Movie Marketing in 2012

THE GOOD

Star Trek Into Darkness

Is Kahn in it? Who is John Harrison? What episode was he in? Why does IMDB list him as playing "Kahn (Rumored)"? Will Spock die at the end? How far will the current timeline stray from the original series?

The fact that these questions are such a hot topic among the fans right now is a testament to how good Bad Robot (J.J. Abrams' production company) are at marketing. Remember when Cloverfield didn't yet have a title? Remember when we didn't yet know the ending to Lost? That's all anyone talked about at the time. After it was done, the mystery was gone, and there was nothing else to speculate about. Abrams doesn't just make good movies, he's also the Don Draper of Hollywood.

Additionally, there is a First 9 Minutes clip being shown with some IMAX screenings of The Hobbit. This is a fairly new marketing technique used by big summer blockbusters to pad the hype surrounding it, and it has been working.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

The Hobbit's great accomplishment is that it made 3D no longer the latest visual 'enhancement' available to film. Whether you hate it or want to give it a chance, the new High Frame Rate technology has been putting butts in seats. From what I've heard and read, plenty of fans and critics alike have seen it more than once, whether to compare it to an alternate version of the film, or to see the first 9 minutes of something. I saw the HFR version, and will be discussing it in the near future. 

THE BAD

The Cabin in the Woods

The trailer for Cabin receives my Most Misleading Marketing award for making an extremely fun and clever horror satire look like yet another shitty clone of [your favourite slasher franchise]. The last few seconds didn't do enough to display the second tier of the story, the whole tone was just wrong, and everything else was way too generic. And that is probably why it failed financially; those who went to the theatre wanting said shitty clone of [your favourite horror franchise] were disappointed that it wasn't, and told their friends to go see Dark Shadows instead. Mostly everyone else, including myself, saw the trailer and went "No thanks".

Don't Want Me To Pirate John Dies At The End? Make It Available To Me.

First let me just start by saying, I have a fairly large collection of movies. DVDs, Blu-rays, burned DVDs, burned VCDs, VHS tapes...and yes, torrented. The ethics of pirating content is forever ongoing. There are valid arguments for and against it. Regardless of right or wrong, I'd like to think this is a prime example of why people like me download illegally.

I've been waiting for this Don Coscarelli movie ever since the trailer first appeared well over a year ago. I love the Cronenbergian / Lynchian / Aronovskian surreal aspects of movies like this, and so at one point it was my most anticipated movie of 2012. So when a new trailer hit that finally included a release date, my excitement spiked and I think I pee'd a little.

The new "On Demand" release, a.k.a. "Grandpa's Worst Nightmare"

Then this happened. Apparently Magnolia Pictures are appealing to the fans and asking them not to pirate their movie, with a one-minute-long, "anti-piracy trailer".