Marketing

Let me just sum up the incoming response to this topic:

-Quit complaining, Legendary knows what they're doing, they'll get shit done soon
-Quit bitching, everyone, just shut up
-Observation of godzilla in modern media and the mindset behind why marketing needs to speed up
-THEY NEED TO SPEED UP

-Cracker boxes!

-Advertising!

Xmen Days of Future Past is part of a franchise and its a marvel superhero movie so there's no surprise there is way more marketing than for Godzilla. Even though I would say the marketing for Xmen has been weird, giving us a barrage of images and only one trailer that clearly had not received the post production and cgi touch ups, a finished theatrical trailer is due by now.

The marketing for Godzilla is as we all know, all teasing and playing on the concealment for the monster(s) to give more hype and there is only so much marketing that can be done until it will start getting into spoiler territory (like all the Amazing Spiderman 2 and Cap 2 trailers basically giving 3/4 of the film away). Im actually happy there is so little marketing for Godzilla, makes it more mysterious, but one more trailer like the first one not giving away much would be good.

I don't want to retread too much of what has already been said by myself and others in various threads. This is definitely a repeat topic, but since I got 45 minutes before I have to be anywhere, or do anything specific I guess I'll give a response. 

Godzilla can't afford mass blanket marketing. The movie is a big box office question mark. Any money they spend on marketing they have to KNOW they can make it back in sales, which isn't guaranteed with this movie. 

The marketing they need to do needs to be targeted, smart, sure fire bets (things like Comic-Con for example, where Legendary/WB actually spent more money than their rivals for that venue). I know they need SOME broad marketing or else nobody will be aware of the movie, but Godzilla just simply will not/cannot have the same level of marketing as X-Men or Spiderman, even after the second trailer and TV spots start coming out.

X-Men and Spiderman are going to have more marketing because they are guaranteed hits. They are 95%-99% sure those movies are GOING to make money. The only 'x' factor, is how many hundreds of millions of profit? Only $100 mil profit? Maybe $300 mil profit? What about $700 mil profit? wouldn't that be nice? Those studios are paying more for their movies marketing because they KNOW they are going to make that money back. 

Neither Legendary/WB/anybody else KNOWS how Godzilla is going to do, so the smart play is to be reserved w/ the marketing. 

Also, a potential theory I read about, which MAY be true, but I'm not 100% certain, is that Legendary/WB are deliberately throwing Godzilla under the bus here. All studios do that w/ some of their films. They all negotiate with each other to guarantee good release dates for their breadwinners. It's in all the studio's interest to collaborate on release dates. So maybe WB/Legendary have offered up Godzilla as a sacrificial lamb and have no intention of pushing it that heavily in order to ensure The Hobbit or some other movie is unmolested.

I mean, ALL studios want ALL of their movies to make money. But if they evaluate Godzilla's max profit potential as $300 mil, while The Hobbit has a profit potential of closer to $1 bil, they don't want Sony or anybody else threatening The Hobbit's pie. So WB agrees to pull their punches w/ Godzilla to make sure Sony makes more money with their Spiderman movie, and in exchange Sony will pull their punches w/ any films competing w/ The Hobbit.

@Madison

That final theory is more the exception than the rule, but in any case it's ridiculous you've had to repeat it this many times. There's about as many threads covering the marketing as there are about the second trailer, Godzilla's feet, spines and atomic breath. All of this talk should've been regulated to a single thread ages ago and the rest closed.

@Madison

How does Spiderman affect The Hobbit?

While its very clear Spiderman is going to give Godzilla a potential financial beating as they are released close together (like you said W/B throwing it under the bus), so I can  knowsee this happening, even though there's a good week and a half between them, and for all we Godzilla could turn into some box office dark horse.

But The Hobbit is a december release with no relation to Spiderman in May. Also Sony has no films to compete with Hobbit. All of the LOTR and Hobbit films have been the box office kings in december so Sony wouldnt go near that time anyway.

@Bigby

Madison never said Spider-Man would affect The Hobbit, but rather the deal could be so Sony (who is releasing Spider-Man) will let up on the advertising for any of their movies being released during The Hobbit. Re-read the post. December is a long way away, Sony will have something for December. Every studio does.

