Thursday, September 15, 2011
THIS ONE EXPLORES THE SWEDISH CHEF'S DARK SIDE: There's another parody trailer for The Muppets out now, which, by its nature, doesn't tell us much more about the story, but does give us our first official glimpse of some of the other non-Muppet stars appearing in the film, including Rashida Jones, Rico Rodriguez, Sarah Silverman, and, yes, NPH.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I love this, but remain confused about their intended audience.
ReplyDeleteI think the angle they're pushing is "safe for children, but also has content designed for adults."
ReplyDeleteRashida Jones? Ugh.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm confused because all other for-kids movies do promotion to the kids. We haven't seen that. I get wanting movies to have dual appeal. I don't get all your promo being uni-appeal.
ReplyDeleteIf they're counting on parents dragging their kids out, they're ignoring a lot of very carefully we-will-focus-groups-so-the-kids-love-of-Kermit-peaks-a-week-before-the-movie-opens type classic marketing advice.
I think the template for marketing here is The Smurfs, which rode pretty heavily on nostalgia and adult goodwill for NPH and Jayma Mays to a very nice box office return. I don't watch kid-focused TV (though apparently, I need to start watching Phinneas and Ferb), so don't know how much they did there.
ReplyDeleteI'm inclined to agree with Matt. The last couple of Muppet television ventures haven't been huge successes, so the door to getting the kids in is probably to appeal to passionate adults who will say, "These were my favorite characters growing up, and I hope they'll be yours," and bring them out. It makes sense to me.
ReplyDeleteIs $125m considered a 'very nice return' on it's $110m budget?
ReplyDeleteFrom their original incarnations I think the Muppets appealed to both adults and children, smurfs were pretty much just for kids. I remember watching and loving Muppets as a kid, and enjoying it just as much as an adult. Smurfs, on the other hand, watched & loved as a kid, did not see the appeal as an adult.
That's domestic--worldwide The Smurfs has done more than $450M, and that doesn't count merchandising and DVD sales (while down, still a significant source of income for kids' movies in particular).
ReplyDeleteI guess this is where I disagree. It'd be great for the adults to be the draggers, and I think you can put that in your marketing plan, but if you look at the successful kid's movies, it seems to me you way more need adults to be the draggees.
ReplyDeleteI'm in an outlier household, where the kids watch and love old Muppet Shows episodes (leading to a lot of "who is this guest star?" questions - some of which I need to go to wikipedia to answer) and can sing the theme song. We'll need to armwrestle when the movie comes out to pick who would be dragging whom. But I still have yet to see a trailer for this movie that I think the kids would find any appeal in at all beyond "hey, there's Kermit!". And with not even that, you've got a big problem, in my opinion.
It's Noted Photojournalist Candice Bergen! YAAAAAAY!
ReplyDeleteWocka. Wocka. Wocka.
ReplyDeleteWith a Thanksgiving release I think marketing to adults now makes sense, while marketing to the kids and their shorter attention spans might not.
Also, while I don't know if others will share this psychology, I bet that any franchise that effectively stokes my own nostalgia a month or more in advance of its release date will find itself more easily forgiven for whatever it later does to brainwash my child into dragging me to the theater.