the thing that went wrong with batman-the ONLY thing-was its marketed was horrendous. Countless errors by W.B. killed the film. At the time, I looked at its 72 million 5 day as horrible; but now that I think about it-its theatrical trailers were terrible. There were zero tv spots, and 1 tie in with Verizon. Batman Begins was a very low profile film; so now that I think of it, its 72 million was fantastic for how poorly it was marketed. I shutter to think at how big it coulda been had it been properly marketed.
errors
-lack of tie ins
-huge lack of tv spots
-horrible trailers
-fantastic internation trailer while poor domestic
-just general lack of advertising
so how should THE DARK KNIGHT be marketed? Should be a low profile ala PIRATES 2 or BATMAN BEGINS, or a high profile ala SUPERMAN RETURNS, KING KONG, or STAR WARS EPISODE 3?
W.B. had the same situation3 years ago with MATRIX RELOADED. The Matrix wasn't a high profile movie at all; just a april action film. It was far better and bigger then expected, and built up a huge fanbase, so big that everybody know the sequel would be absolutly enormous. So, they could market it like the original, like its no big deal, or they could explode market and make it a huge event. Doesn't that sound another situation they now face with the Btaman franchise? of course. They chose to make it an EVENT, and it turned to be the biggest event in its summer-and at the time, history. In the end, it made an astounding 134 million 4 days, beating the previous record of 125 million set by the behomoth spider-man. In the end, the Matrix would wind up with 280 million total, 120 million behind spider-man (though worlwide, matrixz lost by only 50 million). Matrix Reloaded was generally reguarded as a dissappointment, mainly because W.B. exploded the hype so incredibly high that the expectations simply couldn't be met. Or maye it just wasn't that great of a movie. Point is, that shows that expanding on the hype makes bigger box office numbers, which is the only thing marketing really effects.
so to me, its clear that w.b. needs to go as high profile as possible.
But it seems w.b. may have already made a big mistake. Their supposably planning on releasing the film in June, which is the worst month of summer for a film to build "hype". The Dark knight needs either May 15th or May 22nd (Memorial day). May 15th is best due to that is the date biggest movie of summer usually opens; the 3rd weekend in may. It also just happened to be the exact same date MATRIX RELOADED opened on.
Here is how I would start the campaign.
1. First trailer comes with I AM LEGEND,
*the events in the previews are not in the movie; just imagined action seqeunces
which is a w.b. movie starring will Smith, which openss on November 21st, 2007. Here is how the trailer should go:
-W.B. logo flashes
-Slow mo shot of BRUCE WAYNE walking towards the camera
-Cut to a shot of BATAM ON A LEDGE running towards the camera
-back to bruce
-BRUCE( Voiceover)-All my life
-Batman continues to run towards the screen, almost there.
-BRUCE(voiceover)-I have battled the demons
-Batman almost there
-BRUCE(voiceover)-Inside of me.
-Batman reaches the camera and dives over
-were at shot looking up the side of a huge building at night-Batman leaps off the roof-gluides down with his cape-lands on a ledge right before us, staring up at us.
-Rachel looks past the camera in terror-
-The penguin glares of screen and laughs evily
-in a different scene, penguin fires a missile out of his umbrella- it blows up a huge building
-Rachel plummets off the side of a building, us looking down at her screaming
-Batman leaps off a ledge, and grabs her and they dive off screen
-were in the batmobiles point of view-racing through a heavily trafficked street at blinding speed at night
-BLACK SCREEN-TEXT- ON MAY 15TH
-Batman raises his grapple-shoots it
-Batman rockets up the side of a sky scrapper
-a building explodes-debris hitting the camera
-people in the street look up and point- Batman gluides over head
-Harvey Dent is with Gordon He cleans up the streets but doesnt demand a paycheck. Why?
