Despite the star-power of Anthony Hopkins and a Super Bowl commercial, “The World’s Fastest Indian” flopped.
QUESTION: What movies in the past three years had a box office gross that was so anemic that their later domestic cinema ticket sales was not even three times the cost of an average Super Bowl commercial?
ANSWER: Read on….
With the kickoff to Super Bowl just two days away, it’s appropriate to review the curious relationship between Hollywood film distributors and the big game.
Every since Fox’s alien invasion epic “Independence Day” hit the jackpot with a 1996 Super Bowl commercial, other films have tried to capture the same magic. The money-shot of the White House being blown to smithereens by aliens in “Independence Day” electrified the huge Super Bowl audience and helped carry the film to $306.2 million in domestic box office.
The key copy line was a hoot too: “Enjoy the Super Bowl. It may be your last.”
Certainly, Super Bowl ads–which go for around $2.7 million per 30-second this year–have helped carry films to blockbuster status. As the accompanying table indicates, after a Super Bowl ad two years ago, Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” went on to gross $423.3 million in domestic BO. In the past three years, “Wild Hogs”, “Cars”, “Mission: Impossible II”, “Batman Begins”, “Hitch”, “The Pacifier”, “Robots: and “War of the Worlds” all surpassed $100 million in BO after Super Bowl 30s.
Having a big ad splash is expected to sell cinema tickets. According to TNS Media Intelligence, Time Warner and Walt Disney are the fourth and fifth most consistent buyers since 1988 (trailing Anheuser Busch, Pepsi and General Motors). Most of the Time Warner (parent of Warner Bros. Pictures) and Disney spending have been for movies, though some expenditures includes their other businesses such as theme parks.
What is a surprise is how poorly some films have done despite a Super Bowl blast.
So the ANSWERS to this article’s opening question are Lionsgate’s “Pride” ($7 million in domestic BO); New Line’s remake “Running Scared” ($6.9 million) and Magnolia’s “World’s Fastest Indian” ($5.1 million), which are bold-faced below. Surely, those cautionary examples prove a pricey Super Bowl commercial alone does not catapult a film. (story continues after table)
Movie Ads in Super Bowl 2005-2008
| Title | Distrib | Date | BO $mil | Rating |
| 2008 | ||||
| Wall-E | Disney (Pixar) | 6/27/2008 | $223.8 | G |
| Narnia: Prince Caspian | Disney | 5/15/2008 | $141.6 | PG |
| Jumper | Fox | 2/14/2008 | $80.2 | PG-13 |
| Semi-Pro | New Line | 2/29/2008 | $33.5 | R |
| Iron Man | Paramount | 5/2/2008 | $319.0 | PG-13 |
| You Don’t/Zohan | Sony/Columbia | 6/6/2008 | $100.0 | PG-13 |
| Leatherheads | Universal | 4/4/2008 | $31.3 | PG-13 |
| Wanted | Universal | 6/27/2008 | $134.5 | R |
| 2007 | ||||
| Meet the Robinsons | Disney | 3/30/2007 | $97.8 | G |
| Wild Hogs | Disney | 3/2/2007 | $168.2 | PG-13 |
| Pride | Lionsgate | 3/23/2007 | $7.0 | PG |
| Hannibal Rising | MGM/Weinstein | 2/9/2007 | $27.6 | R |
| 2006 | ||||
| Cars | Disney (Pixar) | 6/9/2006 | $244.1 | G |
| Mission: Impossible III | Paramount | 5/5/2006 | $134.0 | PG-13 |
| Pirates: Dead Man’s Chest | Disney | 7/7/2006 | $423.3 | PG-13 |
| Poseidon | Warner | 5/12/2006 | $60.7 | PG-13 |
| Running Scared | New Line | 2/24/2006 | $6.9 | R |
| The Shaggy Dog | Disney | 3/10/2006 | $61.1 | PG |
| 16 Blocks | Warner | 3/3/2006 | $36.9 | PG-13 |
| World’s Fastest Indian | Magnolia | 12/7/2005 | $5.1 | PG-13 |
| V for Vendetta | Warner | 3/17/2006 | $70.5 | R |
| 2005 | ||||
| Batman Begins | Warner | 6/15/2005 | $205.3 | PG-13 |
| Be Cool | MGM | 3/4/2005 | $56.0 | PG-13 |
| Constantine | Warner | 2/18/2005 | $76.0 | R |
| Hitch | Sony/Columbia | 2/11/2005 | $179.5 | PG-13 |
| The Longest Yard | Paramount | 8/30/2005 | $158.1 | $ |
| The Pacifier | Disney | 3/4/2005 | $113.1 | PG |
| Robots | Fox | 3/11/2005 | $128.2 | PG |
| Sahara | Paramount | 4/8/2005 | $68.7 | PG-13 |
| War of the Worlds | Paramount | 6/29/2005 | $234.3 | PG-13 |
Note: New Line’s Semi-Pro was 15-seconds; others 30-second commercials.
Source: Compiled by “Marketing to Moviegoers” from BoxOfficeMojo.com and “USA Today”
In post-game analysis, movie ads always rank in the bottom half of audience recall and audience favorites, which is function of stringing together pieces from films. Other advertisers cook up elaborate commercials. Still, film clips are effective to sell films.
The Super Bowl audience of just over 90 million U.S. viewers is unmatched for delivering a huge and engaged audience to advertisers. A prime-time series with 16% of that audience is considered doing well.
Sports events are coveted because advertisers know real-time viewership is high for live sports. For scripted shows watched on a delayed basis, viewers are likely to skip through ads. In addition, Super Bowl games are taped for repeat viewing, which means commercials have a shot at being seen more than once by the same person.
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