediocre-quality films succeed through strong promotion are not rare in Hollywood. Moreover, in recent years, Hollywood marketing has shown two major trends.
First, film marketing directly influences or even determines a film's box office success or failure. Second, hard promotion via online media is increasingly being used in film marketing and promotional activities, gradually forming a multimedia, multi-platform publicity concept of "new media social marketing + traditional media hard advertising" in terms of media channel selection.
Multimedia combined application has already become a must for every commercial film. Under such a background, distribution parties with powerful media resources and the ability to form strong media service platforms naturally become the top tier in the entire industry chain.
For example, the previously unfair distribution contract between Pixar Studios and Walt Disney, or the current cooperation between Marvel Studios and Warner Bros.
Do these companies really not want to distribute the films they produce themselves and instead hand over a large distribution fee?
The answer is clearly no. But while publicity looks simple, doing it right is a long-term process, requiring an enormous amount of manpower and resources.
The traditional six major Hollywood studios besieged DreamWorks not on production—but because they couldn't limit DreamWorks too much in production—but rather in its distribution channels.
Nowadays, the freedom and immediacy of online media often bring huge advantages to publicity parties.
In the leaked version, there was a scene of Robert Downey Jr. wearing a motion capture suit, performing an attack action in front of a green screen. Duke then released a 30-second completed special effects version. For those who had watched the leaked version online, this was entirely brand-new content: Tony Stark transformed into Iron Man, blasted a tank with one shot, and walked away without even looking back at the explosion—cool and overwhelming.
Just as Duke released the video clip on Instant Share, Warner Bros. immediately followed up with a publicity push. Online, there appeared many similar commentaries and reports such as: "Iron Man is no paper tiger. Land, sea, and air forces are no match for him."
Not to mention those contents directly related to the film even things that seemed unrelated were also used for hype.
For example, the female lead Rachel McAdams, who had recently been hospitalized due to stress from work, was dragged into the media cycle by Warner's publicity staff.
"According to reports, Rachel McAdams was in poor health when admitted. As she could no longer walk, her boyfriend had to push her into the emergency room in a wheelchair. Sources from the hospital revealed that the actress's body had been in a sub-health state for a long time due to the immense time and effort she invested in Iron Man, which eventually led to…"
During the period leading up to the release of Iron Man, besides follow-up reports on the early leak incident, the media was flooded with various stories about the film, making it impossible not to attract attention.
In Duke's view, all conditions were developing in a favorable direction.
It was under these circumstances that the early ticket pre-ordering for Iron Man officially began in its first week.
After work on Friday, Drake returned home and immediately turned on his computer. He remembered clearly that Iron Man's ticket pre-ordering started today. Ever since watching the leaked version online, he had been eager to watch the completed version. Especially with all the news surrounding the incident lately, he had been constantly reminded.
As soon as the computer booted up, Drake went straight to IMDb and clicked into the ticket booking section.
Sure enough, Iron Man was prominently displayed at the top. Without hesitation, Drake clicked on the related pre-order link.
"What?"
With just one glance, the guy's jaw dropped. Unlike Batman Begins, Iron Man had many early screenings starting Thursday. Of course he wanted to watch it as soon as possible.
Drake lived near the San Francisco Bay, one of the busiest areas in the Greater San Francisco region, with many cinemas. But to his surprise, several cinemas near his home showed no available tickets for the early screenings of Iron Man on IMDb…
How could this be possible? The presale had only started for one day!
"IMDb's system must have a glitch."
With this thought in mind, Drake closed IMDb and opened Box., which also offered movie ticket reservations.
However, after clicking the relevant link, Drake was once again disappointed. It also proved that IMDb's system was working just fine the early screenings of Iron Man in theaters near his home had already sold out!
"Why is that?"
Drake found it strange. The film had already leaked in advance, so why were people still scrambling for tickets like he was?
He hadn't really thought much about that yet.
