“Transcendence” & “Rise of the Guardians” illustrate the fine art of how NOT to promote a motion picture

Jim Hill

11 years ago

When something is transcendent, it's supposed to " …
be far better or greater than what is usual." Well, that's
clearly not what happened with "Transcendence" this past weekend. At
least when it comes to this Warner Bros. release reaching its true box office
potential.

That's all anyone in Hollywood can talk
about right now (Other than that other story, of course). Whether
"Transcendence" 's under-performance at the box office — coupled
with "The Lone Ranger
" crashing & burning last summer — means
that Johnny Depp has now lost his movie mojo. That moviegoers are no longer
interested in seeing this performer unless he's appearing in a "Pirates of
the Caribbean" film or — to a lesser extent — working with Tim Burton.

Mind you, based on what I've heard from
people who've actually worked with Johnny, the one person who'd be most amused
by all this frantic Hollywood hand-wringing would be Depp himself. You see,
Johnny doesn't really consider himself to be a leading man but more of a
character actor. More to the point, Depp doesn't agree to take on parts because
he hopes that movie will then make beaucoup bucks. But — rather — because the
role being offered interests him and/or looks challenging.

That's why Johnny will be in Massachusetts next
month shooting "Black Mass," which details the FBI's complicated relationship with notorious Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger. Then after that, because he so enjoyed
playing the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland
," Depp
has agreed to reprise that role in its 2016 sequel, "Through the Looking
Glass." And once production of that big budget fantasy film wraps, Johnny
will be trading his top hat for some dreadlocks as the fifth installment of
Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" series — which is tentatively titled "Dead Men Tell No
Tales" — sets sail.

And given that "Alice in Wonderland" sold $1.025 billion worth of
tickets worldwide back in 2010 and "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger
Tides
" sold $1.045 billion worth of tickets worldwide back in 2011, it's
assumed (at least within the corridors of power at Disney) that these two
highly anticipated follow-up films will do just as well as the originals. Which
is why — come 2016 / 2017 — I seriously doubt that you'll be hearing anyone
in Hollywood whining about Johnny Depp's waning box office appeal.

But that said … One has to wonder if
"Transcendence" would have done at least a little better at the box
office if Warner Bros. had opted to go with a far different marketing campaign
for this Alcon Entertainment production. As one Hollywood wag put it yesterday:
"They took one of the most attractive men in Hollywood and then put
together a promotional campaign that made Depp look like crap. No wonder nobody
went to see this movie."

But that's the thing about motion picture promotion. It's kind of an inexact
science. And if you have a film like "Transcendence" that's kind of
hard to sell / explain to begin with, putting the wrong trailer out there, the
wrong poster or even the wrong series of television commercials will sink you.

Case in point: DreamWorks Animation's
"Rise of the Guardians
." This Peter Ramsey film is arguably one of
the best films that DWA has ever produced. It's got memorable characters,
terrific action sequences, tons of humor & heart. Which is why many
animation fans — myself among them — tend to group "Rise of the
Guardians" right in there with DWA's best. And by that I mean: The original
"Shrek
," the original "Kung Fu Panda
" and the original "How
to Train Your Dragon
." (The jury's still out on "How to Train Your
Dragon 2." But based on what people have told me about the hour-long chunk
of this Dean DeBlois film that aired at WonderCon this past weekend,
"Dragons 2" may be DreamWorks Animation's first sequel that equals.
Anyway …)

And yet when "Rise of the Guardians" opened in theaters back on November 21, 2012, it seriously under-performed. This DWA production (which cost an estimated
$145 million to produce) stumbled so badly at the box office that this
animation studio was forced to take a $87 million write-down on the film. Not
only that, but in a tightening-its-belt gesture that came right on the heels
for "Guardians" not being able to launch DWA's next big franchise
("Rise" was originally supposed to have been the first installment in
a trilogy of films built around Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy,
the Sandman and Jack Frost), 350 members of DreamWorks Animation's staff of
2,200 were let go.

