X-men First Class Sequels?

[def28]

Originally Posted by X-Maniac

There were some crappy posters for First Class, and McAvoy gave a very half-hearted interview on the Graham Norton Show in the UK.

Marketing was much better for Avengers, though it also the advantage of five years of build-up.

I rather suspect that some of the money for marketing First Class was diverted into completing the film to meet the deadline, though that is just my suspicion for the cause of the low-key promotion.

True but so were some of the Aveneger posters, I thought the main one sucked. The trailers were in full effect as were the tv spots for FC. Fox does far from a bad job. They do need to start marketing a lil sooner but really they just need someone else to design their posters.

Originally Posted by X-Maniac

Considering Fox has X-Men and ALL associated mutants (that's a helluva lot of characters in many different series), plus Fantastic Four (including Skrulls, Silver Surfer), and also Daredevil, the attempt at creating a movie universe has been dreadful.

Even the X-Men films themselves have been done one at a time, with no planning or mapping out of the franchise. Hence the inconsistencies and continuity issues. Not a good way to organise a superhero series. The studio has not exploited the potential of what it owns at all.

Exactly. They have so much they could do even with X men stories crossing into eachother and setting up new villains/plot lines.

Originally Posted by X-Maniac

Depends what sort of heavy sci-fi. I wouldn't want aliens in First Class. They are more for follow-ups to The Last Stand.

Yeah Im talking Aliens more within X Men films in general not for FC. I think Sentinels or the idea of Sentinels should absolutly be set up in FC.

[magneto23]

Originally Posted by X-Maniac

Even the X-Men films themselves have been done one at a time, with no planning or mapping out of the franchise. Hence the inconsistencies and continuity issues. Not a good way to organise a superhero series. The studio has not exploited the potential of what it owns at all.

QFT. As an X-men fan its really disappointing. I don't know what the suits at FOX are thinking. They can pull 7 or 8 movies, with connecting story lines, from this universe EASY.

[Majik1387]

They tried, it's just the fact they had an overall horrible creative team in the higher positions and produced crappy movies that they're just starting fresh.

[Mrs Vimes]

Originally Posted by Angamb

The main thing Fox can learn from Marvel and The avengers is how to make an EPIC final battle.

I imagine though that The Avengers had a budget to make that epic final battle possible; I don't know if Fox would spend as much on an X-Men movie. Especially when none of them come close to what The Avengers are going to earn at the global box-office.

[CB Fan]

^ That's because they don't understand that they need to let the directors do their job and that they need to spend money to make money. I don't like Singer but I do acknowledge that he had the hardest job bringing these movies to life because he had to constantly warp his vision to the small budget FOX gave him. Another reason the Avengers makes more is because Marvel isn't holding back when it comes to the stories they tell, I already said that I refuse to get too deep into the Fantasy debate in x-men but what we have seen in film is but a fraction of what the x-men can be and the GA can feel something missing.

[Loganbabe]

Originally Posted by def28

Fox markets the X movies pretty good imo

The marketing for First Class was maybe one of the worst I've seen in recent years, for a film of that magnitude which was supposed to represent a well-loved and important franchise.

The posters were crap, the film stills/promo shots released to the press were just four or five with no great quality and were used ad nauseam in all the magazines trying to promote the film; while The Avengers cast traveled everywhere around the world and attended lots of nice premieres, First Class had a half-baked assembly of some of the main actors as a "premiere" (not even one in London! I couldn't even believe that), no toys, no Comic Con, nothing. The only good thing was the trailer, that kind of saved the film from being completely forgotten by everybody.

Do you call this great marketing?

Originally Posted by X-Maniac

McAvoy gave a very half-hearted interview on the Graham Norton Show in the UK.

I don't know why you're putting James' interview at the Graham Norton Show into the "bad marketing" category. James did as many interviews to promote X-Men as were requested of him, always talking at length about the film, Charles and Erik's relationship, etc. He's always helpful and enthusiastic when he is promoting his films, so why are you singling him out?