Also, Spider-Man 2 is unlikely to affect Godzilla that much. Most movies' hype dies out after a week or so. There are two in between Spider-Man 2 and Godzilla. X-Men is a much greater threat.

@Gman2887

Yeh my bad on that.

But while I see what Madison is saying (now anyway) I find little reason for Sony and Warner Bros. to have to make marketing deals potentially infringing on the Hobbit about any property, as The Hobbit doesnt exactly have competition on the box office front and is so mass marketed anyway.

I think Legendary knows that they're doing. We've seen a new poster 2 days ago now, it's bound to head up more. Legendary even updated their Facebook page to promote Godzilla more than 300. I expect we'll be seeing a new trailer within 1 or 2 weeks which will set the net ablaze. Remember, the first Godzilla trailer raked in the most views in a 3 day span than any other movie this year. It's clear people are eager to see this movie, which would also explain why the marketing doesn't need to be so rigorous. I realize in the past I suggested the marketing should be more "in your face", but ultimately I think the film will perform well. It's bringing the King of the Monsters back to the big screen after 10 years! 

I expect a similar turn out as Pacific Rim. Not a solid hit in the US, but a significant chunk of success from overseas. People say Pacific Rim was a flop, but in actuality, when you factor in the global box office earnings, it was a great hit!

Spider-Man and X-Men are guaranteed hits because they've been making films for them for years. The North American market know what they're getting and know what to expect. Also both are sequels. Will they make more than Godzilla? Yeah, probably. But I don't think Legendary would "throw Godzilla under the bus" for a more secured success for The Hobbit. Legendary isn't even part of WB anymore, and they worked their asses off to secure the license to Godzilla.

Have faith guys, they know what they're doing.

@Chris, I don't think Legendary would be willing sacrifice Godzilla in the way the theory described. But WB is handling the distribution, and is probably in charge of a lot of the marketing. IF the theory is accurate....which I'm not saying it is....it's probably more on WB's iniative than Legendary's. 

Yeah the Hobbit doesn't have much competition. My theory (which is just a theory...and not actually MY theory per se, just something I read... I'm not going to say I'm 100% sure I even believe it....I just felt it was worth mentioning) would argue that there is a REASON there is no competition during the Hobbit. 

The theory would argue the Hobbit has such an awesome free n' clear release date because WB negotiated for it. Negotiated...the other studios didn't give the Hobbit the free n' clear just for shits n' giggles. WB had to agree to sacrifice and play nice with other movies.....possibly Godzilla being one of them.

And yeah, I realize X-Men is Godzilla's more direct opponent than Spiderman. X-Men is probably the more relevant example film to list when making marketing comparisons. But the same points apply regardless of which film is being used as the reference. I guess I refer to Spiderman more naturally than X-Men because that's the film I'm personally more excited for between the two. I'm obviously MOST excited for Godzilla though :-)

Could be completely off but going on a hunch

Spiderman 2 grossing around: $700,000,000 (like the first) maybe even $800,000,000

Godzilla about: $350,000,000 or $400,000,000 (similar to Pacific Rim) - but I would be really happy if it went further

X-Men is tricky as it isnt a huge hitter on the box office usually but maybe because of what this one looks like Im torn between $500,000,000 and a potential $800,000,000 (I know there's a jump but the variables are really up in the air about this one, it could make more than expected or it could make less than anticipated)

And looking at my guessess it would seem Godzilla would make less out of the three in May, simply because of the fanbases of Xmen and Spidey being so much higher in general and theyre money spinners. But I want Godzilla to do great but Xmen (which I honestly think could be really good) may end up stealing its box office away :(

@Bigby

All of your ballparks seem like reasonable estimates. Godzilla will have to rely more on the International market that X-Men or Spidey, which is unfortunate because the studios take home a smaller piece of the international pie. So in terms of financial sequel justification, Godzilla will have to make a higher percentage of its production budget as a profit than either Spiderman or X-Men. 

To that end though, GMan2887 brought up an interesting 'X' factor in another thread awhile back: China

China only selects 34 total foreign films every year to be shown as a wide release. They have a huge potential audience, the second largest number of IMAX screens in the world, and in 2013 gave a MINIMUM of $35 million to every American movie released there. Several movies they contributed more. 

