This Summer Shaping Up To Be A Big One For Marketers

Ahh summer. For most of us it's a time for vacations, beach trips and days spent in the sun. For movie marketers, however, the summer represents a time where the money flows, the pressure builds and jobs are always on the line. With fewer sequels slated for release this year, more studios are putting their money into new franchise hopefuls, which can be an extremely risky endeavor.

According to a recent Variety article, it's expected to cost movie studios around $150 million to adequately market some of the larger films this summer. That's an astounding number considering most films cost less then that for marketing and production combined. It becomes especially daunting when you take into account the risk that the film flops and fails to make back the amount of money that was invested.

That said, I'm glad that Hollywood is finally taking a few risks with their summer offerings. Frankly, I've gotten tired of sequel after sequel after sequel. I mean, I love a good franchise as much as the next guy, but it's nice to have a change of pace. It will no doubt be another interesting summer at the movies.

Indiana Jones: The Golden Years

OK. I admit. I'm a bit behind the times. I just watched the official trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and apparently, I'm the only one in American who hasn't. So I won't be arguing that the film will be a huge commercial success. I won't even get into the film's quality -- or lack thereof. Since this is a movie marketing blog, I'll try to limit myself to a discussion of the marketing strategy used by the filmmakers, and I'll try to limit the Harrison-Ford-is-65-years-old jokes -- but I can't make any promises.



So for those like myself, who aspire to be living under a rock, here's the official trailer, which was released on February 15th.



I remember hearing rumors about this film 6 or 7 years ago, when I was still in high school. If this is the best trailer that a team behind a big budget summer spectacle can come up with, then...well, I promised I wouldn't get into that. After all, Harrison might break a hip coming after me, and goodness knows we wouldn't want that.

Considering the last Indiana Jones film (The Last Crusade -- ironic now, isn't it?) was released 19 years ago, the biggest problem Spielberg, Lucas, and the rest of the team will face is attracting those free spending teenagers that make up the bulk of the movie going audience. Why should they spend money to watch a special effects boosted geriatric when they can catch the latest Jason Statham masterpiece (keep an eye out for Transporter 3 in 2009) instead?

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull releases on May 22nd, so the marketing team has time to put together a creative campaign that targets that demographic. I can't say it will be easy, but then again, if Harrison Ford can keep his action movie career going at 65, then perhaps anything is possible.