Sci-fi Pulse: Was John Carter the Worst Marketed Movie Ever

Michael Sellers Other Stuff

From Sci-fi Pulse:  John Carter is sadly on track to become the biggest box office failures of the year, if not the history of cinema.  What is upsetting about this is that John Carter is a fun action-adventure/scifi movie and it should have been more successful than it was.  And I believe the main reason for its lack of success was that it is one of the most poorly marketed films in the 21stcentury.

Now understand this, when I say “poorly marketed,” I don’t believe that Disney didn’t spend enough money on promoting this film; on the contrary, I fully acknowledge that they spent far more money than they should have.  Hell, they practically carpet bombed the airwaves and internet with advertisements for John Carter.  When I say “poorly marketed,” I mean that the commercials they did produce for the film did nothing to get people interested in seeing John Carter.  In other words, what’s the point of carpet bombing the airwaves if all the commercials are duds?

So if you will, imagine for a moment you saw a trailer featuring the following: “Finally, the 100-year-old epic that science fiction is built upon, comes to the movies” – a simple line that communicates the importance of John Carter the general public and that invites them to be part of a 100 year anniversary.

Read the full article at Sci fi Pulse

7 comments

  • Ha…that’s pretty funny.

    Maybe we could re-do the Heritage trailer with all those quotes at the beginning……

    I don’t think we’re quite there yet — but good idea to start selecting quotes and saving them.

  • If only we knew someone who was really great at making fan trailers who could mix some of the most heart-pounding scenes from the movie with critical commentary such as:

    “One of the most poorly marketed films in the 21stcentury.”
    …. SciFi Pulse
    –
    “It should rightly go down as one of (Hollywood’s) biggest marketing flops ever.”
    … The Washington Post
    –
    “We expect the film to generate an operating loss of approximately $200 million.”
    … Disney
    –
    “Movie industry watchers have been commenting about the woeful inadequacy of Disney’s marketing campaign for John Carter.”
    … DailyFinance

  • Elmo (and others) —

    C’mon, you have to put up some good quotes like that as well.

    Personally, I’m fond of “More entertaining than the last four Star Wars films combined.”

    Ever since those f***king Ewoks, George Lucas has been dead to me.

  • New ad campaign:

    See the movie that critics are calling “one of the most poorly marketed films in the 21stcentury.”

    (Sci-Fi Pulse)

    I think this could work!

  • JC’s estimated worldwide take is:

    $234,447,000

    Since March 9th!
    And it hasn’t even opened in some territories.

    We’ve got to stop using the word “flop” – that’s *their* word. “Flops” don’t make over $200 *million* inside of a month. Enough with the “flop” line already.

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