The Dark Knight Rises was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures with a budget of $250-300 million. It was directed by Christopher Nolan and starred Christian Bale and Tom Hardy. Promotion included a viral marketing campaign and trailers with other films. It was released in theaters internationally in July 2012 and on DVD/Blu-Ray in December 2012, being consumed through legal purchases or potentially illegally online. Merchandise included toys, clothing, and sponsoring race cars to generate additional revenue.
2. Technical Aspects of The Dark Knight Rises
Release date: 20th July 2012 (UK Cinema), December 4th 2012 (UK DVD)
Genre: Action/Crime/Drama
Running time: 165 minutes
Main distribution companies: Warner Bros. Pictures
Budget: $250-$300 million
Worldwide gross: $1,081,041,287
Directors: Christopher Nolan
Producers: Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, Charles Roven
Main actors: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine
3. Structure of the companies in The Dark
Knight Rises
Distribution – Warner Bros. Pictures Owned by Time Warner
Warner Bros. has
production deals
with
Legendary Pictures/Syncopy Films/DC comics
DC Comics owns
Batman
4. The production side of The Dark
Knight Rises
Producers: Christopher Nolan/Emma Thomas/Charles Roven
Music: Hans Zimmer
Costume Design: Lindy Hemming
The cultural industry theory applies to The Dark Knight Rises, it is similar to other
movies of it’s genre (superhero movies) in the fact that it is the simple “hero beats
villain” story, with a couple of extra twists. However, this film and it’s respective
trilogy tries to do something different, the film is a lot darker than most other
superhero films released and The Dark Knight Rises was heavily praised for that.
Synergy was also used a lot during production of The Dark Knight Rises, Nolan used
the IMAX corporations “IMAX” cameras to film The Dark Knight Rises, as he does
not believe in 3D but still wanted the film to be of a high quality. Other companies
sets were used, most notably the American football team “Pittsburg Steelers”
playing field was used, along with them themselves. This is an example of
horizontal synergy.
5. Promotion of The Dark Knight Rises
“The official website launched in May 2011 introducing a viral marketing campaign similar to the one
used to promote The Dark Knight. The website streamed an encrypted audio file described by users as
chanting. Users decrypted the audio to the Twitter hashtag, "#TheFireRises". Warner Bros. removed a pixel
from the webpage for every tweet using the hashtag. The website revealed the first official image of
Bane.” This is an example of New Media Technologies being used to promote a film.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight_Rises)
The teaser trailer to the film was advertised with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, and the
theatrical trailer was released with Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. The Dark Knight Rises theatrical
trailer was shown again with the release of The Avengers.
marketing campaigns for the film continued as magazine companies Empire and Wired received “CIA
documents” which revealed plot elements of the six-minute prologue of the film screened at the Mission
Impossible: Ghost Protocol premiere.
Before the films release, At the American International Toy Fair, Mattel unveiled figures for Batman, Bane,
and Catwoman, and Batman’s flying vehicle, The bat.
(http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/comics/story/2012-02-01/Dark-Knight-Rises-Batman-movie-toys/52906568/1)
The Cultural Industry theory would apply here, because a lot of “high-end” superhero films will advertise
themselves with films of a similar genre, this is a proven method and was used with The Dark Knight, and
The Dark Knight Rises respectively.
6. The Distribution Methods of The Dark Knight
Rises
On July 6th 2012, a special screening of The Dark Knight Rises for more
than 100 critics and reporters was planned, but had to be delayed for
one day due to technical problems.
The film later premiered on July 16th 2012 at the AMC Lincoln Square
Theater in New York City, New York, followed by a European premiere
on July 18th 2012 at Leicester Square in London, England. The film was
released in Australia and New Zealand on July 19th 2012, and was later
released in North America and the United Kingdom on July 20th 2012.
The Dark Knight Rises was released on November 28th 2012 in Hong
Kong and New Zealand, on December 3rd 2012 in the UK and on
December 4th 2012 in the United States. It was available for purchase on
DVD, Blu-Ray, as well as on a digital download. Websites and
programmes such as Netflix were also releasing the film to the public for
viewing. A box set showcasing the trilogy of The Dark Knight films was
also released, coinciding with the release of The Dark Knight Rises.
7. The Dark Knight Rises methods of
consumption
The Dark Knight Rises was, at first, consumed in the cinema.
It had a typical cinema run, releasing in cinemas across the
globe, IMAX or not.
Around 5-6 months after its cinema release, it was released
and able to be consumed via Blu-Ray, DVD and digital
download. It is also available on the internet, unfortunately
piracy viewings come into play as well.
The encoding/decoding theory could loosely be applied
here, with the preferred reading seeing the film legally, be it
via the cinema, DVD, Blu-Ray and digital download, and the
oppositional reading being viewing the movie in a way that
breaks the law. Whether that is online without paying for the
film, or buying a pirated DVD.
