Will the Million-Dollar Marketing and PR Campaign for Watchmen Pay off this Weekend?
If the intensity of the marketing campaign for Warner Brothers’ Watchmen is any indication, then the studio is surely pouring all its publicity might into the superhero action film.
The question remains though: will it pay off? Reuters reporting that the studio has high hopes for the film, and expects it to yield a respectable $60 million over the weekend.
In terms of critical reviews, the movie has already gotten opening weekend blessings from the BBC, which labels the movie as untypical of superhero movies and lauds it as “very grown up”.
Joshua Rich of Entertainment Weekly predicts that the movie will inevitably sit at the number one spot, partly thanks to its status as one of the most long-awaited and formerly extremely elusive transition to the big screen, while pointing out that its 180 minute or so running time might actually do it a disservice. But if Steven Soderbergh’s Che biopic Guerilla conquered the world at four hours, surely Watchmen can too. It is about superheroes, after all.
MTV the ultimate hoarder of males 18-34 wrote a glittered review of the action film, written by the most serious journalist on its pop culture pundit roster, Mr. Kurt Loder. Weeks before the movie was featured on the network’s “Spoilers” episode, which of course was another marketing coup.
But by far, most agree that the biggest boost that the movie will get will no doubt from the zillion IMAX screens on which the movie will be shown.
Developing…
Should Movie Studios Pay Bloggers to Talk About Their Movies?
One of the most debated subjects in the blogosphere is the pay per post model, in which influential and of course up-and-coming bloggers, are wooed either with money or goodies to introduce a product to their blog’s audience.
Should movie marketers make that part of their movie marketing and PR campaigns?
Judging from wisdom of the most prominent social marketing and web pundits, the answer would seem to be an overwhelming ‘No’.
Former Techcrunch editor Marshall Kirkpatrick is miffed that Forrester Research’s lenghty report slants towards favoring this practice in any shape or form.
David Griner of Adweek’s Adfreak blog seems to be a little less reserved, pointing out that he sees nothing wrong with throwing freebies at bloggers, but then adds that however, “when there’s a direct quid pro quo for coverage, you’ve got a recipe for eroded credibility on both sides.”
FishBowlNY took a poll, asking for reader feedback about whether paying a blogger for writing content and coverage is appropriate, and the votes were actually split between the two choices.
Web Pro News was actually somewhat reluctant in putting in its two cents, and instead chose to act as referee in the ongoing debate about whether bloggers should be courted with Benjamins.
Other observers favor the practice, but with a caveat.
The thing about the movie industry, unlike other industries, is that it’s practically impossible to pay your way to a good review or a fawning mention. If a movie sucks terribly, even the most intrepid blogger will not be forced to applaud. And if he or she does, there goes that individual’s credibility.
Pic via Google Images