Bane debuts in "The Dark Knight" prologue shown alongside "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" in IMAX

Warner's marketing tactic of previewing the prologue and introducing the villain proved successful with The Dark Knight, so they're doing it again with The Dark Knight Rises, but this time it's going to be bigger.

Over forty minutes of IMAX footage debuting Bane will be shown alongside Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol on selected IMAX screens.

"Jack the Giant Killer" Writer to Pen "Goosebumps" adaptation for Columbia

Darren Lemke, writer of Jack the Giant Killer has signed on to write Columbia Pictures' big-screen adaptation of the children's horror series Goosebumps.

Columbia picked up the rights to the series of over 50 books back in 2008. Now with a writer attached, Columbia's wheels are in motion with successful material from a different media available for franchising.

While the project is still in the very beginning stages, the press has already begun to contribute to the marketing of this film with articles like this Hollywood Reporter article discussing the Goosebumps series, Lemke's previous work on films like Jack and the Giant Killer, and his recent attachment to the Goosebumps project.

How the Church Helped Turn 'Devil Inside' Into Mega-Hit

Studio marketers for Paramount execute marketing campaign for "The Devil Inside" with the help of clergy member and Westminster Presbyterian Church in Pasadena.

As part of Paramount's marketing strategy for the film, a TV spot was made during an advance showing event on December 15. In an effort to anchor the campaign around making the film seem real, the screening took place in an actual church, with a clergy member available after the screening to perform blessings and answer any questions about exorcisms.

Studio marketers for the film can pat themselves on the back for a job well done, with "The Devil Inside" (with a production budget of $1 million) opening to a record breaking $34.5 million at the box office.

Firm Closing?

For this class I was assigned to watch The Firm on NBC. The funny thing is, I had never heard of the program. I watch a whole lot of NBC, but mostly through places like Hulu. It had me wondering, why had I never heard of this NBC program.

Apparently I wasn't alone. The show opened up to terrible viewership, with the article stating “ The Firm averaged a flaccid 1.4 rating, which appears to be the lowest Nielsen premier rating ever for an NBC drama during the regular season.”

I for one am going to associate that with a poor marketing campaign.

According to the article, “NBC didn’t put a lot of off-network promotion muscle behind this show.” In the end, this strategy likely killed them.

In a digital age, it appears as if the program failed to capitalize on what guarantees initial success.

Will they bounce back, or is the show already a dead man walking?

George Lucas on Red Tails Trials

This is an interesting case of playability versus marketability. George Lucas discusses how difficult it was to convince the Hollywood studio system to distribute an entirely African American action movie. Its an I.L.M. effects-driven movie independently produced by Lucasfilm. But Lucas needed a large studio's marketing/distribution resources because its budget required a full scale international release. In the interview he compares Red Tails to Star Wars in its combat and scope. Interestingly, he's also promoting the movie by communicating the idea "executives think this movie is tough to market, so viewers, lets all prove Hollywood wrong". Its a dialogue to give viewers a sense of mission, that their admission ticket will really mean something.

If the film is hypothetically successful, it will be because some consumers are drawn to the inspirational WWII story, but mostly because consumers know that the Star Wars producer knows his dogfights.

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