So how it is that a film that had supposedly
been testing through the roof prior to its release to theaters crashed &
burned so badly? Some will tell you that it was "Rise of the
Guardians" 's rather generic title. Which didn't exactly fire the
imagination of would-be moviegoers.

There's also been some talk that American
movie-goers were somewhat put off by "Guardians" 's take on Santa
Claus. Which — according to the mythology that William Joyce had cooked up for
this character — was originally supposed to have been a Russian Cossack. Which
is why — in this DreamWorks Animation film — dear old Santa wielded swords
and had "Naughty" tattooed on one arm & "Nice" tattooed
on the other.

Me personally, I don't know if I buy into
that whole America-wasn't-ready-for-a-burly-Russian-Santa idea. Though I have
heard another, more interesting theory as to why "Guardians"
under-performed in North America. Which — according to the stories that I've been told by industry
insiders — supposedly had a lot to do with "Wreck-It Ralph
."

That Walt Disney Animation Studios production opened on November 2, 2012. And Paramount Pictures executives (who were handling the
distribution of all DreamWorks Animation films at that time. In fact, "Rise
of the Guardians" was the very last film released under this pact before
Fox then began distributing DWA's movies in 2013) supposedly freaked when they
saw the exit polling on "Wreck-It Ralph." Which reportedly suggested
that moviegoers — as they were exiting opening
weekend screenings of this Rich Moore movie — had praised this WDAS production
for being especially funny.

And given that "Wreck-It Ralph" now
looked like it was going to have strong word-of-mouth and could potentially
still be a box office contender over the long Thanksgiving Weekend (which was
when "Rise of the Guardians" was going to be released to theaters)
… Well, Paramount & DWA execs supposedly ditched the television
promotional campaign that they had originally mapped out for "Guardians"
(which allegedly stressed the magic & the wonder of this new animated
feature. Not to mention its terrific cast of characters) and opted instead to
go with an expensive new set of TV commercials. Ones that would then play up
the humor of this motion picture by focusing almost exclusively on Santa's
dim-witted elves.

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_CliOPCeBo]

Which — the way I hear it — did more harm
than good to "Guardians." For when people saw this series of TV
commercials hyping DreamWorks Animation's next big feature, they supposedly
said / thought: "Hey, those elves look & behave just like the minions
in 'Despicable Me
.' I've already seen that movie. So why should I pay to see something
that I've already seen? I think I'll pass on seeing 'Rise of the Guardians.'
"

As I said earlier, promoting motion pictures is kind of an inexact science. But
even taking that into account, swapping out the television ad campaign that
you've previously mapped out for your new animated feature just two weeks prior
to its arrival in theaters is a very, very bad idea. And in the end, "Rise
of the Guardians" wound up paying the price for that late-in-the-game
change in its advertising strategy.

Which is why a lot of us animation fans out
there who keep hoping that "Rise" will eventually see an "Iron
Giant
" or "A Christmas Story
" -like revival. Both of those
movies initially bombed at the box office but eventually found huge &
enthusiastic audiences. Thanks in large part to Cartoon Network's decision to
begin presenting "Iron Giant" marathons (which is when this Brad Bird
film would then be run continuously on that cable channel for 24 hours straight)
on Thanksgiving Day in the early 2000s. Which had supposedly been inspired by
TBS's holiday tradition of running "A Christmas Story" for 24 hours
straight starting on Christmas Eve.

One can only imagine that — if some cable
channel were to stage a similar stunt with "Rise of the Guardians"
around Easter — that this DreamWorks Animation film would finally then be able
to shake off its bombed-during-its-theatrical-stigma reputation and then begin
being seen as the extraordinary piece of family entertainment that it actually is.

In fact, if you're looking for something fun
to watch with the family, tonight would be the perfect night to toss "Rise
of the Guardians" into your DVD or Blu-ray player. After all, Pitch's epic
final battle with Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sand Man
and Jack Frost supposedly happens just a day or so after Easter.

Besides, it's not like you were planning on going out tonight to see " Transcendence"
…

Your thoughts?