Marketing

I was having a conversation with my roommate about Public Relations and who's responsibility it is in relation to the life of a movie. That got me thinking. How powerful is marketing, and how great of an effect does it have in how big of an audience a movie has.

A little background, I have a Bachelor of Commerce (also went to film school, but that is neither hither nor yon) where I majored in marketing. I know all of the buzz words and I know the math involved with market research, but I'm not really clear on it's effect?

It clearly has some effect. Take a movie like The Hangover. It doesn't have any recognizable stars (Bradley Cooper wasn't the name that he is now, Zack was still a highly respected but little known stand-up comedian, and Ed Helms was the dude from The Daily Show). Yet somehow it made 44 million opening weekend. I have no research on hand to back this up, but Marketing seems like it would have the GREATEST effect on opening weekend. Sure, the movie was good, but who knew it at that point? It went on to make serious bank at the box office because it was funny, but that was a heck of a head start and really got the word of mouth off with a bang.

The thing is, it was rolled out at Colleges and Universities. Did THAT word of mouth create buzz and boost the opening weekend? Marketing reaches more people easier, but is it really effective? What would happen if a distribution company put 50 million in marketing toward Winters Bone, and cut a kick-ass (if misleading) trailer to boot? Does it pull in 30 or 40 million opening weekend?

I suppose if I knew the answer to this I'd be a very rich man. I am, however, starting to wonder what effect marketing has if studios are constantly relying in known quantities to boost box office dollars. Any idiot can market a new iteration of Spiderman. All you need is a big billboard and a couple prime time TV spots and you get a quick 80 million. After this, the movie largely relies on the quality of the movie and word of mouth. Sure a few dollars of marketing would help keep the movie on the mind of the public, but that really is minimal.

Movies like Inception have known actors and directors that can sell a movie. I think the real case study is something like The Hangover. I'm very interested in the answer if someone has one!