The company behind “Blade Runner 2049” is suing French automaker Peugeot alleging it reneged on a big tie-in promotion with the sci-fi movie from 2017.
Alcon Entertainment filed the legal action asserting that Peugeot failed to perform on paying a promised $500,000 cash fee and accompanying advertising support of $30 million. The complaint said that another unidentified automaker offered to pay several hundred thousand dollars in cash and $16 million in tie-in media support.
The “tie-in” advertising support involves a consumer goods company—like a car company — putting a movie in its automotive marketing messaging, so the Hollywood partner piggybacks.
It’s odd that Alcon expected Peugeot, which doesn’t currently sell cars in the U.S., to provide tie-in support when it isn’t a U.S. advertiser. Peugeot — known for utilitarian but dull automobiles — apparently wants to enter the U.S. market. Alcon is the movie-maker funded by wealthy Fred Smith who is founder of Federal Express air shipping.
In 2017, “Blade Runner 2049” generated a mediocre $92 million in U.S./Canada box-office and another $167 million in box-office overseas, which is weak for a film reportedly costing $150 million. Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford (pictured in the accompanying poster art). Warner Bros. distributed the R-rated film.
Says a “Hollywood Reporter” article by Eriq Gardner: “Under the terms, the studio would work with Peugeot to integrate the automaker’s trade dress into the design of the flying car spinner for K, the character played by Ryan Gosling. ‘Blade Runner 2049’ would include Peugeot’s logo across three scenes lasting four seconds each including one where the logo is seen in a holographic advertisement. That was later amended to 10 seconds. The execution was subject to Peugeot’s review and approval, which was expected to be prompt and executed in reasonably good faith.”
The third edition of book “Marketing to Moviegoers” details the big money and advertising support categories like cars bring to select movies. “Car tie-ins are infrequent and are limited to films delivering adult audiences, but when they are done, they can be promotional gushers,” says the academic/business book. “Ford reportedly provided $30 million in promotion support for MGM’s James Bond spy film ‘Die Another Day’ [and] Mitsubishi laid out $25 million in advertising to link to ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’ from Universal Pictures.”
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