8. The Dark Knight Rises Merchandise and
Synergy
Warner Bros. partnered with Mountain Dew to do a cross-
promotion that included a special paint scheme on the No.
88 Chevrolet Impala owned by Hendrick Motorsports and
driven by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series. On June 17, 2012, the car won the 2012 Quicken
Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway. On July
4, 2012, the studio signed a deal with Formula One team
Lotus F1 to have the films logos appear on the Lotus E20s
driven by Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean at the 2012
British Grand Prix. Raikkonen and Grosjean went on to finish
the race in fifth and sixth place respectively. Warner Bros.
had previously followed a similar promotion in the 2008 British
Grand Prix, when the now-defunct Toyota F1 carried a livery
to promote The Dark Knight. (http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=43173)
10. Technical Aspects of The Woman in Black
Release date: 10th February 2012 (UK Cinema), 18th June 2012 (UK DVD)
Genre: Drama/Horror/Thriller
Running time: 95 minutes
Main distribution companies: Momentum Pictures (UK)
Budget: $15 million
Worldwide gross: $127,730,736
Directors: James Watkins
Producers: Brian Oliver, Richard Jackson, Simon Oakes
Main actors: Daniel Radcliffe, Janet McTeer, Ciarån Hinds
11. Structure of the companies in The Woman
in Black
Distribution – Momentum Pictures and Hammer Film Productions
Owned by
Alliance films
Independent company
Who distributed the film in Canada
12. The production side of The Woman in
Black
Producer: Tobin Armbrust
Music: Marco Beltrami
Cinematography: Tim Maurice-Jones
“For its British release, several changes were made in order to qualify for a 12A
certificate: Momentum Theatrical, the distributor, arranged to have six seconds cut and
for changes to other shots, with some scenes darkened and the sound level reduced on
some others. The cuts were never released to audiences, but comparing the US and UK
cuts were never revealed to audiences, but comparing the US and UK cuts of the film
reveals that the scenes where the woman hangs from the nursery ceiling and when Lucy
Jerome sets herself on fire were cut short in the UK version. This could have been
because one of their target audiences when producing this film was Harry Potter
fans, who have a lot of fans that are under the age of 12.
Although a somewhat loose link, synergy was used in the fact that this film was filmed in
the United Kingdom, this in turn advertises the United Kingdom and would generate
tourist income, similar to how New Zealand generates income from the Lord of Rings
films.
13. Promotion of The Woman in Black
The Woman in Black was promoting their film constantly
on social networking sites such as Facebook. They had
their own “group” on the site and were releasing
information about the film periodically to a wide
audience.
Advertisements could also be seen all over the
internet, appearing as banners, trailers, etc. on web
pages.
There were 3 main audiences targeted whilst promoting
The Woman in Black, Harry Potter/Radcliffe fans first and
foremost, horror fans and fans of the play/book.
14. Promotion of The Woman in Black
Large posters were used to advertise
the film throughout the world, whether
that be on billboards like seen here
or on bus shelters.
Advertisements could also be seen in
newspapers worldwide
Social networking sites such as YouTube
were also used via a competition
designed for the target audience, and
allowing them a chance to win multiple
prizes, providing they submit a “ghost
story”. This would entice people to enter
the competition and subsequently
make them interested in the film.
15. Distribution of The Woman in Black
The Woman in Black was available on all of the typical
platforms, allowing for the widest possible audience to
view the film.
These platforms were blu-ray, dvd, digital
download, online (via piracy), online subcription (such as
lovefilm, or netflix).
The film was originally released in cinemas across the
globe, and had a successful cinema run, like The Dark
Knight Rises.
16. The Woman in Black’s methods of
consumption
Like I stated above, the film is available on all of the
regular platforms and just not try to steer away from the
norm.
“The encoding/decoding theory could loosely be
applied here, with the preferred reading seeing the film
legally, be it via the cinema, DVD, Blu-Ray and digital
download, and the oppositional reading being viewing
the movie in a way that breaks the law. Whether that is
online without paying for the film, or buying a pirated
DVD.”
17. The Woman in Black Merchandise
Although not as heavy on the
merchandise as The Dark Knight
Rises, most likely due to it being a much
more serious genre and having a more
mature target audience, it still has some.
T-shirts, mugs and cups and flash lights
could all be purchased and would bring
in some extra money for the company.
The mugs and cups and the t-shirts are
all very typical of films, however the
flashlight could be referring to the scary
nature of the film, and cashing in on the
whole “darkness is scary” thing.
18. Secondary Notes
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Press Conferences
Allows audiences to receive information about the film from the actors
and directors themselves more reliable
CGI
Used for some of the characters and settings entirely, such as the multiple
goblins
Motion Capture
Used for the dwarves, as well as gollum, and other characters.
Advertising
Airplanes
Airports
Banners
Billboards
Public Sets