Fox Searchlight pushed a particularly ambitious and early starting publicity campaign for ”Birdman” knowing the cast of the off-beat drama would not be available later. Cast members would be tied down filming other movies.
Michael Keaton stars as a washed-up former movie super-hero trying to revive his career with a stage play. The $18 million film, which is getting good early Oscar buzz, opened in exclusive engagements at four theaters this weekend. Its above-average supporting cast includes Edward Norton, Naomi Watts and Emma Stone.
“Over the past week, the aforementioned individuals made a barrage of appearances in New York (Keaton hit Los Angeles last month), some aimed at driving moviegoers to the box-office but much of it geared toward courting Oscar voters during the small window in which these folks were available to do so,” says an article in the “Hollywood Reporter” by Scott Feinberg. Distributor Fox Searchlight bought the cast together for a press junket at a New York City hotel and tied to a fest premiere at the New York Film Festival (its third fest appearance).
The article catalogs a long list of press coverage including a cover on “Entertainment Weekly,” and Keaton making talk-show guest appearances on CBS Television’s “The Late Show” and Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report”—both major TV outlets. The distributor Fox Searchlight is the specialty-film arm of 20th Century Fox with an excellent track record marketing smallish films to hit proportions such as “Slumdog Millionaire”, “12 Years A Slave”, “Black Swan”, “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Sideways.”
Press junkets are popular with film distributors, as the third edition of book “Marketing To Moviegoers” notes, “The junkets, which bring together large numbers of journalists, are the most impactful because they are cost-efficient and can be conducted quickly. The word junket comes from an era when studios paid expenses of traveling journalists, although these days most media outlets limit freebies.”
Two problems the marketing will have to deal with. “Birdman” straddles the line between drama and black comedy, so it’s hard to classify, which audiences often find off-putting.
And there’s too much herd mentality in press coverage concluding it’s a film of art-imitating-real-life because Keaton walked away from the “Batman” movie in 1992. That downshifted his acting career, much like what happens to the “Birdman” character. It’s an aspect of the film that audiences will find confusing and I think unappealing, because they won’t identify with someone who turns his back on success. Just a hunch, mind you.
But an $18 million film with Oscar buzz and that will do at least moderate box office should prove a success.
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