Week Eight- DC Entertainment to Launch Animated Movies, Shorts Around Superhero Toy Lines

From Batman to Robin Hood to The Arrow to The Flash, superheroes are getting increasingly popular among teens and young adults. Mostly due to the massive success of Marvel Studios and their extremely success Avengers franchise, which includes blockbuster films like Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and of course the record breaking 2012 movie, Avengers. Now, DC is looking to cash in on this new superhero wave by launching a series of animated shorts, stories around the superhero and their origin.

Two toy lines based on DC Comics' Justice League characters are being brought to life through animated movies and short films. "Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts" will debut May 12, and it will feature Batman and the rest of the Justice League. Warner Bros Home Entertainment will release these films on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD. They are truly trying to make this a form of media that is accessible by anyone who wished to view these films. With the combination of the toy and the film, the convergence will help sell these new films as imaginative back stories for these beloved characters. In addition to the films and toys, DC Comics will also be laughing an app in the spring to further allow fans to connect to the characters. This trifecta of advertising seems like a failproof plan, and we will have to see how well the results yield for DC Comics.

“We are excited to continue to forge new ground with our long-time partners Mattel and Fisher-Price to build on the success of these popular toy lines by bringing the play pattern to life through this original content that we will be able to offer across multiple content platforms,” said Brad Globe, president, Warner Bros. Consumer Products. Animated series are a classic way to create a demand around toys, so in this case, with the established name of Batman, they are in no rush to launch these toys for the films.

“We are thrilled to be working with our Warner Bros., Mattel and Fisher-Price colleagues to create new Batman and DC Super Friends kids’ content,” said DC Entertainment president Diane Nelson. “These new animated projects will offer all new Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman adventures that seamlessly jump from toybox to screen.” We will have to wait and see how successful this campaign is, and if it's worth the ...wait!

Article- http://variety.com/2015/biz/news/dc-entertainment-to-launch-animated-movies-shorts-around-superhero-toy-lines-exclusive-1201418664/

Graser, M. (2015, January 29). DC Entertainment to Launch Animated Movies, Shorts Around Superhero Toy Lines (EXCLUSIVE). Retrieved January 30, 2015, from http://variety.com/2015/biz/news/dc-entertainment-to-launch-animated-movies-shorts-around-superhero-toy-lines-exclusive-1201418664/

Week Seven- Why the Oscars Could Have a Problem Attracting Young Viewers

One of my favorite times of the year is finally here! Awards season is usually the January and February of a new year, and it is a time to catch up on all the films you missed in the last year,  be amazed by the amount of quality films (or lack thereof ) nominated, and make predictions of your own about who or which movie should win the coveted prize of a Golden Globe, or an Academy Award. Award shows are my personal guilty pleasure, but even I can admit that I am just a little bit disappointed by the nominees this years in the Oscars. In addition to the fact that not a single person of color is nominated for an acting award, the Academy has managed to nominate one of its "least-commercial" best picture slates ever. With six indie films and two studio features that have just opened to wide release nominated for best picture, the highest-grossing movie so far is "The Grand Budapest Hotel" at $59 million domestically, a rather modest number.

My main area of study is usually young adult films, but this week, I'm going to focus on young adults as an audience in relation to award shows and what draws them to watch these ceremonies. Last year was a record-breaking Oscars, with Ellen DeGeneres hosting, and brought in the largest amount of young viewers in recent history. In addition to Ellen, the movies nominated that year were blockbusters like "Gravity" and "The Wolf of Wall Street", which all grossed over $100 million. They could have also included movies like "Gone Girl" (which grossed $167 million), "Into the Woods"(which received a Golden Globe nomination), and especially "The Lego Movie"(which was snubbed for both Best Picture AND Best Animated Film). They're film choices really did alienate the younger audience from watching this year.

"The Oscars, like the moviemaking business, is facing an identity crisis. At least when “The Dark Knight” got snubbed, fans were outraged. If most people haven’t heard of the nominees, they aren’t going to watch, and the business will lose more young viewers to indifference, because TV and video games are engaging them in a way that the movies aren’t." All I know is that I, for one, will definitely be watching the 2015 Oscars with one question- If the Oscars won't include anything to appeal to the younger audience, and most of the films nominated are indie films thereby alienating their mainstream adult audience, who is going to watch the show?

Article- http://variety.com/2015/film/opinion/why-the-oscars-could-have-a-problem-attracting-young-viewers-1201406226/

Setoodeh, R. (2015, January 16). Why the Oscars Could Have a Problem Attracting Young Viewers. Retrieved January 23, 2015, from http://variety.com/2015/film/opinion/why-the-oscars-could-have-a-problem-attracting-young-viewers-1201406226/

Week Six- Young-Adult Flick 'The Giver' Gets Ad Campaign on Kik Messenger App

This week, we are back to watching marketers try to figure out instant messaging, and what's "hot" with the "cool kids" again! Many people have heard or have used the messaging app Kik before, and back in July, they ran their first ever ad campaign for a movie this week. A promotion for the Weinstein Company's "The Giver", this is another example of marketers attempting to find new young consumers in new ways. "The Giver" is based on a very famous young adult novel of the same name published in 1993. Through this app, people can send or "kik" these ads to their friends, and hence share them with others.

