BvS Batman V Superman Box Office Prediction - - - - - - Part 15

[Flint Marko]

The Avengers had a $150 million advertising budget? Geez.

 

[superion]

Lookup this term, "inflation". The cost of business goes up massively each year and Avengers was one of the first massive tent-pole CBMs to go over $150m for advertising, hence, other studios followed suit. It's a riskier move that hasn't worked out for a few CBMs this one included. Sometimes that massive marketing push gets the public hyped and your movie delivers. Other times it's just the icing on the cake of failure and you end up making a deal with Marvel Studios so they can make a proper move with a beloved character their studio almost ruined.

That's not really inflation so much as studios losing control of their spending. The inflation rate in the US has been less than 2% over the past 4 years. I can see increasing ad budgets by $10 to $20 million but $50 million seems excessive.

The campaign worked for the first Avengers movie but given that it operated as the 6th movie in a string of interconnected movies I don't think such a large ad budget was needed for it to be a success. Same with BvS. People had been talking about this film for the past 3 years since they announced it. Just about anyone interested in seeing the movie already had some knowledge of it and spending all the extra ad dollars was overkill.

 

[Gerontophobe]

That's not really inflation so much as studios losing control of their spending. The inflation rate in the US has been less than 2% over the past 4 years. I can see increasing ad budgets by $10 to $20 million but $50 million seems excessive.

The campaign worked for the first Avengers movie but given that it operated as the 6th movie in a string of interconnected movies I don't think such a large ad budget was needed for it to be a success. Same with BvS. People had been talking about this film for the past 3 years since they announced it. Just about anyone interested in seeing the movie already had some knowledge of it and spending all the extra ad dollars was overkill.

The marketing budgets are always a little screwy though because a healthy chunk of that is divisions within a single company paying each other, like MCU movies being advertised on ESPN and ABC or WB advertising on TNT and CNN.

I also think you might be underestimating the importance of marketing in getting the GA out. Sure, fans all know when the release is but these huge OW numbers are only possible if every demo is showing up. Just take a look at tracking; there's a reason awareness increases so much as the final marketing push kicks in.

There is probably a point of diminishing returns for each dollar spent as saturation awareness is reached but at the same time, almost a third of the American public doesn't go to the theaters in a given year. The huge marketing is important in reaching as wide an audience as possible for OW, then WOM takes over and hopefully carries the thing (or in the case of BvS, buries it).

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

The Avengers had a $150 million advertising budget? Geez.

Yup, you don't remember like a week or two before the film came out? You couldn't turn a channel on without seeing a commercial for it. It was crazy. Also people forgot how much product placement that film had too. Much more than MOS. Even with that the marketing budget was insane but the gamble paid off for them.

That's not really inflation so much as studios losing control of their spending. The inflation rate in the US has been less than 2% over the past 4 years. I can see increasing ad budgets by $10 to $20 million but $50 million seems excessive.

The campaign worked for the first Avengers movie but given that it operated as the 6th movie in a string of interconnected movies I don't think such a large ad budget was needed for it to be a success. Same with BvS. People had been talking about this film for the past 3 years since they announced it. Just about anyone interested in seeing the movie already had some knowledge of it and spending all the extra ad dollars was overkill.

That's my point, though, these other companies like Sony and WB didn't realize why that level of push worked like it did. It became almost a cultural event and on top of that, it was a damn good movie. Both things Sony and WB did not have but they thought they could just dump money into it and get the some returns.

The marketing budgets are always a little screwy though because a healthy chunk of that is divisions within a single company paying each other, like MCU movies being advertised on ESPN and ABC or WB advertising on TNT and CNN.

I also think you might be underestimating the importance of marketing in getting the GA out. Sure, fans all know when the release is but these huge OW numbers are only possible if every demo is showing up. Just take a look at tracking; there's a reason awareness increases so much as the final marketing push kicks in.

There is probably a point of diminishing returns for each dollar spent as saturation awareness is reached but at the same time, almost a third of the American public doesn't go to the theaters in a given year. The huge marketing is important in reaching as wide an audience as possible for OW, then WOM takes over and hopefully carries the thing (or in the case of BvS, buries it).

Yes we geeks tend to forget the GA has a very short memory span when it comes to these things and most normal folks don't track movies numbers for fun either That is actually one good thing the DCCU has going for it is even with the stank of BvS all it will take is a couple of good ones and all is forgiven as far the GA is concerned. Hell, look at how Fox turned around the utter mess that was Fox-Men. I still won't pay to see one of their movies but the quality has def improved.

