It’s summer and so we are knee-deep into blockbuster season already. So far, we’ve had Jurassic World, Minions, San Andreas, Pitch Perfect 2, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Tomorrowland: A World Beyond to name but a few.
With all of these huge titles jostling for prime position in viewers wallets, promoters are increasingly keen to use social media to show off their film’s credentials…
Of course, in this day and age, actors are using social media all of the time anyway. They are interacting with fans, posting photos and videos of themselves, promoting the films themselves, and generally just being present online which helps to keep the film present in the forefront of consumers minds. The recent Avengers film, ‘Age of Ultron’, was particularly great for this with its cast posting photos and videos of themselves messing around together. Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr, whose own Facebook use is often hilarious and fan-focused, ran competitions in promotion of the film’s release including a very sweet and thoughtful one for a UK children’s charity (Julia’s House) whereby fans could donate money and be entered into a draw to win the prize of attending the film’s premiere with RDJ himself.
Another cute promo tool was the Facebook page for recent release, Jurassic World, which created the page to be as if it were for a real theme park rather than the film. The page included images such as ‘Excuse Our Mess: We’re experiencing some dino-sized technical issues. Everything is under control’ and a cute little DNA guy shrugging amusingly. The page linked regularly to content on the film’s website which was also setup to be a site for the park rather than the film, complete with sections for Google Photos entitled ‘preserve your memories’ (get it??), park maps, and park cam which features hoards of people panicking and running towards exits. Extremely clever marketing which not only promotes the film but helps to bring the story to life even more for viewers.
Mad Max: Fury Road had a slightly different use for social media. Its own content was relatively straightforward with images and captions from the film itself. What supported the film’s success more was the near-constant discussion about its feminist values, supported by, leading man, Tom Hardy’s own feminist views which served to attract more women to a previously masculine-focused film. Arguably, the film would have been successful given its legacy but it would, in all likelihood, alienated a considerable amount of its potential audience due to it being a ‘boy’s film.’ However, bloggers and tweeters were quick to fall in love with its kickass female lead, Charlize Theron, who not only proves that women are strong but that disabled people are too. A true internet favourite.
This summer’s blockbuster movies are using social media more creatively than ever before and the fans are lapping it up.