What I find interesting about this is that this is definitely not the first time we've seen advertisers interested in mobile messaging apps. Companies are now banding together with platforms like Snapchat and Tango, exploring them as possible outlets for advertisements and even selling merchandise. I know recently, one movie that teamed up with Snapchat was the movie Ouija, a horror movie that showed up in my Snapchat app and scared  the heck out of me. While my personal tastes do not lean towards horror films, I can see the clear benefits of sponsored ads with apps that many young adults use, especially for young adult films.

However, despite the benefits, many things still need to be sorted out before these mobile messaging apps become a go-to platform for marketers. Among these problems is the pricing of ads. Kik makes money off the sales of stickers. For "The Giver", the company is still figuring out how to price these types of campaigns. "I'd say the pricing model is evolving," says Heather Galt, Kik's VP of marketing. "There is a lot of debate about how we can help brands be effective," Ms. Galt said. "It's something we're having a lot of conversations about internally."

Article- http://adage.com/article/digital/weinstein-company-promotes-giver-kik-messenger-app/294298/

Willens, M. (n.d.). Weinstein Company Promotes 'The Giver' on Kik Messenger App | Digital - Advertising Age. Retrieved January 23, 2015, from http://adage.com/article/digital/weinstein-company-promotes-giver-kik-messenger-app/294298/

Week 5- Unlimited 'Interstellar' ticket offer is just brilliant marketing

I interrupt your regularly scheduled Young Adult film posting to talk about another block-buster movie that has dominated theaters everywhere! This weekend, I finally got around to watching "Interstellar", a Christopher Nolan directed film that I haven't stopped hearing about since it came out two months ago. My review? Absolutely incredible. Nolan's mind bending time-space warp film had it all- brilliant performances by Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway, mind blowing plot twists, and beautifully done CGI, so realistic that I wouldn't be surprised if Nolan actually went to Saturn to film. However, I'm not here to just review the film, so let's move on to the interesting part.

Interestingly enough, I first heard about "Interstellar" when AMC Theaters and Paramount Pictures made a daring marketing move- announcing an unlimited ticket to watch "Interstellar". Whether anyone actually buys one is irrelevant, for the inspired movie publicity behind this offer has already done its job. Why? What could they possible gain from announcing this unlimited ticket? The answer isn't to literally sell more of these tickets, but rather, the message it conveys- "Interstellar" is a movie worth watching more than once. AMC Theaters executive vice president and chief content and programming officer Elizabeth Frank even proves this point by saying “Christopher Nolan has created a masterpiece that movie fans are saying gets better every time they see it."

Paramount is committed to the marketing of this movie the likes of which we haven't seen for a while. Usually, the studios push for maybe a week or two of a barrage of publicity up to the opening weekend, and then- radio silence. With "Interstellar", the team is not slowing down. The $47 million dollar opening for Nolan's film was spectacular, and the studio is betting that the afterburn will keep the film relevant for weeks after opening weekend. Repeat viewers are needed for this to happen, so the message of the unlimited ticket is clear. Watch Interstellar multiple times, for it is that good.

Article- http://mashable.com/2014/11/17/unlimited-interstellar-ticket/

Dickey, J. (2014, November 17). Unlimited 'Interstellar' ticket offer is just brilliant marketing. Retrieved January 9, 2015, from http://mashable.com/2014/11/17/unlimited-interstellar-ticket/

Week Four- How ‘Maze Runner’ Escaped the Young Adult Franchise Curse

This interesting article talked about the kickoff of a brand new young adult franchise on the big screen- "The Maze Runner". The story of a group of teenagers struggling to survive in a deadly labyrinth, not know who they were or why they are there. This movie debuted at an impressive $81.5 million dollars globally, and one has to wonder, how did a relatively unknown film franchise do so well, in comparison to giant, successful film franchises like "The Hunger Games" and Twilight? The secret may be- a male protagonist? “It’s the first YA franchise that has a male protagonist,” said Chris Aronson, domestic distribution chief for 20th Century Fox. I assume he is talking in terms of the last two years of young adult films, which have been mostly dominated by female protagonists, for example, "Divergent", "The Hunger Games", and "Twilight". Interestingly enough, this male protagonist was inventive enough to attract roughly an equal number of men and women to theaters. Appealing to men certainly helped out the massive "Hunger Games" franchise, which had an opening crowd that was 39% male.

Another aspect that may have contributed to the film's success is the fact that the movie was marketed as an action heavy thriller. This helped it stand out from the slew of dystopian young adult adventures flooding the theaters. Taking immediate advantage of the surprise success, Fox subsequently announced a sequel, "Maze Runner: Scorch Trials", which will open in fall of 2015.

“I don’t know what the batting average is for other genres, but young adult films are a relatively new thing and they may just be having more attention paid to them,” said Ben Carlson, co-creator of the social media tracking service Fizziology. “If you compare it to science fiction or R-rated comedies, it’s probably a similar batting average.” I can be hard to make any movie really stand out in the age of Twitter, Youtube, and other entertainments.

One thing we know for certain- "The Maze Runner" franchise will certainly grow to become a formidable contender in the growing genre of Young Adult films.

Article- http://variety.com/2014/film/news/maze-runner-box-office-young-adult-franchise-1201310300/ 

Lang, B. (2014, September 21). How 'Maze Runner' Escaped the Young Adult Franchise Curse. Retrieved January 9, 2015, from http://variety.com/2014/film/news/maze-runner-box-office-young-adult-franchise-1201310300/