I'd say that marketing and delays played a big part in this films demise really. Because as one article pointed out people behind the scenes had no clue what they were doing or what the Dark Phoenix film was supposed to do . Is this a reboot ? Is this about a character dying ? WTF ? Plus once a film is delayed ...twice it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. It makes you believe the film is gonna be shit honestly. (we saw this play out with Holmes & Watson where originally it was supposed to be spring 2018 , then summer and finally they tried selling it to netflix before a release in winter 2018)
"The story so far: As usual, Ginger and I are engaged in our quest to find out what the hell is going on and save humanity from my nemesis, some bastard who is presumably responsible." - Sir Digby Chicken Caesar.
“ Well hell just froze over. Because CM Punk is back in the WWE.” - Jcogginsa.
“You can take the boy outta the mom’s basement, but you can’t take the mom’s basement outta the boy!” - LA Knight.
"Revel in What You Are." Bray Wyatt.
That is purely creative and production. That has nothing to do with marketing. It suggests a problem from the start that no amount of marketing magic could cover up. I would argue Marketing did more to get all the other weak Fox men flicks money. And for Dark Phoenix no one was going to be tricked they knew what they were getting and what mid range offerings they would receive for their money.
You can only trick people for so long offering up more of the same over and over.
"The story so far: As usual, Ginger and I are engaged in our quest to find out what the hell is going on and save humanity from my nemesis, some bastard who is presumably responsible." - Sir Digby Chicken Caesar.
“ Well hell just froze over. Because CM Punk is back in the WWE.” - Jcogginsa.
“You can take the boy outta the mom’s basement, but you can’t take the mom’s basement outta the boy!” - LA Knight.
"Revel in What You Are." Bray Wyatt.
Marketing is generally done by a totally different department.
A lot of time they have NOTHING to go on for the movie promotion.
Take the movie Whose Your Caddy-it got marketed as a film of blacks vs whites over a golf course.
The WRITER had to go to imdb.com and explain RACE had ZERO to do with the film. In fact everyone (very few mind you) who saw it-said the EXACT same thing.
So that is probably what Dark Phoenix had happened.
An article from days ago explained that a lot of the marketing people at 21st Century Fox was out the door and gone. Sure its a different department. But with folks out the door and those left ; they again questioned what the film was supposed to be. Yeah its a different department for sure I agree. Those left who were there didn't really know what this film was about given what folks have reported thus far.
Production wise Kinberg asked to fine tune an edit of graphics which took a year then factor in reshoots which extended it further. The delays for sure didn't help it. Even if the guy behind it claims he was fine tuning the special effects comically.
"The story so far: As usual, Ginger and I are engaged in our quest to find out what the hell is going on and save humanity from my nemesis, some bastard who is presumably responsible." - Sir Digby Chicken Caesar.
“ Well hell just froze over. Because CM Punk is back in the WWE.” - Jcogginsa.
“You can take the boy outta the mom’s basement, but you can’t take the mom’s basement outta the boy!” - LA Knight.
"Revel in What You Are." Bray Wyatt.
Dark Phoenix is the culmination of 20 years of X-Men films, and specifically this particular story was largely told once already. Even if you are completely unaware of any of the previous X-Men films, a simple google search will inform you what the movie was supposed to be. The idea that a group of professional marketers - even the B-team - didn't know what this film was about and couldn't be bothered to learn seems really, really far-fetched.
I think the general public knows they can just hit up youtube for the trailers. I knew there was a general lack of interest for DP when the first trailer came out and it didn't have a lot of views compared to other blockbuster movies. The subsequent ones had small views for a movie of this size.
Like some posters have been saying just a lack of interest in the X-Men brand. As well as other franchises judging by the box office.
Good marketers can take disinterest and reverse that if they have a product people will want once they explore it more.
Dark Phoenix offered nothing for marketers to attract people with. It was a dour movie with little entertainment value that was a known re-do of an earlier movie people didn't love. (And which had a shit ton of production issues) I'd like to meet the marketer that could sell that lump of shit and make people pay gold for it.
Last edited by Theleviathan; 06-24-2019 at 07:26 PM.
No.
https://www.statista.com/topics/4741/superhero-movies/Marvel remains at the pinnacle of the superhero movie genre. With a host of recognizable brands such as the Avengers, X-Men, Spider-Man, and Iron Man, Marvel saturates the superhero market for a variety of different audiences. About 47 percent of respondents stated that they strictly preferred Marvel over its main competitor, DC, while only 11 percent answered in favor of DC. Marvel has achieved massive success in the film industry, partly due to its ability to include numerous superheroes into each movie, and connect their stories in a way that compels viewers to seek out other Marvel films. Around 54 percent of respondents from the 18 to 34 age range stated that they had seen one or more movies in the Avengers series.
Not to mention Dark Phoenix is a not a newcomer friendly film nor was advertised as a jumping on point.
Dark Phoenix was not a culmination of 20 years of X-Men films until Disney officially owned Fox in late March and advertise as such a weeks before it release.
And like Comic-Reader Lad said in the Dark Phoenix thread: sure we comics fans know what "Dark Phoenix" means, but that name does not mean anything to the average moviegoer. So anyone just scanning the listings for current movies and comes across the DP name might just keep on scanning because there's no "X-Men" brand name to stop them in their tracks. Jean has never been refer to as “Phoenix” in the previous films save for single scene in X3, which is a movie that came out 13 years ago and she was only in the movie for around 10 minutes as a side character.
And after seeing the movie twice, I can easily say that the marketing was VERY deceitful at the very least.
Last edited by Divine Spark; 06-24-2019 at 07:27 PM.