-Batman peeks around a corner and SEES Harvey somewhere
-BLACK SCREEN-TEXT- PREPARE
-Rachel looks sad-she turns her head to see something
-Batman punches a thug
-The Batmobile races down a street
-BLACK SCREEN-TEXT- TO
-Batman dives through a fire
-BLACK SCREEN- TEXT- LIVE
-A helicopter flys under an overpass
-BLACK SCREEN- TEXT- THE
-Batman falls past the camera
-BLACK SCREEN- TEXT- LEGEND
-In a flash, JOKER punches batman
-Batman lands on a cars hood
-a car does a barrel roll on the freeway
-batman kicks a thug
-a building explodes behind Alfred
-Batman is whipped through the air
-an explosion along the side of a street
-the batlogo flashs onto the clouds-morphs into a metallic logo with the words THE DARK KNIGHT burst through it
-shot of joker-iconic-laughing
-5.15.08
2. Theatrical Banner on 2/1/08
A simple theatrical banner-I am thinking just a set of clouds with the batsignal briefly illuminating in them. And in the middle of the bottom, the Batman Logo with the words THE DARK KNIGHT in it and 5.15.08 underneath it.
This would be shipped and hung in theaters every where starting super bowl weekend
3. Super Bowl spot
I would put the TEASER TRAILER with the super bowl, again.
4. Theatrical trailer with: HORTON HEARS A HOE - 3/14/08
-Fade into a shot over Gotham City at night. Were staring at a sky scrapper-
-Pan up to lok towards of the building-
-a man in a black suit with a black cape jumps off, slow motion kicks in-
-He plummets downwards-whips out a grapling gun
-turns around-back to street-front towards us-he shoots the graple up-it whizzes past the camera-It latches onto a statue-
-cool shot of batman swinging ala Spider-man down in arc above us as the music keys up-
-bruce wakes up in asweat at night-
-A shot of Alfred-he says" It has begun"-music begins
-Shot of the W.B. Logo
-Shot of the legendary logo
-Shot of the D.C. comics logo
-We see Bruces face whole, then he puts on the Batman mask
-Were in a room at night-Batmans in their looking at something-
-3 men enter the door-"Its The Batman!"
-Batman turns to them. "Hi Fellas". The men charge-Batman assumes fighting position
-Batman ducks a punch-trips one-
-OUTSIDE at night, near a burning building-Batman KICKS guy in the chest
-Back in the room, Batman rolls over a guys back, kicking someone in the face as he
Lands
-The man crashes into a wall
-Batman LEAPS onto the top of a ledge, the dark sky in the backround
-Bruce (voiceover)-"All my life"
-The Batmobile ROARS in mid air out of the batcave
-A building EXPLODES-we watch in front
-2 black boots plant down in the screen infront of the explosion
-Bruce (voiceover)"I have fought a war"
-We see a shot of a small, fat man-the penguin.
-Batman-"What are you?"
-Penguin shoots a magnum pistol at something
-Bruce (voiceover)"against the demons"
-Bruce sniffs something. "Whats that smell?"
-Were on the freeway MOVING veyr fast, faving the back of a truck. we see a THUG jumps off-
-Bruce (voiceover) "inside of me".
-were on a rooftop at night-THE JOKER-classic-smniling-WALKS TOWARDS THE SCREEN.he says "The Batman"
-Batman turns his head to look at the camera on the same roof.
-Joker keeps walking. "We meet at last".
-A green gas flows through a room-
-Bruce is in the batcave at his computer-"Jokers got some sort of gas"-
-We see people choking-
-Alfred-in the cave-asks-"does he have more?"
-We see Joker in a huge factory-making it-
-in the cave, Bruce says "A lot more".
-Batmans in the middle of a roof-alone-
-doors bust open-penguin and jokers thugs-50 of enm-race at batman
-Batman rallys-punches-kicks-before FINALLY grapling up and swinging in a circle taking out dozens
-Harvey dent walks toewards the camera, sneering.
-Dent says "They will pay".
-Rachel is at a trail, speaking. "What he did was WRONG".
-Batman is running with Rachel-he yells "come on!"
-The batmobile does a 180 on the FREEWAY-
-Batman-on a batmotorcycle-weaves in and out AGINST traffic on the FREEWAY
-Bruce and Lucious Fox walk through a room-fox says "Ive got something to show you"
-shot of bruce infront of a little PLANE-"It flys?"
-The batwing prowls around the sky-
-Dent, Gordon, and Rachel are together. Gordon-"Jokers gonna attack the city-We need him". Dent-"who?"
-The BAT-SIGNAL illuminates the sky
-In slow-mo- Batman SPRINTS and DIVES off a roof into an alley-walls on each side looking up at him-we catch up in FULL SPPED as he grapple sand swing down and up and a HUGE arc-a human swing.