China usually won't announce whether or not it has selected a film until much closer to (and sometimes even after) it's U.S. release date. But here's to hoping that China picks up Godzilla, because if it does, it's likely going to bring more money to the movie than any other country in the world besides obviously the U.S. and possibly Japan.

@Madison

China is a really good shout actually never thought about that. (Isnt that what Michael Bay is doing with Transformers 4? effectively getting China to co-fund and as a result create an even bigger box office? (Like as if it doesnt make enough money already...))

And yeh I wouldnt be surprised if China did pick up Godzilla as its Japanese, so surely China will choose it, even though its another americanized version. Fingers crossed on that one. Godzilla seems really anticipated where I am in U.K too.

Actually, Godzilla being Japanese kinda hurts it. 

China and Japan are FIERCE political rivals. So a lot of what will make up China's mind will be whether or not Japan is presented in an admirable light or not in the film. 

But China DOES heavily favor films that go well in IMAX, so Godzilla has that going for it. 

Regardless of what films get picked, it's definitely interesting to think about. 

From what has been kind of revealed doesnt Japan or at least a a place in it, get trashed by Godzilla (or muto, or whatever)? Maybe that might be a bonus for China if they got issues with Japan.

Plus this is entertainment media rather than political so I cant see why China wont buy into this, plus its technically an American film.

And oh yeh this movie in Imax 3D (will be seeing it in this format for sure) how can China not buy into this :)

China's got it's beefs w/ America too (admittedly less so than with Japan)...and China is really big into media censorship. They are kinda like North Korea in that way. There is a reason they let ONLY 34 foreign films be played in the country a year. 

So if the American military is presented in a positive light, or if a Japanese scientist (Serizawa) saves the day....it's a sad truth that those are things the Chinese would censor a movie over. 

The ONLY reason China played Gravity for example was because Sandra Bullock took safety in a Chinese Space Station. 

The Chinese government also liked Gravity because everyone's stations got indiscriminantly destroyed, the movie didn't play favorites....so that is a plus in the Godzilla column....Godzilla should be stomping everyone :-)

Yeh Godzilla isnt exactly going to discriminate hahaha

Got to admit the sound of China's censorship customs seem really silly 

My personal prediction is that, if this movie is succesful, it will make at least $500 Million.

If it "fails" to deliver at the box office, I think it will get a minimum of $400 Million, I personally don't think this is going to get less than that.

If it becomes really succesful I can see it getting at least over $700 Million, but given that Spider-Man and the X-Men will still get a considerably large share of the box office I personally don't see it getting over $800 Million, though I can see it getting more than that if the film turns to be just so objectively fu***ng good that it attracts too much people and the King ends up crushing those Marvel dudes will a full charge of his atomic breath! 

Go! Go! Go! Godzilla! Go! >:D

I am hopeful that Godzilla will do really well at the box office but I can only imagine the uproar and hate that will get spewed if the movie makes less money than expected due to the marketing. In regard to the theory that some deal has been negotiated to avoid having Sony or some other studio compete against the Hobbit thus running Godzilla under the bus, I really don't buy it. Quite simply, there is no competition for the Hobbit because studios know they will get their butts kicked so why bother. It's like when the television networks do not bother to schedule anything of significance against the Super Bowl knowing that it will get trounced.

I wouldnt worry too much about the marketing when ET was coming out it went the exact same way.

I'd like this upcoming Trailer to be a narrative of Godzilla with a more clear. (But not totally revealing ) shot of him. and then one last one with a narrative of the MUTO . And then we get a nice silhouette shot of the MUTO at the end of that . I'd be happy.

you know, as long as godzilla does well enough this time around to get more people to take it serioisly, and get a sequel, then godzillas future will be bright. so in my opinion, this movie doees not have to be great per say, just good enough to start a new franchise that im sure would producee "great" movies. if that happens, ill be totally happy

Guys I just  want to let you know that I wasn't complaining and I've loved everything we've got so far like posters and the like ,I was just wondering what their  marketing strategy is and the question was answered by many of you thanks apart from that first reply which was a bit harsh considering I was only asking a question but all is forgot .....sorry another question but I'm 14 and I live in Ireland, would any of you know what the time difference is between Ireland and the west of the USA because you know when things come out on tv specials etc over in America I log on to see them only tremember to the time difference 😜👽👽

HAZZARDKITSUNE cracker boxes bro ;D