1. LO3 ESSAY
In thisessayI will be discussinghowabigblockbusterfilmsuchas‘CaptainAmericaFirstAvenger’is
financedandhowitis marketed.The marketingstrategiesof certaintypesof filmcanchange and
alternate butwhenthere isa big blockbusterinvolved,the marketingistrulyextensive.
The newhighlyanticipated action/adventure‘CaptainAmericaFirstAvenger’whichwasreleasedin
cinemasnationwide inJulywhichreachedastaggering $65,058,524 on itsopeningweekend,justin
America!Thisbigbudgetfilm’sworldwide grosswas$368,608,363...Worldwide;thisishowever
expectedwhenafilmhasabudgetof $140,000,000! With a filmwithabudgetsuch as thisitis vital
that theymake muchmore moneysothisiswhere the marketingof a filmcomesintoplay,they
have to getthe filmadvertisedasmuchas possible.
Whichtheydid.
Thisis the firstposterwhichwasusedto advertise
CaptainAmericaandas you can see thisposteris
intenselygripping.We all knowCaptainAmericafrom
our childhoodandwhenwordcame outthat it was
goingto be made intoa HollywoodBlockbuster,they
was greatanticipation,especiallysince itwasbeing
directedbyJoe Johnston.
On the posterwe can see that the backgroundis
extremelydarkandominous whichaddsa much
darkerfeel tothe childhoodclassicthusthe rating12
whichwe knowitis aimedat a much olderaudience
than the cartoon.His clothesare fairlydarkand we
can’t reallysee muchof hisface but whatdoesstand
out the mostis the shieldwhichwe all know andlove.The coloursof the shieldare sovibrantwhich
reallyget’sourheartspumping,the textisbigandboldand to the point.Thisposteralreadyhasus
grippedandintenselywaitingthe release of the filmandit’s
onlythe firstone.
The firstofficial trailerforCaptainAmericaairedduringthe
superbowl inthe USA whichinstantlygrippedfansand
before we knew itthe trailerwasnationwidehittingoutTV
setsand all overthe web. We thengot floodedonline by
viral ad’s and bannerseverywhere fromFacebookto
YouTube,the Facebookpage insetshowshow thousandsof
fanswere keepinguptodate on the release of the film
online onthe social networkingsite Facebook.The page
showedthe latestinofficial trailersandposters. Byhavinga
Facebookpage andonline viral adsitshowsthat the
producerand marketingcompanyhave thoughtcarefully
aboutthe relationsbetweentheirtargetaudience andthe
waytheyhave marketedthisfilm.Itshowsthatthe filmis
aimedmainlyatteenagerssobyhavingviral advertsonsocial networkingsitesisappealingtotheir

2. target audience. Notonlywere theyacrossthe internetbutadvertisementswereacrossall
billboardsandanyavailable advertisementspace.
I personallythinkthatthe waythatthe filmhas beenmarketedisabigcontributingfactoras to why
the filmhasdone so well atthe box office because we saw the advertswhichaddedtothe
anticipationof the filmwhichsentpeople nationwidetothe cinematowatch it.
The producerhas appealedtothe female audience byincludingthe heartthrobwhichisChrisEvans,
thisappealstothe female audience because theyare muchmore likelytowatcha filmif there isan
attractive character especiallyinanactionfilm. Thistheorymainlyappealstoteenage girlsandthey
are the femaleswhichare mainlyinterestedinthe big
handsome charactersbecause notonlydotheyget the
chance to go to the cinematolookinawe at thembutthey
alsoget to getaway withitif theyare withtheirboyfriend.
Thisis alsohow bigfamousmovie starsbuildupsuch a
large fan base byusingsex appeal asa strategyto get
audiencesintocinemasandtobuythe films.Sobyhaving
an attractive leadmale inCaptainAmericathiswill bringin
a large range of demographicsbecause itappealstomales
(especiallycomicbooklovers) withthe violence andthe
incrediblestoryline whichhasbuiltupthe majorityof the
anticipationandalsoitappealstofemalesbecause of the
attractive leadmale role whichwill have themonthe edge
of theirseatsastheywatch himbeingheroicandmanly.