-Different shot loking down at an angle of the building blowing up-fire erupting
-Batman kicks off a wall and with his other leg, kicks someone in the face
-on the freeway, The Batmobile whizzes by us as we turn with it to see it blazing
-The BATWING soars over the city-
-Bruce (voiceover) "What happens if I fail".
-shot of Alfred-"Then he. Will win".
-Rachel looks at Bruce. "The city needs you".
-Bruce looks off screen at something
-they hug
-Batman BACKFLIPS off a roodtop-
-Batman falls, crashing down onto the hood of a moving car-
-Rachel aims a gun off scren
-an 18 wheeler on the freeway EXPLODES
-a helicopter flys UNDER an overpass on the freeway
-batman leaps off an 18 wheeler
-a helicopters LEG crushes a car roof causing it FLIP OVER in slow-mo
-Batman sprints on a roof
-Batman rolls around
-Bruce (voiceover)-What if I could defeat those demons?
-A car flips and barrel rolls in mid air on the freeway
-a crowd on the street CHEERS
-Shot on behind Batman as he dives off a sky scrapper
-Bruce (voiceover)-Is it worth fighting for?
-shot under batman, as he turns to see a thug flying at him having jumped off a building
-Men tackle Batman down
-Gordon looks up. Alfred turns to us.
-Bruce (voiceover)Is that worth dying for?
-Rachel looks past the camera. Lucious Fox looks up.
-Batman BREAKS FREE of the dozen men holding him
-an explosion sends batman flying INTO the camera as we cut to the huge BATLOGO
-The words THE DARK KNIGHT shine through it-
-Joker Laughs at the camera
-he says "Make them hurt".
-Batman gluides through the air in his caped wings
-Joker says "All of them"
-An explosion fills a room and hits the camera
we cut to
5.15.08
5. Theatrical Posters
I would mimic the matrix reloadeds spectacular poster campaign, only with batman characters.
-http://impawards.com/2003/matrix_reloaded.html
6. TV spots
It would need 10 good tv spots
-3 weeks from release date: 1 on every channel ever 2 hours
-2 weeks from release date: 1 on every channel ever hour
-1 week from release date- 2 on every channel every hour
* tie in tv spots would be mixed in/count as a spot.
7. Promotional Tie ins
-DOMINOS
-CADILLAC
-KELLOGGS
-COKE COLA
-LAYS
You dont need dozens ala superman or kong, those 5 are perfect. Enough but not too many.
DOMINOS
I chose this because they have tons of commercials, and do not really give away toys yet, so it could be a goo dexpirament for w.b. Also is the fact that they deliver, meaning people are more likely to use them to go out to a BURGER KING.
TV SPOT(this a throwback to 1989-this also includes a fictional deal with the film)
*This would air regulary with other tv spots
-shot of a dominos restaurant at night
-inside, a guy answer the phone. Dominos Pizza.
-Shot of Wayne Manor at night-inside it- Alfred on the phone. The words STATELY WAYNE MANOR flash on the bottom of screen
-Alfred talks into phone. Yes I need to place an order for pick up.
-Shot of Batman putting on his cowl in the cave
-Alfred continues- Yes Id like the new Dominos Dark Knight deal. 2 large pizzas and a 2 liter bottle of coke for 12.99
-Batman walks towards the Batmobile-
-Alfred continues Yes this is a very particular black car sir.
-The batmobile zooms out of the cave
-Alfred-It will be very hard to miss
-The batmobile races through gotham city.
-shots of pizzas with voiceover guy talking about the deal. Its such a good offer, nobody can pass this up. Not even Batman.
-The batmobile pulls away form the screen.
-DOMINOS-GET THE DOOR. ITS DOMINOS
-Last week before release-Every single pizza has a DARK KNIGHT poster tapped the box with coupons on the bottom.
CADILLAC
-A tv spot shows a new model fo a cadilac, and says as seen in the dark knight:.
KELLOGGS
Batman Cereal-just a box with the batlogo, little rice krispie treats with bat shaped marshmallows. Tv spot for it shows two little kids trying to get some from the joker.
COKE COLA/LAYS
Every
-can
-battle wrapper
-can box
-Bag
features a BATMAN vs. THE JOKER THEME with BATMAN in a fighting stance on one side, and Joker Laughing on the other side
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