[def28]

Originally Posted by Loganbabe

The marketing for First Class was maybe one of the worst I've seen in recent years, for a film of that magnitude which was supposed to represent a well-loved and important franchise.

The posters were crap, the film stills/promo shots released to the press were just four or five with no great quality and were used ad nauseam in all the magazines trying to promote the film; while The Avengers cast traveled everywhere around the world and attended lots of nice premieres, First Class had a half-baked assembly of some of the main actors as a "premiere" (not even one in London! I couldn't even believe that), no toys, no Comic Con, nothing. The only good thing was the trailer, that kind of saved the film from being completely forgotten by everybody.

Do you call this great marketing?

Ive seen way worse, The Avnegers posters are nothing to go crazy about. They did promote the hell out of it though. The Trailers and tv spots for FC were all well done and there were quite a few released. I saw some really good interviews with Fassbender and McAvoy during the release. I agree with them having better marketing but that shouldnt be were they take note from what The Avengers has done. They should have known they ****ed up with the posters when your cast is talking **** as well as the fan base. I think the rushing of FC had alot to do with how they marketed it. They didnt have time to develop toys etc. Like their movies, Fox hasnt planned well in the past with this franchise. They just want something out. Hopefully that changes.

[blueserenity]

Originally Posted by def28

Ive seen way worse, The Avnegers posters are nothing to go crazy about. They did promote the hell out of it though. The Trailers and tv spots for FC were all well done and there were quite a few released. I saw some really good interviews with Fassbender and McAvoy during the release. I agree with them having better marketing but that shouldnt be were they take note from what The Avengers has done. They should have known they ****ed up with the posters when your cast is talking **** as well as the fan base. I think the rushing of FC had alot to do with how they marketed it. They didnt have time to develop toys etc. Like their movies, Fox hasnt planned well in the past with this franchise. They just want something out. Hopefully that changes.

Yeah um I'm not sure how you can compare THIS:

to THIS:


XMFC got like no promotion. I mean when did the very first trailer premiere? One month before release? Mayyyybe two? In the meantime we got this. I thought it was a bad photoshop some fan had thrown together. Nope, FOX paid money for this. It's no wonder McAvoy (and possibly Fassbender?) was rendered pretty speechless when presented with it in an interview.

Avengers had massive, maaaaaassive marketing. It's been hyped since, as someone said, Iron Man 1. Set photos were leaked beginning something like 2 years ago. Interviews began ages ago with actors as individuals and in groups. In cities nowadays and for months before release, it was hard to walk 20 feet without encountering a bus, trashcan, billboard, or other form of advertising for Avengers. I can't even fathom how much they spent on it.

FOX had nothing and didn't seem to even WANT to promote this film. And as someone pointed out, they ran overtime and had to spend an extra 20M. As that poster said, it's not a stretch to conclude that that money came from the marketing budget. :/

[CB Fan]

Fox seems to have a short time limit on getting these things out, shorter than the Fantastic Four and Daredevil at least, so the best thing for them to do is to decide if First Class is a reboot or not if not then they need to pull a Universal and while doing a First Class sequel aslo start planning and maping out a definate reboot featuring the mutants the GA knows and will pay to see (Cyke, Jean, Storm, Wolverine) to launch sometime in the future.

[def28]

Not a fair comparison blueserenity, Thats not the main First Class poster. Yeah those posters are ****. and The Avengers Poster rips off Watchmen. Look them up and compare. Avengers looks fairly photoshopped as well imo. This poster below is not that bad and fits the other X Films. The teaser poster with an X is not that bad as well. Im not saying its genius marketing but saying they didnt put anything out is not true. They also put out quite a few character ones besides the Mags and Charles. The designs show Fox has bad taste in poster designs. They put out plenty posters, spots and trailers. Actualuy they pushed the film before it came out with a ****load of tv spots. And those all were well received. They didnt ignore that the film was coming out.