3. Alsoaroundthe same time of this release there were alsotwootherreleases,‘The Thing’and’50-
50’. Althoughtheywere bothreleasedatthe same time one didmilesbetterthanthe other,‘The
Thing’whichisa prequel tothe classichorror filmwhich
was releasedin1982 directedbyJohnCarpentercame
back withpoorreviewsandthisshowedinthe box office
views.There couldbe manyreasonstowhythisfilmdid so
badlybutin my opinionIthinkthatthisisbecause of the
wayin whichthe filmwasmarketed.Althoughwe saw
billboardsandvariousviral advertisementsIdon’tthinkwe
saw enoughtelevisedadvertisementswhichisawell
knownwayto advertise upcomingfilmswhicheveryone
knowsisa strong wayto marketa film.Anotherbigreason
to thisisthe actors inwhichtheyused,notfor theiracting
abilitybutsimplybecause the actorsusedaren’tknownfor
the horror genre and alsotheyaren’treallybigstarsand
witha filmof such magnitude youexpectthe bignames
stars. Forexample one of the maincharacters‘Joel
Edgerton’ has appearedinfilmslike‘KingArthur’ and‘The
Warrior’ whichare actionfilmssoby puttinghimina
horror filmalot of uncertaintyisaround.The actress ‘Mary ElizabethWinstead’isknownforfilms
like ‘ScottPilgrimVSthe World’and‘Die Hard 4.0’ both aren’thorrorfilmsandare infact action
filmswhichaddstothe pessimisticviewsonthe film.Sowe begintoquestionwhetherornotthis
filmisa horror filmorwhetheritisan action filmjusttryingtobe a horror,thisis a big essential
pointwhichaddsa lot of negativityaroundthe film.
Where ‘The Thing’failed,’50-50’prevailedwithmarketing aswe saw thisfilmeverywhere!On
television,billboards,posters,phone boxes,busesandevenhearditonthe radio.In my opinionthis
iswhy the viewsfromthe box office came backso goodbecause
everyone wasconstantlyhearingaboutthisfilm.Thisbacksupmy
theorythat the wayin whicha filmis marketedincreasesthe
amountof viewsitgetsinthe cinemabecause thisfilmdidmiles
betterat box office thanthe thing.Alsothe reasonasthe why
thisfilmdidsowell isbecause of the starsin whichare used,they
usedactors whichfitperfectlywiththe rolesinwhichtheyplay
and theyare keptwiththe roleswe know themso well as.One of
the maincharacters inthis filmis‘JosephGordon-levitt’,astar
whichisthe main charactersof filmssuchas ‘500 Days of
Summer’andthe series‘3rd
Rock fromthe Sun’,whichwe both
knowso well forthe comedyspinoff butwiththe love side toit.
He fitsthisrole sowell asin the filmhe isa 27 year oldman who
has beendiagnosedwithcancerandthe chances are slimso we
witnesshimtryingtodeal withthe factthe endcouldbe nearbut
he managesto keep comedyaboutit.The reasonto whichthisis
alsoan extremelyfunnyfilmisbecause hisco-star‘SethRogen’whowe all love andknow sowell for

4. beingthe stonermate whose oftenanunkemptman/childwholovestosmoke weedinevery
situation. He hashad mainrolesinfilmssuchas ‘Pineapple Express’,‘Knockedup’and‘The Green
Hornet’all are ridiculouslyfunnyfilmssowe were all anticipatingthe levelof humourthathe would
bringto thisfilm.
In conclusionIthinkthatthe way inwhichyoumarket a filmandthe stars whichare usedcan
completelydependonhowwell the filmdoesinbox office asif yourfilmismarketedpoorlyandthe
actors useddon’tfitinwell withthe genre of the filmthenyourfilmwill notdoaswell asfilms
whichmanage to do thiswell. Ialsothinkthatto marketa filmwell youmustcoverall areasof
advertisingfromonline viral videostothe side of buses.Inthe modernday,advertisement isabig
keyfactor to sellinganythingwhichisessentiallywhatdirectorsandproducersare tryingtodo so
theyneedtoget theiradvertisementtothe tee.