Bums on Seats
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight:
The Dark Knight tells the story of the Joker wreaking havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, the Dark Knight has to come to terms with one of the greatest psychological test of his ability to fight injustice. The film was released in 2008 as a PG-13, it was rated as PG-13 due to it's intense sequences of violence and menace. |
Target Audience:
The main target audience for The Dark Knight is people who are interested in comic books and graphic novels, specially those of DC and Batman. As well as this the film is aimed more towards males in their early teens and onwards, this is due to the amount of action, violence, gadgets and weapons which are common among superhero films. Superhero movies are commonly known for being more popular among males than females, though that isn't to say that woman aren't interested.
Producers would have been able to work out the audience of The Dark Knight with ease due to it's existing popularity and following through the comics. They would have been able to see how the comics were marketed to their audience and what appealed the audience to them. With this information, the producers could market their film to fans of the comics with the knowledge that the audience will be interested.
The main target audience for The Dark Knight is people who are interested in comic books and graphic novels, specially those of DC and Batman. As well as this the film is aimed more towards males in their early teens and onwards, this is due to the amount of action, violence, gadgets and weapons which are common among superhero films. Superhero movies are commonly known for being more popular among males than females, though that isn't to say that woman aren't interested.
Producers would have been able to work out the audience of The Dark Knight with ease due to it's existing popularity and following through the comics. They would have been able to see how the comics were marketed to their audience and what appealed the audience to them. With this information, the producers could market their film to fans of the comics with the knowledge that the audience will be interested.
Marketing:
Over the 15 months leading up to the release of the film, over 11 million unique participants in over 70 countries joined in the transmedia experience. During the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con ten thousand one dollar bills were handed out, all of which had be 'Jokerized' and led the occupants to the joker's main website, which was the main site for the campaign. This site had a countdown and a series of numbers, occupants quickly deciphered to be co-ordinates. This led these people to their first clue, when the countdown had stopped, a telephone number was written in the sky by a plane, when dialled it provided them with a second clue which led them to the 'Why So Serious' website allowing them to unlock a teaser trailer and new photo of the joker. On October 31, 2007, the website began another new scavenger hunt with hidden messages for people to find. These messages instructed fans to uncover clues at certain locations in major cities throughout the USA, they were instructed to take photos of their discoveries. These clues combined revealed a new image of the joker with an audio clip from the film of the dialogue "And tonight, you're going to break your one rule". Once the scavenger hunt was completed fans were taken to a new website called 'Rory's Death Kiss', where fans could submit photos of themselves costumed as the joker. Those who sent photos in received a copy of 'The Gotham Time' in the post, the electronic version sent those to numerous websites. There was a website released called 'I Believe in Harvey Dent'. Those who registered on this website were sent packages in the promotional packs in the post with buttons, stickers and a letter supporting Harvey Dent. The image of Harvey Dent was slowly 'Jokerized' and eventually revealed the images of the joker. People even met up in the street to show their support of Harvey Dent, voting cards were sent out and there was even city news site setup for 'official versions' of the stories. There was a 'Clown travel agency' set up that sent fans to bowling alleys all around the world. The first ones to arrive there opened up a locker to receive a bowling bag, inside the bowling bag was a bowling ball, joker card and a cell phone. Those who found the bag were instructed to ring the number on the piece of paper on the cell phone, upon calling the number a person would answer saying ''know we know who you are. Bye bye". As well as this, people were sent to selected bakeries in order to receive their own 'Joker cake'. On the outside of the cake was written 'Call me now' and below was a number and inside the cake contained a mobile phone. However in San Antonio a bomb squad were called in after there was fears that there was a bomb within the cake. Those who received phones from the cakes were told to keep hold of their phones and eventually the joker would call them. |
Distribution:
The world premiere for The Dark Knight was held in New York on July 14 2008, within 38 hours a pirated copy had been released online. In the United States and Canada, The Dark Knight was distributed across 4,366 theatres, including 94 IMAX cinemas. Online ticket services sold enormous amounts of tickets for approximately 3,000 midnight showings as well as early showings on it's opening day. All IMAX theatres were sold out for opening weekend. It was released commercially on July 16, 2008 in Australia, grossing almost $2.3 million in it's first day.
The Dark Knight grossed $1,004,558,444 worldwide, becoming the fourth film in history to gross more than $1 billion worldwide. The Dark Knight earned $534.9 million in North America and $469.7. In North America The Dark Knight is the highest grossing film of 2008 and the fourth most top grossing film of all time. Overseas The Dark Knight is the highest grossing film of 2008.
In the United States, The Dark Knight set a sale record for most DVDs sold in a day, selling 3 million copies, 600,00 of which were Blu-ray disc. In the United Kingdom, the film had combined sales of 513,000 units on it's first day of release, 107,730 of which were Blu-ray disc, the highest number of first day Blu-ray sales.
In March 2011, Warner Bros offered The Dark Knight for rent on Facebook, becoming the first movie to be released via digital distribution on social media networking sites.
The world premiere for The Dark Knight was held in New York on July 14 2008, within 38 hours a pirated copy had been released online. In the United States and Canada, The Dark Knight was distributed across 4,366 theatres, including 94 IMAX cinemas. Online ticket services sold enormous amounts of tickets for approximately 3,000 midnight showings as well as early showings on it's opening day. All IMAX theatres were sold out for opening weekend. It was released commercially on July 16, 2008 in Australia, grossing almost $2.3 million in it's first day.
The Dark Knight grossed $1,004,558,444 worldwide, becoming the fourth film in history to gross more than $1 billion worldwide. The Dark Knight earned $534.9 million in North America and $469.7. In North America The Dark Knight is the highest grossing film of 2008 and the fourth most top grossing film of all time. Overseas The Dark Knight is the highest grossing film of 2008.
In the United States, The Dark Knight set a sale record for most DVDs sold in a day, selling 3 million copies, 600,00 of which were Blu-ray disc. In the United Kingdom, the film had combined sales of 513,000 units on it's first day of release, 107,730 of which were Blu-ray disc, the highest number of first day Blu-ray sales.
In March 2011, Warner Bros offered The Dark Knight for rent on Facebook, becoming the first movie to be released via digital distribution on social media networking sites.
References:
- http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/dark-knight-promo-goes-awry-96413/
- http://philtreagus.com/the-dark-knight-a-case-study-of-viral-marketing/
- https://www.slideshare.net/belair1981/the-dark-knight-marketing-42261856
- https://www.slideshare.net/ellesullivan310/the-dark-knight-production-marketing-and-audience
- http://cargocollective.com/GaryRosen/The-Dark-Knight-Known-as-the-best-viral-movie-marketing-campaign-in
- http://www.firstshowing.net/2007/the-dark-knights-viral-marketing-gets-very-real-cakes-cell-phones-and-all/
- http://www.42entertainment.com/work/whysoserious
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight_(film)#Marketing