Does Star Wars have a marketing problem?

I don't really recall fans being critical of the trailers failing to excite them about Boba Fett. Most of the fans I had talked to were going to watch it regardless. And that was common for both those that were already looking forward to the show and for those that were not interested in/didn't need a Boba Fett show.

I think though that there is a section of the fans who seem to be more preoccupied with the marketing. In fact they count the marketing as part of the film/show experience. Personally, I think that as a fan I have little use for the "marketing" except when and where I can see the thing. So I am completely mystified when people who would have watched the show in full anyway complain about feeling manipulated or misled by the marketing. Especially when they choose to predict what will/won't appear in the episode and what it must mean based on what they've seen in the trailer, and it doesn't play out exactly as predicted.

 

I really miss the marketing of TFA and TLJ. It was big part of the experience. You were hyped, you had so many speculations because of the official marketing content- so many talks with other SW fans.

Yes, movies and TV shows are different. Obviously a movie has to be marketed much more. But I wasn't really hyped or excited for Mando S2 or TBOBF because they didn't really give us something to look forward to during the marketing run.

I hope Kenobi does the marketing right. It's probably the most anticipated SW content since TFA. IMO they should release a teaser trailer pretty soon. Followed by official pictures and interviews, BTS snippets and finally a full main trailer.

 

Some online sources are predicting one today.

 

Of course they do. They didn't hire me.

IMHO, I don't believe they've ever needed to market before, the story sold itself and we, the fans, helped.

BUT, after the backlash for (once again my opinion) disjointed-story telling in some recent work, something seems off within Disney SW. Maybe it's just the "pandemic" but my spidey sense is tingling.

 

Don't you mean peter tingle?

 

This is a great thread that I will jump into tonite …. At work now …..

 

Pretty much after Solo the marketing has been great. There was huge interest in The Rise of Skywalker before release (according to Google Trends interest was higher than before TLJ). Mando has been a huge success and they were basically starting from scratch. I would have preferred that Din's involvement in BOBF been marketed before release, but it seems (based on ratings) that it didn't matter in the long run. Fans have complained online (when aren't' they?) about not getting enough, but generally those fans aren't the ones people in marketing are trying to reach.

Some people confuse reception with marketing. The Rise of Skywalker was lowest rated Star Wars film by audiences (by industry metrics). That hurt the film. Solo was rated higher and made less money at the box office. That's an example of a marketing failure.

 

I wouldn't blame the marketing for Solo's box office. The film was rated higher and featured some great performances by Donald Glover, Emilia Clarke, and Woody Harrelson BUT the pre-release trailers had to feature the title character - Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo. That meant a lot of potential ticket-buyers saw him in action and said, "um, that's not MY Han" and passed.

 

I walked right into that one.

 

Based on some surveys (lost the link) it was mostly Star Wars fans who didn't show up to see it. For a film that was graded well by Star Wars fans it's a failure of marketing to get people in the seats. It's not all on marketing. It was released too close to Endgame/Deadpool and would have benefited from a Christmas release (which Iger admitted later). I haven't seen any data putting the issue with Alden Ehrenreich. There's some evidence that fans were never really excited about a Han Solo film in the first place. So Lucasfilm marketing needed to generate some excitement.

 

I was practically shocked that the theater was empty on my viewing of Solo. Empty theatre for a Star Wars film? ( 5 people in attendance) SHOCKING… I thought it was mostly because of the backlash of TLJ, nonetheless, I enjoyed TLJ and Solo. Enhrenreich did not bother me as Solo, but I certainly did know allot of fans didn’t care for him. Anywho, hoping for a Disney+ Solo series…

 

The box office projections based on social media and ticket trends a few weeks before release were pretty good for Solo, but the reviews came in mixed and that really killed the buzz going into a film. I enjoyed Solo, but it had flaws. That was reflected in the reviews and reception of the film.

There's a huge appetite for good Star Wars/Marvel films. The idea that there's a backlash that carries over to the next film doesn't really make sense when you look at what Marvel does with something like Shang-Chi, The Eternals, and Spider-Man. Films are judged independently. The Rise of Skywalker still did well at the box office despite poor reception because it was released at good time. It also didn't stop Mando from being a big hit. We heard a lot about backlashes when it game to Mando after the Gina stuff and Fett's ratings were even higher than Mando. I take backlash talk with a grain of salt. Most people aren't looking at IPs like that.

 

Both TLJ and TROS were guaranteed to 'do well at the box office' as follow-ups to one of the most successful films of all time (TFA).

Good box office doesn't always mean great marketing and great marketing doesn't always mean good box office.

 

SW is the most marketable movie franchise of all time. LFL could release a movie next week w/ just am obscure teaser on Youtube and it would make bank.

 

Personally think one of the things Disney has done best since it took over has been marketing. I can't really think of anything to criticize them in terms of marketing. Maybe the marketing campaigns for Rogue One and Solo were a bit slow off the ground but that was mainly due to the production issues and it's a really minor quibble as I remember the trailers but really good when they came.

 

Heck yeah, Star Wars has a marketing problem. At least they do now under Disney, which is astounding because Disney is the king of “selling stuff.”
Here are some things which can be handled better:
1- first and foremost, taking advantage of investor day meetings and (non Celebration) conventions to showcase big stuff. True, we have gotten this in the past, but it’s inconsistent. Especially when Marvel seems to deliver each and every time.
2- stop announcing big news on random days of the week. They can time it better with holidays and special events.
3- rescheduling Kenobi’s premiere date at the last minute because they realized it should coincide better with Celebration. No duh.
4- stop this “mystery box” tactic. It’s annoying. It makes fans antsy. And it causes speculation to get out of hand. Instead, they should release pictures and film snippets on their official site like what George Lucas did with the prequels during the early 00s (and what Peter Jackson did with LOTR on its official website.)
5- release artwork and pictures of toys and merchandise before some disgruntled factory-worker leaks the same photos from his iphone.
6-confirm “obvious” casting rumors. It would not have hurt if Mark, Carrie, and Harrison simply said “yeah, we’re in it” back in 2013. The same applies with last week’s interview with Donald Glover.
7- use the Super Bowl halftime. Please. I think they premiered a TLJ teaser back in 2018, but what about having a Kenobi trailer this year? Super Bowl is a guarantee everyone will see it. Wasted opportunity.

 

Yes

 

Hype sells...I remember prior to the release of The Dark Knight, the bit by bit internet build up was addictive, even with the tragic death of Heath Ledger, but you have to make sure the 'end' project is worth it...I was very hyped for TROS, but five minutes into the film I had a very nasty feeling I wasn't going to like it...I was hyped however, because I loved the first two and was looking forward to seeing where Kylo Ren went next...sigh.

I was genuinely surrpised Solo flopped however...I thought it was great, much better than TROS.