[Mrs Vimes]

I didn't follow the promotion of XMFC at all (I'm one of the people who had zero interest in the movie before getting pulled in by positive reviews), but if I saw that poster above it wouldn't in any way inspire me to check it out. It's boring and bland and has a bunch of anonymous-looking characters walking sideways, wooo the excitement. It tells me nothing about the plot or characters or what kind of movie this is, there's nothing for the eye to latch on. And speaking as a girl, you wouldn't even know from the poster that the two male leads are attractive as heck

The Avengers poster is not going to win poster awards of the year or anything, but at least it's colourful and has explosions and some promise of exciting stuff in the background instead of just big blue nothing, and has the sense to focus on the most marketable character and actor from the team, i.e. Iron Man.

[Majik1387]

Yea, those silhouette posters were very disappointing to the few of us who were excited for the movie.

[def28]

Originally Posted by Mrs Vimes

It's boring and bland and has a bunch of anonymous-looking characters walking sideways, wooo the excitement. It tells me nothing about the plot or characters or what kind of movie this is, there's nothing for the eye to latch on.

Thats kinda how all the X Posters look. There usually silver/blue with an X and people standing or walking. Its not great but its far from those horrible silhouettes. A poster has never got me to a theatre.

The first trailer as well as This tv spot....

VIDEO-CLick to Watch!:

and positive reviews are what got me to a midnight showing. They had plenty of advertising. Well done Trailers, Over 20 tv spots plus character trailers and featurettes to get my attention. If they had better posters and were able to release a trailer sooner I would have had little to complain about.

[X-Maniac]

Originally Posted by Loganbabe

I don't know why you're putting James' interview at the Graham Norton Show into the "bad marketing" category. James did as many interviews to promote X-Men as were requested of him, always talking at length about the film, Charles and Erik's relationship, etc. He's always helpful and enthusiastic when he is promoting his films, so why are you singling him out?

I'm singling it out because it was one of the only publicity events in the UK. There was no UK premiere, no UK press conference.

All we had was McAvoy on the Graham Norton Show and writers Stentz/Miller at the London MCM Expo comic-con. If there was anything else, it was so off the radar that I missed it.

And yet McAvoy didn't exactly 'sell' the film, he just went on about how his mutant powers were crappy compared with everyone else's. I expected a little more enthusiasm and excitement - about being in a film that showed how it all began, about playing a younger version of a role brought to life iconically by Patrick Stewart, about inserting the story into real-world history, etc etc.

I know this is going to turn into you getting all defensive and upset and claiming 'everyone hates James' but this isn't about taking sides and I don't have any bias against McAvoy, it's about what I saw on that chat show and how lacklustre it was. For a film that was already being poorly marketed, that interview didn't really help. I would say the same if it was Lawrence, Fassbender, January Jones, whoever, on that show in James's place.

[Mrs Vimes]

Originally Posted by X-Maniac

And yet McAvoy didn't exactly 'sell' the film, he just went on about how his mutant powers were crappy compared with everyone else's.

I remember him call his powers "crappy" in the later Graham Norton show a few months after the theatrical release. But in that earlier episode, he just says that though the movie is an action blockbuster it's the other characters who get to do the ninja action stuff and he just sits there (tapping the side of his head). In response to Norton's remark that he's not really as kick ass as everyone else in the movie, so it's not like he just went off about it out of nowhere. I'm not sure why his entire talk about the movie in that episode should be boiled down to just that.

And having seen the show I'd agree that James was rather subdued, but that whole episode was pretty much about Liza Minelli worship really.

[X-Maniac]

Originally Posted by Mrs Vimes

I remember him call his powers "crappy" in the later Graham Norton show a few months after the theatrical release. But in that earlier episode, he just says that though the movie is an action blockbuster it's the other characters who get to do the ninja action stuff and he just sits there (tapping the side of his head). In response to Norton's remark that he's not really as kick ass as everyone else in the movie, so it's not like he just went off about it out of nowhere. I'm not sure why his entire talk about the movie in that episode should be boiled down to just that.

And having seen the show I'd agree that James was rather subdued, but that whole episode was pretty much about Liza Minelli worship really.