 

[Sithborg]

I think it is important to point out that the marketing WORKED for this movie. Opening weekend is generally based on marketing. The movie had an amazing opening weekend. So yes, they probably spent a high amount on marketing. But, it was worth it, because it set the movie up for success. An amazing success.

But, marketing begins to be less important as the movie is out in the wild, as word of mouth gets more important. I mean, word of mouth was already kicking in the first weekend.

 

[Gerontophobe]

I think it is important to point out that the marketing WORKED for this movie. Opening weekend is generally based on marketing. The movie had an amazing opening weekend. So yes, they probably spent a high amount on marketing. But, it was worth it, because it set the movie up for success. An amazing success.

But, marketing begins to be less important as the movie is out in the wild, as word of mouth gets more important. I mean, word of mouth was already kicking in the first weekend.

Exactly. The OW numbers justified the marketing and production budgets. Had the movie been halfway decent, even just MOS reception, it would have legged out to easily pass $1B. I'm still can't believe WB allowed Snyder to make such a bad movie with that much money riding on it.

 

[Stark Bauer]

Predicting a drop to below 600k for tomorrow (Thursday).

Marketing-wise, all that is needed is Super Bowl Ad, cover of USA Today, Walking Dead and Game of Throne spots, internet presence - YouTube ads. No need for cheeezy tie ins like cars airlines etc.

Same thing happened before, he took a swipe at Thor before MOS and Thor 2 made almost as much as MOS did

WOW. He did.

“[Superman] is the freaking […] biggest superhero on the planet. He’s the father of every superhero. [Deborah and I] were just talking about this – I’m like, really? Thor? Thor has a movie? [Laughter.] Really? I mean, come on. And there’s no Superman movie? This is, like, the world’s out of balance. It’s like, we’ve lost our minds here, people, come on.” - Zack Snyder

 

[titansupes]

"And there's no Superman movie?"

There still isn't, Zack. Not for a good while now.

 

[Lily Adler]

Superman is lame he will never work on film. Now Captain America, there's a multi-million dollar franchise we need.

 

[Boy Scout]

Funny you should say that. I was thinking to myself earlier today that Captain America is my Superman and Daredevil is my Batman. What a time to be alive.

 

[OzzMosiz]

Keyword is 'collaboration'. Those commercials were advertising the film as well as the airline or meerkat website.

I doubt either paid WB anything remotely close to the $150mil marketing bill to effectively advertise the film for them.

Indeed and I wouldn't expect it to be anywhere that amount, but if it was 1-10m then that eats into the marketing budget

 

[kedrell]

Funny you should say that. I was thinking to myself earlier today that Captain America is my Superman and Daredevil is my Batman. What a time to be alive.

I've definitely heard this before as well as the Flash show being the best defacto Spider-man in live action we've had to date(I expect this'll change once CW drops given the buzz for Holland's performance).

 

[FunkMiller]

I find it quite incredible that Batman v Superman is totally dead at the box office before Civil War even comes out.

 

[Johnglen]

I think it is important to point out that the marketing WORKED for this movie. Opening weekend is generally based on marketing. The movie had an amazing opening weekend. So yes, they probably spent a high amount on marketing. But, it was worth it, because it set the movie up for success. An amazing success.

But, marketing begins to be less important as the movie is out in the wild, as word of mouth gets more important. I mean, word of mouth was already kicking in the first weekend.

First post .
Basically this, the marketing was great .

 

[titansupes]

Funny you should say that. I was thinking to myself earlier today that Captain America is my Superman and Daredevil is my Batman. What a time to be alive.

Sad as it is, this is absolutely true for me as well the last few years.

 

[Superchan]

Superman is lame he will never work on film. Now Captain America, there's a multi-million dollar franchise we need.

Agree with the cap comment but totally disagree about superman, the character has worked in the past (all the way back in 78) so there is no reason why he shouldn't work now however inorder to do that superman needs a competent director that actually respects (and cares) about the character and Snyder is neither of these things IMO.

 

[SomeOldGuy]

I think it is important to point out that the marketing WORKED for this movie. Opening weekend is generally based on marketing. The movie had an amazing opening weekend. So yes, they probably spent a high amount on marketing. But, it was worth it, because it set the movie up for success. An amazing success.

But, marketing begins to be less important as the movie is out in the wild, as word of mouth gets more important. I mean, word of mouth was already kicking in the first weekend.

