Hollywood’s great at patting itself on the back…
They have awards for just about everything in Tinsel Town.
But wait!
Should there be an award category for the best all around marketing strategy for a motion picture?
If there were such an award it would surely be presented this year to the creative marketing geniuses at Warner Brothers Pictures Corp.
For what you ask?
One word: DUNKIRK.
Warner Bros pulled off the nearly impossible task of turning a pretty much unknown British World War II story into a box office hit.
All that while facing competition from powerful summer popcorn movies the likes of of the Apes and Spider-Man franchises.
And no, it’s not just counter programming.
This was one of the best thought out and executed multi-level marketing campaigns we’ve seen in ages.
Look what the movie DIDN’T have going for it:
It was a little known military evacuation story set early during World War II that didn’t involve Americans.
No major and/or bankable box office cast members to speak of.
Oddly shaped soldier helmets.
Heavy British accents.
And a hard to follow storyline.
You get the picture.
The only real plus for the marketing team was DUNKIRK’s writer, producer, director Christopher Nolan who, of course, has a big following in the world of cinema.
But big enough to propel DUNKIRK into the box office stratosphere?
Realistically it took very special handling.
The film had to be turned into an Event Experience!
Special advance trailers would proclaim its greatness as far back as LAST August when they played it with SUICIDE SQUAD.
And programming updated trailers with ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY over the holidays didn’t hurt either.
All that plus spot on social media targeting turned DUNKIRK into a must-see event status by the time it finally opened three weeks ago.
(Adding a handful of 70mm runs to the film’s wide release added even more status and prestige to this finely tuned marketing marvel.)
Moviegoers of all ages have responded.
So while the overall reaction has been mixed, the film seems to have legs, continuing to bring in audiences.
Just exactly how is DUNKIRK performing domestically?
It had an amazing $ 50.5 million opening weekend and crossed the $100 million mark well over a week ago. It’s current domestic total stands at approximately $ 134 million.
By comparison last year’s HACKSAW RIDGE opened to just $ 15.2 million.
Brad Pitt’s FURY, three day opening weekend was $ 23.7 million.
Even INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS opened to $ 38.1 million.
And Steven Spielberg’s SAVING PRIVATE RYAN premiered to $30.5 million back in 1998.
So when it comes to awarding the best all around movie marketing of 2017, a tip of the hat to the marketeers at Warner Brothers.
They more than earned their keep with DUNKIRK!
Jack I usually agree with you, however this movie was a bore. Sorry, no back story nobody to care about. It was pretty but slow…I gave it a B-
P.S. yes it was marketing genius…got me to go…by the way it had a huge star TOM HARDY…ONE OF the new biggest stars of today…yet he was wasted in this pic..did nothing said nothing…
HEY GLAZO…MAYBE THE MARKETING TEAM ON THIS FILM CAN HELP
YOU WITH THAT MOVIE YOU’VE BEEN PROMISING FOR KING OF STING.
WHATS UP WITH THE MOVIE DUDE?
“It was a little known military evacuation story set early during World War II that didn’t involve Americans.”
Really? No one remembers this epic effort to save the British and French?
I heard the movie is good.
Atomic Blonde was just ok…
I was eagerly anticipating The Kirk and saw it on night one. Uhhh. I give it a six. I am educated on what happened at Dunkirk but a lot of people also knew what happened on the Titanic. I guarantee you Titanic would be OscarLess if they had completely muffled non-understandable dialogue and no reasonable plot flow. The trailer was chock full of Kenneth Branagh… who had about 120 seconds in the real movie. It was arrogantly made. But hey.. I would never watch BatMan so maybe I just do not get it.
This movie was not dumbed down enough… I cannot believe I am saying that.
Like I said: “DUNKIRK” should win Hollywood’s marketing award of the year—-if there were such a thing…….
Wow we agree again Rainbow Man. Movies need characters you care about, pull for and have a back story and a future…this didn’t have any of that…good breakdown…it was pretty but boring.
where’s king of sting premiere going to be.
Ya know glaze wecould make that in kc for under 250K.
Think about it.
You and hearne star in the movie. Wilson plays bad guy and
kerowacky sleeps while we shoot it.
Harley LA has a better idea with their 27 million budget and actors they want to use…but thanks for your help as always.