Pacific Rim - Part 3

[Autonet]

New Featurette (spoilers)

"UNDER ATTACK"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeBpKXM0xZg

[YT]ZeBpKXM0xZg[/YT]

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

Where is all this heavy lifting?

I want to know as well? I do see the marketing but it's not amazing or anything. Like I said, if this movie succeeds it's going to be because of the big robots and or a very good response from the audience because the marketing has been tepid. The fact is Rim needs at least a 60mil opening domestically and sadly Warners isn't marketing it like it does. Even before the split the movie's marketing was too fanboy based. I guess all I can do is support the movie and hope it overcomes.

 

[TheVileOne]

WB has been very busy with Great Gatsby and Man Of Steel, this is truly now that the heavylifting starts.

WB also has less of a stake in Pacific Rim and they are splitting with Legendary Pictures. So . . . I mean . . . maybe their lifting will be lighter .

 

[Poni_Boy]

WB also has less of a stake in Pacific Rim and they are splitting with Legendary Pictures. So . . . I mean . . . maybe their lifting will be lighter .

The way I see it Pacific Rim is to del Toro what Jack the Giant Slayer was to Bryan Singer. They were both under contract to do another movie for a respective studio after their previous project fell through so they opted for a personal reward piece.

As far as marketing goes, since WB only invested about 25% of the production budget into PR but are financing 80% of the marketing/distribution they probably don't want to spent too much if they are seeing (internally) that it isn't tracking well.

 

[Tim_Riggins]

You will call me naive but Del Toro seems to genuinely have loved making Pacific Rim, his love for it is so blindingly obvious when you see him talk about it, he wanted to do this, even though circumstances led to it being a reality.

 

[Marvolo]

The way I see it Pacific Rim is to del Toro what Jack the Giant Slayer was to Bryan Singer. They were both under contract to do another movie for a respective studio after their previous project fell through so they opted for a personal reward piece.

As far as marketing goes, since WB only invested about 25% of the production budget into PR but are financing 80% of the marketing/distribution they probably don't want to spent too much if they are seeing (internally) that it isn't tracking well.

Which seems self destructive. If its not tracking well its because of the weak marketing at this point. If robots vs monsters isn't selling then you find something else in the movie to sell. Throwing up their hands and saying "oh well" certainly won't help the film.

 

[Poni_Boy]

Not naive at all. Singer loved making Jack the Giant Slayer too. Same with Stanton and John Carter. It's a passion project for him.

 

[Autonet]

New Featurette (spoilers)

"UNDER ATTACK"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeBpKXM0xZg

[YT]ZeBpKXM0xZg[/YT]

Anyone? I haven't watched it yet.

 

[Poni_Boy]

Which seems self destructive. If its not tracking well its because of the weak marketing at this point. If robots vs monsters isn't selling then you find something else in the movie to sell.

It's not self destructive, it's hedging your bets.

If they invested $50 mil into production and only think they'll top out (at most) making $150 mil in returns they'll only put about $100 mil into marketing and distribution to make sure they get their money back. Remember, it's not THEIR movie. It's a Legendary movie first and foremost. Like Godzilla.

Why would you throw $150 mil into marketing if your risk analysis shows you probably won't get it back? It's a business.

 

[TheVileOne]

Hollywood accounting .

 

[Liam_H]

Anyone? I haven't watched it yet.

You do see snippets of new stuff but nothing major they haven't shown before and that you don't already know that's going to happen.

 

[Marvolo]

It's not self destructive, it's hedging your bets.

If they invested $50 mil into production and only think they'll top out (at most) making $150 mil in returns they'll only put about $100 mil into marketing and distribution to make sure they get their money back. Remember, it's not THEIR movie. It's a Legendary movie first and foremost. Like Godzilla.

Why would you throw $150 mil into marketing if your risk analysis shows you probably won't get it back? It's a business.

I guess you haven't read the Variey article. Its being reported that 70% of the marketing budget hasn't even been spent yet. So they haven't even used the majority of the marketing budget and its two weeks to release. That is throwing their hands up and saying "oh well".

If they had spent all the marketing budget and it still wasn't tracking well then yeah I can see them not wanting to put more money into it. However, this late in the game with 70% of the marketing budget not having been spent there is an attitude of them not even trying.

And that is self destructive, and the reason for the poor tracking.

 

[Poni_Boy]

I guess you haven't read the Variey article. Its being reported that 70% of the marketing budget hasn't even been spent yet. So they haven't even used the majority of the marketing budget and its two weeks to release. That is throwing their hands up and saying "oh well".

If they had spent all the marketing budget and it still wasn't tracking well then yeah I can see them not wanting to put more money into it. However, this late in the game with 70% of the marketing budget not having been spent there is an attitude of them not even trying.

And that is self destructive, and the reason for the poor tracking.

I did read the Variety piece. And what I took from it is that WB still seems unsure whether to spend that additional 70%.

Why would they do that? Maybe because they don't feel they would get it back REGARDLESS if they spent it or not.

Risk assessment. Hedging bets. Call it what you will, but it's not self destruction. It's self preservation.

 

[Marvolo]

I did read the Variety piece. And what I took from it is that WB still seems unsure whether to spend that additional 70%.

Why would they do that? Maybe because they don't feel they would get it back REGARDLESS if they spent it or not.

Risk assessment. Hedging bets. Call it what you will, but it's not self destruction. It's self preservation.