Yup, they spent to put butts in the seats early, but it cost them. According to deadline the final number wasn't $150 million but $165 million, the extra money being what WB spent at the last minute to make sure the movie opened big. If they hadn't it would have been dead in the water.

 

[Martha]

Predicting a drop to below 600k for tomorrow (Thursday).

Marketing-wise, all that is needed is Super Bowl Ad, cover of USA Today, Walking Dead and Game of Throne spots, internet presence - YouTube ads. No need for cheeezy tie ins like cars airlines etc.




WOW. He did.

His bragging reminds me of Avi Arad in 2005 saying "Batman came, Batman went..." after Batman Begins came out. Batman Begins was still in theaters a few weeks before it came out on DVD.

 

[MadVillainy]

Superman can work on film for sure. Just need a team to 1) stop with the overt Christ allegory/imagery 2) stop treating Supes as being harder to adapt than he is. Keep it Simple Stupid

 

[superion]

Predicting a drop to below 600k for tomorrow (Thursday).

Marketing-wise, all that is needed is Super Bowl Ad, cover of USA Today, Walking Dead and Game of Throne spots, internet presence - YouTube ads. No need for cheeezy tie ins like cars airlines etc.

I am not sure but I think the tie ins with Cars companies and Airlines are not paid for by WB. They are commercials for those individual companies and are paid for by them. I think WB may even get paid a licensing fee for use of their characters and film footage.

I remember when the Force Awakens marketing was going full tilt most commercials I saw for it were ties with other companies. I read Disney actual ad budget for it was lower than for other tent pole films because so much of the promotion was done for them by companies eager to use the hype for the movie to push their own products.

 

[superion]

I think it is important to point out that the marketing WORKED for this movie. Opening weekend is generally based on marketing. The movie had an amazing opening weekend. So yes, they probably spent a high amount on marketing. But, it was worth it, because it set the movie up for success. An amazing success.

But, marketing begins to be less important as the movie is out in the wild, as word of mouth gets more important. I mean, word of mouth was already kicking in the first weekend.

Yes the marketing worked but I think it would have worked anyway with less spending by WB. Word was being spread on this movie in many ways other than TV ads and poster.

If you looked at the Yahoo home page they had some article on SvB on almost a daily basis during the whole production process. Entertainment magazines covered the film constantly as did the TV entertainment programs and talk shows. We were saturated with news about this film way before the actual ad blitz started.

I recall back in 2012 with the Hunger Games LionsGate ad budget for that film was only around $50 million but there was so much coverage of that film in the general media that that it seemed like it had a huge promotional budget.

 

[parkerpete]

Superman can work on film for sure. Just need a team to 1) stop with the overt Christ allegory/imagery

Especially considering that he was created by two nice Jewish boys. Supes was conceived as an assimilating immigrant more than anything else.

But yeah, WB needs someone who understands that Supes, like Cap, only works because of his rock-solid decency and selflessness. Otherwise, Cap is just a flag-waving idiot and Supes is just an authoritarian power fantasy.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Yes the marketing worked but I think it would have worked anyway with less spending by WB. Word was being spread on this movie in many ways other than TV ads and poster.

If you looked at the Yahoo home page they had some article on SvB on almost a daily basis during the whole production process. Entertainment magazines covered the film constantly as did the TV entertainment programs and talk shows. We were saturated with news about this film way before the actual ad blitz started.

I recall back in 2012 with the Hunger Games LionsGate ad budget for that film was only around $50 million but there was so much coverage of that film in the general media that that it seemed like it had a huge promotional budget.

That's one of the reasons saturation was so high with the first Avengers since all these other brands wanted to ride that wave. I agree that they probably didn't need to spend half of what they did and they still would've got the same OW for BvS but they knew they had a dud on their hands and that's why they tried to overcompensate. They knew WOM was going to spread quickly so they thought they could build enough hype to counteract that which they did not do IMO.

 

[The Joker]

I find it quite incredible that Batman v Superman is totally dead at the box office before Civil War even comes out.

With the way it's been dropping, and that's with no serious competition in theaters, I'm not surprised it's dead now that Jungle Book is out. It couldn't stand up to Melissa McCarthy, let alone a heavy hitter like JB.

 

[Angryfantasyfan]

Pretty sure LibidoLoca was being sarcastic.

I was a little afraid we might get "the A doesn't stand for France" Cap from The Ultimates. Very glad Marvel went with the 616 version.