Tickets at cinemas in bustling locations were hard to come by, but those in less desirable areas definitely wouldn't be so tight. Drake knew this well. Although those theaters were a bit too far from his place, he really wanted to see Iron Man as early as possible. In the end, he had no choice but to reserve a ticket for an early screening at a suburban theater.
No matter what, in Drake's eyes, being able to reserve a ticket for an early screening and watch the finalized version of Iron Man as soon as possible was worth it.
Not far from the place Drake was renting, at a cinema run by the Imperial Entertainment Group, Eliza Wood had just started her night shift. She was mainly responsible for answering calls and handling ticket reservations.
"Hello, this is the Imperial Theater of San Francisco Bay..."
While answering the phone, Eliza Wood was also checking the internal ticketing system via computer. "I'm sorry, the early screening of Iron Man next Thursday is sold out. I recommend you choose Friday or Saturday. Friday night? Four tickets? Okay, no problem. Thank you for calling, goodbye."
She had just hung up when the phone rang again. Just like last time, the caller wanted to book tickets for Iron Man.
Within less than five minutes, Eliza Wood had answered at least ten calls, eight of which were related to Iron Man.
Eliza Wood couldn't help but feel curious. She had worked at the cinema for several years and had seen films leak in advance before. After their official release, such films wouldn't be completely ignored, but the attendance usually wasn't great. Yet Iron Man not only remained unaffected, but its reservations were unexpectedly booming.
What was going on here?
Even by the time she got off work, Eliza Wood still hadn't figured it out.
The reservation data from cinemas under the Imperial Entertainment Group would be sent to regional branches in real time. The branches would then compile and send them to the company's headquarters. The headquarters would make screening forecasts and adjustments based on the varying pre-sale situations.
On Saturday morning, the pre-sale statistics from Friday were delivered to the headquarters of Imperial Entertainment Group.
"Never underestimate Duke Rosenberg and his movies."
Looking at the statistical report in front of him, Lynch, the head of the company's theater division, said to CEO Robert, "We need to adjust our strategy."
"We definitely need to change our approach toward Iron Man," Robert nodded slightly.
It was impossible for the leak not to affect theater companies. Imperial Entertainment was also worried that Iron Man's box office would take a huge hit. They had even secretly planned that if attendance for the early screenings was poor, they would reduce the film's screening slots during the weekend.
But as it turned out, their worries were a bit excessive.
"According to yesterday's pre-sale statistics, the leak not only didn't drag down Iron Man, but the early screenings even exceeded our highest expectations."
After putting down the report, Lynch added, "As of midnight last night, the average ticket sales rate for Iron Man's early screenings at Imperial Entertainment theaters exceeded 60%, and in some popular areas, tickets had already been completely sold out in advance."
Robert chuckled, "That's only the first day of pre-sale. That number will definitely continue to rise."
"Duke Rosenberg and Warner Bros. really pulled off a brilliant strategy."
At this point, Lynch suddenly had a thought. He slightly lowered his voice and said, "Could this all be a deliberate marketing tactic on their part?"
Upon hearing this, Robert seriously considered it and said, "It's not out of the question. Based on the pre-sale performance, this could very well be considered a classic case of film marketing."
Of course, not everyone could access the pre-sale data in time, nor could they form a clear judgment based on it.
At the Waldorf Hotel in Manhattan, New York, an upper-class party was underway. Irene lauder stood in a corner of the banquet hall, chatting with a few friends about topics of mutual interest. Suddenly, a somewhat familiar voice sounded nearby. The voice was a bit loud and quite presumptuous, prompting her to turn and take a look.
.....
Hi For access to additional chapters of
Director in Hollywood (40 chpaters)
Made In Hollywood (60 Chapters)
Pokemon:Bounty Hunter(30 Chapters)
Douluo Dalu: Reincarnated as Yan(40 Chapters)
Hollywood:From Razzie to Legend(40 Chapters)
The Great Ruler (30 Chapters)
Join pateron.com/Translaterappu