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They don't need to eke out the hype over a long period of time, it's a quick hit thing. By the beginning of October you won't be able to escape 007. You have to remember that the general Bond audience skews older than most other franchise films. They only need reminding, it's out 'now', they don't need to be drip fed reminders for six months before release.
You also have to remember Bond operates in a totally different world to most franchises. The film is the product. Licensing is limited. No toy lines or tie-ins, no video games, no 'expanded universe', no viral marketing to unveil posters or tease tidbits. These are the things that keep other franchises bubbling for the younger 'I want it now!' demographic. Bond hasn't ever needed these. We're a little classier and infinitely more patient. For us it's all about the movie... most of us, anyhow.
I'm not worried about Spectre not being a topic anymore in the media. As soon as the theme song is announced (my guess mid-September) the hype will start.
"Get the scoop on 75 films starring (...) Daniel Craig (...)"
It's not just Bond in this radio silence either, both Star Wars (although they have a promo panel event at Disney's D23 convention on Saturday) and Hunger Games are in this position too, with Star Wars even, per director JJ Abrams, holding off until September with the theatrical trailer for the film.
I don't remember when the Skyfall character sets were released but I'd imagine we'd get the SP ones sometime in the end of the month/start of Sept. Follow that up with the theme song announcement and release, the official poster closer to the end of Sept, and a possible (I really hope so, perfect final reminder that Bond is coming) final theatrical trailer in early October with Sony's The Walk, I think the promo machine would be in high gear for a blockbuster opening.
That's in the UK and overseas, hence the above-average OS/Domestic box office split. Sony can't be that complacent about the United States, more conversation/buzz will be around Hunger Games and Star Wars, and they will most definitely want to get at least Skyfall numbers there, so I expect a lot of work to be done promotion-wise - big TV campaign, (there's a reason why they did the NBA finals spot this year in the US like the Olympics spot with SF), the theme song having radio airplay, the final trailer, late night & morning talk show interviews and BTS snippets.
Balls to the US. They should have more taste.
Sure they should, but that's even more reason for Sony/EON to want to step up their marketing/promotional game in the US.
It's the whole "oh why are you complaining, we don't need promotional material, the film will sell itself" mentality, when clearly that isn't the case for at least one major market, that bothers me.
Bond is an American/British produced franchise. SF made over 304m in the US. Almost every top grossing film in the UK is a US production... so what in the world are you even talking about?
Just saying ...
It's not about needing promotion, it's about 'when' is suitable. No point blowing your load early. Like I said, with Bond the audience skew older, parents taking kids rather than kids telling their parents they want to go. They should just go heavy in October. Do people really need 3 months notice to prepare for a film?
If Spectre is as good as we all hope it will squash the competition or they can co-exist well together and all do great at the box office.
But IF Spectre shouldn't do that well, I can already hear the excuses...."it didn't stand a chance against Star Wars"....."it had more competition than Skyfall"....
I think Sony is predicting or hoping for at least 200m in the US.
As a matter of fact yes, and keep hype consistent and at the right moments. You say the reason why Bond doesn't need/have all the build up that blockbuster movies normally have is that the audience skews older than Avengers/Star Wars/Hunger Games, while that may be true once all is said and done in terms of who went to see the film and especially the fan base, all these movies still target all 4 quadrants (young and older males and females) - so they still want, and need to for success at the box office in the US especially, to attract the "the younger 'I want it now!' demographic".
Bond, post-Skyfall, just isn't an exception, not in Sony's eyes anyway. There have been fans here who said that they wanted the franchise to go back to what it was so that it doesn't have the blockbuster expectations that SP has - in my opinion if anything I'm happy that Bond is getting more recognition and appreciation across more, and younger, demographics; "kids telling their parents they want to go" - that's what Sony no doubt want, so please can people stop being so snobby about this?
EDIT: also people keep saying SF was only as successful as it was because of the "perfect storm" of timing etc - Sony want to replicate this success and they need to if they want Bond to remain in that top tier with Star Wars and all the other fanboy franchises.