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh (and maybe he was tired and having an off-day), I just didn't sense much enthusiasm in that interview and I felt disappointed by the whole thing.

[Loganbabe]

Originally Posted by X-Maniac

I know this is going to turn into you getting all defensive and upset and claiming 'everyone hates James' but this isn't about taking sides and I don't have any bias against McAvoy, it's about what I saw on that chat show and how lacklustre it was.

No, I don't think that everybody hates him and what I said wasn't about taking sides, I just wanted to understand why you singled out James' appearance on that show when he gave so many nice interviews talking about the film and the character(s) before that.

I think that the show was a Liza Minelli lovefest and Graham wasn't really interested in talking about First Class. Plus, I think that GN is a totally different chat show from the more "professional" American ones, where everything seems to follow a script and the actor is there only to promote a film - like the First Class cast did in Good Morning America (I think). It's crazier and less serious. Maybe James didn't do a good job promoting the film there, but it wasn't the only thing he did. And one single chat show that didn't work out greatly as a piece of marketing can't be included as one of the reasons of how massively Fox failed First Class.

[X-Maniac]

Originally Posted by Loganbabe

No, I don't think that everybody hates him and what I said wasn't about taking sides, I just wanted to understand why you singled out James' appearance on that show when he gave so many nice interviews talking about the film and the character(s) before that.

I was hoping for a bit more enthusiasm and, being in the UK, it was the only TV interview about the film that I saw on terrestrial television.

I will concede the show does have a frivolous/comedic/light approach and that we weren't going to get in-depth, serious, lengthy coverage, but it seemed a missed opportunity.

I think that the show was a Liza Minelli lovefest and Graham wasn't really interested in talking about First Class. Plus, I think that GN is a totally different chat show from the more "professional" American ones, where everything seems to follow a script and the actor is there only to promote a film - like the First Class cast did in Good Morning America (I think). It's crazier and less serious. Maybe James didn't do a good job promoting the film there, but it wasn't the only thing he did. And one single chat show that didn't work out greatly as a piece of marketing can't be included as one of the reasons of how massively Fox failed First Class.

Yes, it was a bit focused on Minnelli, although a skilled interviewer (and even james) could have turned that into something that benefited X-Men too. Graham/James could have asked what mutant power Liza would like, James could have said how he had his own divas to deal with in X-Men, etc.

I agree this one chat show isn't a major factor in the failed marketing, but it could have been better and I had hoped James might be more enthusiastic in promoting the film.

[psylockolussus]

Originally Posted by Majik1387

Yea, those silhouette posters were very disappointing to the few of us who were excited for the movie.

Yeah the character posters (like for Mystique, Emma Frost, Havok, etc.) were terrible too.

[Majik1387]

I liked those solo ones honestly. I didn't think they were great or anything, but I liked them.

[OsGom]

Originally Posted by X-Maniac

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh (and maybe he was tired and having an off-day), I just didn't sense much enthusiasm in that interview and I felt disappointed by the whole thing.

Honestly I can understand why James feels the way that he does. To this point the films haven't demonstrated the dynamic nature of psychic power. Hopefully they change that in the near future but they haven't made Professor X the psychic badass he should be.

[Loganbabe]

^ And it didn't help that the telepathic battle, his greatest action scene, was cut.

James has every right to feel a little disappointed by some things. He's only human after all. I think he tried his best to promote the film, but maybe it came to a point where no one in the media was really interested in Charles Xavier, only in the other protagonist.

[psylockolussus]

Maybe in the sequel, we would see him and Emma fight in a psychic battle!

[Majik1387]

I'm hoping an astral projection battle happens between them.

[psylockolussus]

Originally Posted by def28

True but so were some of the Aveneger posters, I thought the main one sucked. The trailers were in full effect as were the tv spots for FC. Fox does far from a bad job. They do need to start marketing a lil sooner but really they just need someone else to design their posters.

I actually expected better from the posters of The Avengers.

The first few posters really disappointed me especially the ones that had a black background. The main poster only looks good now because I'm already used to it but they could have done better in my opinion.