WB most likely isn't spending it because of the Legendary split. This film being mostly Legendary's WB is not wanting to try with it. They have little to lose or gain so they arw writing it off. Which may not be self destruction for WB, but it is destructive to Legendary's interests and the interest of a film that could have launched a franchise. This is a $200 million dollar original film. That type of film has to be marketed heavily. It doesn't have brand recognition. So if it isnt tracking well it is due to a lack of trying. At this point WB is just letting it whither on the vine cause they don't care much one way or the other if it barely scrapes by. It may be smart for them, but its still saying "oh well".

Regardless of motivation, this film is like a child stuck with two splitting parents. Its just bad for the kid all around.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I still don't see an under 40mil opening weekend. Problem is a 40mil opening weekend would be pretty lousy.

 

[redhawk23]

A part of me thinks Del Toro is playing it up like Andrew Stanton before John Carter.

And for Del Toro to say this close out they are just basically starting the campaign is worrying.

The problem with John Carters advertising was in fact that Stanton demanded to basically control most aspects of it, even choosing the music for the superbowl spots. Combined with the most generic title ever, it was kind of a marketing disaster.

Directors aren't marketing execs, or at least they usually shouldn't be.

John Carter was also way over budget due to lengthy re-shoots and the like. Pacific Rim, while it had a large budget, didn't go wildly over budget and the majority of its marketing budget hasn't even been spent.

Its in an odd situation.

 

[Marvolo]

The problem with John Carters advertising was in fact that Stanton demanded to basically control most aspects of it, even choosing the music for the superbowl spots. Combined with the most generic title ever, it was kind of a marketing disaster.

Directors aren't marketing execs, or at least they usually shouldn't be.

John Carter was also way over budget due to lengthy re-shoots and the like. Pacific Rim, while it had a large budget, didn't go wildly over budget and the majority of its marketing budget hasn't even been spent.

Its in an odd situation.

John Carter was a wake up call for Stanton. I mean if you want to demonstrate how not to market a property that is a great example. I wouldnt be surprised to see it used in classrooms. Its not even that the film tanked as a result. Its the fact that the marketing was wrong in almost every single way. It stands alone from the film as its on failure.

Pacific Rim has a weak campaign so far, but it isn't the disaster that John Carter's was.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I blame both Disney and Stanton for the marketing on John Carter. Disney put up the money for the film so I doubt Stanton went it alone. Stanton is one of the reasons the media turned against Carter, he never had a live action hit before and arrogantly said that he was doing live action shooting better than live action directors. He was so good that his film went way over budget. He came off as a complete prick in his New Yorker interview in particular and unlike pricky hit makers like Cameron he didn't have the record to back up all his talk. The fanboy community largely never wants to talk about the hand Stanton had in Carter's failure. Most of them just want to blame the studio and not address Stanton's part in that mess. He went back to animation with his tail between his legs after that and I hope he and Disney learned a lesson.

If Rim opens with John Carter or Jack the Giant Slayer numbers it's marketing and subject matter will be to blame. So far things aren't going great.

 

[ray243]

Which seems self destructive. If its not tracking well its because of the weak marketing at this point. If robots vs monsters isn't selling then you find something else in the movie to sell. Throwing up their hands and saying "oh well" certainly won't help the film.

The thing is you don't even need to spend that much money to generate interest. The general audience seems to be rejecting PR because the trailers gave us tons of action scenes but hardly any character-centric scenes.

None of the trailers have even managed to establish who the main character is in the film! We are just getting clips after clips of robots punching monsters in the rain.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

The thing is you don't even need to spend that much money to generate interest. The general audience seems to be rejecting PR because the trailers gave us tons of action scenes but hardly any character-centric scenes.

None of the trailers have even managed to establish who the main character is in the film! We are just getting clips after clips of robots punching monsters in the rain.

Bingo!

 

[Tim_Riggins]

Meanwhile, on Boxoffice.com's forums: "This feels like a repeat of Man of Steel critically. Gets good/great/glowing reviews from geek press and mixed-to-negative reviews from old school print press."

Courtesy of FilmNerd, there have been no press or critic reviews yet, just raves all around from Twitter, and this is his conclusion. Keep trying to defend yourself FilmNerd, I see what you're doing,.

 

[Tim_Riggins]

Bingo!

Transformers anyone? As far as I know, nobody gave a **** about the characters in those movies. Let's not fool ourselves, a big blockbuster like this, do you really believe that the general audience cares about the characters that much? So many ******ed blockbusters did loads of money based on action alone.

 

[Poni_Boy]

Transformers anyone? As far as I know, nobody gave a **** about the characters in those movies. Let's not fool ourselves, a big blockbuster like this, do you really believe that the general audience cares about the characters that much? So many ******ed blockbusters did loads of money based on action alone.

Not in this climate. Certainly not this summer with a new double feature coming out every weekend. Competition is stiff as a board and every movie needs to bring its A game. That means a front loaded with tons of cross-pollinated marketing, with little regard to legs. Doesn't matter how you try to spin it, WB (for whatever reason) is holding back on promoting Pacific Rim like they did with MOS, and every other studio is doing with their big budget genre movies. That smells trouble.

 

[Tim_Riggins]

If it breaks out overseas, that wont matter as much, worst case scenario, it does 100 M domestic.

 

[TheVileOne]

Marvolo, it sounds like you and Poni Boy agree .