Precisely.
IMO they're hoping/predicting at least 300.
Realistically speaking, it has very little chance against Star Wars, not to mention clearing Jurassic World, Avengers 2 and Furious 7, in the United States. However, overseas I can see it being a close call between Bond and the aforementioned films. Bond's real/closest competitor is Hunger Games, which it's almost guaranteed to beat outside the US, but in the US the battle will be close...with Bond coming off a franchise high with Skyfall and Hunger Games coming off a franchise low with Mockingjay Part 1.
SF was a perfect storm. You can't replicate that success, it was part of the phenomenon known as 'The Zeitgeist'. That's not to say SP can't make more money, but you can't manufacture the Zeitgeist. This isn't me or anyone else being snobby, it's looking at the big picture in a realistic manner. The film will have the arse promoted off it by the time it hits, if it gets good word of mouth it'll spread like wildfire and the masses that took to SF will do the same. If it falls short of the other franchises it doesn't matter. We've hit peaks and troughs in the past and will do again. This movie will be a success if it's good and it takes a healthy amount at the Box Office. Competing with the likes of SW, or Marvel, or JP is all well and good, but not vital. Bond will outlast them all.
http://jamesbond007.se/events.asp?id=3752
I wonder how many seconds it will take before one of the actress says that she is "Bonds equal"
I'd stay up for this, but with the last few disappointing video blogs we've received, it won't be worth it.
Indeed, the vlogs for SP has been lacklustre at best.
At 8:00 UK time tomorrow, Thursday, August 13, the latest vlog from the set of SPECTRE will be released on www.007.com. Featuring Léa Seydoux and Monica Bellucci, as well as director Sam Mendes, the footage gives viewers a glimpse of the roles the actresses play in SPECTRE.
Sam Mendes said, “In SPECTRE, the two women who Bond hooks up with, both have great mystery, they both have depths and for that you need fantastic actresses.”
Regarding her character, Léa Seydoux shared some interesting information about her role: “She’s a doctor, she’s intelligent and very sensitive…”
It seems Seydoux’s role is wrote the opposite of that played by Monica Bellucci who gave a clue about her character: “She’s an Italian widow with secrets.”
Alongside the release of the new volt, new exclusive images from SPECTRE will also be released.
The critics can be very lazy, and my big concern is that they will both drag negative comments from the leaks into their reviews and also complain that big parts of SP feel too similar to other recent spy films, particularly MI5, which was a very good film. Bond is being imitated, but it is also Bond that is coming out at the very end of 2015's long list of spy films and the easily bored general audience can find parts of SP too familiar to recent spy films re WOM.
Some have said it doesn't matter if SP doesn't gross near SF's BO, as long as the film is good. I too care mostly that it is a good film, but I also think it's BO take matters a lot. If SP doesn't at least appear to do well, Craig will be gone, and EON will lose leverage on negotiating the next distribution deal. That can't be good for Bond25.
Well Sony has had a bad year, and SPECTRE represents their best opportunity to have one blockbuster movie (even if it isn't strictly their own). Anyway I'm not convinced the "spy fatigue" is a real thing, at least not in relation to Bond. It's probably more likely to affect The Man from UNCLE, which isn't attracting much heat. Looking back at 2002 which was a similar 'year of spies', Bond had to face :
Goldmember $296 million worldwide (2002's equivalent of Spy)
The Sum of all fears $193 (Man from UNCLE)
Bourne identity $214 (Mission Impossible 5)
xXx $277 (Kingsman)
Both Bourne and xXx (lol) received 'Better than Bond/more badass than Bond' type press, and then :
DAD came out and made 431 worldwide anyway, noticeably higher than any previous Brosnan movie. So spy fatigue or spy anticipation? I have a feeling that Kingsman, Spy, MI, and UNCLE are all doing some of the marketing work for Bond. MI probably stands on its own by now (despite obvious QOS/Skyfall similarities), but anyone who watches those other three is going to think of Bond at some point, because they all feature Bond references, some more blatant than others.