Quantum of Solace was released on the 31st October 2008
It is the follow up movie from Casino Royale following James’s seek for revenge. James Bond is a series of films/books.
Movie Budget: 200 million (dollars)
Worldwide gross: $321,857,447
Executive producer: Callum McDougall
Production company:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
It is an American Media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. This is a company not owned by anybody.
Where does the money come from? Executive producer: MGM and
Executive producers: Michael G. Wilson who produced all the bond films and Barbara Broccoli who is the daughter of the famous JB producer Albert Broccoli
How important is the genre? The genre is Action, Adventure and Thriller. The genre attracts audiences that are particularly attracted to these types of films and it can segregate between age, gender and class. It also tells spectators what type of film they are going to see so that they know whether it is suitable for them or not and tells them whether they will like it. Therefore JB attracts mainly young male audience because of choice of actors and the gadgets. According to Bulmer and Katz uses and gratifications modal, young males will watch the James Bond films because they aspire to be like him, and females will aspire to be with him.
Where was the film showed? Cinemas, Theatres worldwide. For example: Egypt, Argentina, Brazil and Hong Kong.
Box office takings: £4.9 million in one day and £15.5 million in one weekend. (UK)
The film grossed $27 million on its opening day in 3,451 theatres in the United States.
Planned release of DVD: 31st March 2009 (US)
Marketing
• Returning product placement partners from Casino Royale included Ford, Heineken Pilsener, Smirnoff, Omega SA, Virgin Atlantic Airways and Sony Ericsson.
• Penguin Books published a compilation of Fleming's short stories entitled Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories
• Avon created a fragrance called Bond Girl 007 with Gemma Arterton as the "face" of the product
• Coca-cola became a promotional partner, rebranding Coke Zero as "Coke Zero Zero 7“
• Sony held a competition, "Mission for a Million," .
• James Bond Computer Games
• Swatch designed a series of wrist watches, each of them inspired by a Bond villain.
• Bond uses an Aston Martin DBS-the car was promoted many times before the new film was released.
• Gemma Arterton, who plays the role of Agent Fields is the face of the Bond Girl 007 fragrance. It was launched in October in conjunction with the Bond release.
• Smirnoff vodka, the world’s best-selling premium spirit, is proud to continue its long-standing relationship with the Bond family of films
‘Stars’
The James Bond always star famous ‘bonds’. Daniel Craig has starred in two films- Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. Usually there are well known stars in the James bond films, especially the bond girls to make people change their viewing habits to want to see the films.
If an actor/actress is not well known already, by starring in James Bond, they usually become the opposite. The audience is reached in many ways: such as the actors in the film that people like and advertising especially:
Posters, Trailers. Websites, Merchandising, Press kits such as MP3 Players which the sun gave out and music. In the bond films a music single is always recorded to go alongside the film. The music singles are always promoted, especially by the artist again reinforcing audiences and telling them about James Bond through a song.
In Quantum of Solace the song is: Another way to die by Alicia Keys and Jack White. In the song’s video, there aren’t really any clips from the film but the song is sung in the dessert (relating to the movie) as a lot of QOS is set in the dessert. An Iris is used in the video which is traditional used at the beginning of every JB movie. Daniel appears at the end of the film with a massive gun in his hand. This song helped market the film because it would have been heard on radios, music channels etc. The song was released before the film and if people liked the song, they would have associated it with the film.
The Dark Knight was released: 24th July 2008
It is the follow up movie up movie to Batman Begins
Movie budget: 185 million (dollars)
Gross reference: $998,143,870
Production company: Warner Brothers, a subsidiary of Time Warner and is one of the world’s largest producers of film and television entertainment. It is not owned by anybody.
Where does the money come from? Warner Bros and DC Comics etc
How important is the genre? The genre is action, Adventure and Crime. The genre attracts audiences that are particularly attracted to these types of films and it can segregate between age, gender and class. It also tells spectators what type of film they are going to see so that they know whether it is suitable for them or not and tells them whether they will like it. Therefore the dark knight targeted comic book readers, young people and adults who enjoy being thrilled by action.
Where was the film shown? Cinemas, Theatres worldwide and in 2009, it will be shown in IMAX theatres.
Box office takings: £11 million in one weekend (UK)
The Batman Begins sequel took $66.4 million (£33.1 million) on its opening night, (USA)
Planned released of DVD: December 8th 2008 (before Christmas)
Marketing
• A lot of viral advertising was used (for ex: banners on myspace)
• Scavenger hunt was organised in major cities throughout America
• Newspapers were released pretending to be written by the Joker (Gothen Times)
• The opening sequence was released as a theatrical trailer with ‘I am Legend’
• After the death of Heath Ledger, they postponed the release date to July and Warner Bros adjusted its promotional focus on the Joker-They posted a memorial tribute on the main website to Ledger and revised some if it’s websites dedicated to promoting the film
• Six Flags Great Adventure theme park made a Dark Knight rollercoaster ride in America helping to market the film. It cost 7.5 million and simulates being stalked by the Joker
• It was distributed to 4,366 theatres including IMAX
‘Stars’
How important are the stars?
These stars have especially been in major films, supporting this film with its marketing as it draws the spectator to watch certain films because of other films they have acted in. The draw of celebrities was magnified in The Dark Knight, as the death of actor Heath Ledger caused so much shock and sadness within fans that the marketing team even began to twist his death into a marketing scheme.
Conclusions
Both films produced and distributed their films well which is proven by the large amounts of money they made especially in just one weekend.
Films are a media product out to attract as many consumers as possible. We believe there was so much advertising with trailers, posters, and products that it was difficult to escape the media attention. Quantum of Solace was made to live up to the expectations of Casino Royale so it was important for MGM to advertise as much as possible. The Dark Knight inevitably gained more attention from the sudden death of Heath Ledger and they turned his death into part of their marketing.
We also think because the genres of these films are similar that this would attract a similar audience to each.
It is also clear that marketing is very effective when it twists the spectator’s opinions. When bombarded with so many images, products and trailers supporting a film, it is hard to escape the media attention as a consumer, and so the image of these films will be constantly fixed in your mind until you are forced to watch it yourself, even if only in order to draw your own conclusions.
