…”Spidey” Trailer Trumps Trump
Spider-Man does what ever a spider can. But how about swinging with New York’s rich and famous?
Sony Pictures has announced plans to debut the latest trailer for its upcoming summer blockbuster Spider-Man 2 on Thursday night at 9 p.m. during NBC’s The Apprentice, starring another Big Apple icon, real estate mogul Donald Trump.
According to USA Today, the new Spidey 2 preview is two and a half minutes long–a far cry from most movie advertisements on the tube which usually run only 30 seconds.
And unlike the short teaser that hit theaters during the holidays, it features much more never-before-seen footage of the film–including snippets of Alfred Molina’s multi-tentacled villain Doc Ock, aka Doctor Octopus and, of course, more shots of Spidey’s alter-ego, Peter Parker (played by Tobey Maguire) struggling with the burden of his superpowers and considering giving up his suit.
After airing 40 minutes into the Don’s highly-rated reality series, the new trailer will begin showing in multiplexes on Friday.
For Sony marketeers, utilizing a block of time on the boob tube to get Spidey senses tingling is a must these days given the short attention spans of today’s moviegoing public who are constantly distracted by TV and the Internet.
“We’ve got to look at unconventional ways to get our message across,” Geoffrey Ammer, Sony’s head of worldwide marketing, told USA Today. “Running your trailer in a theater is a great place because you’ve got a captivated, moviegoing audience. But if you want to reach a broader, more general audience, you need to go beyond the theater.”
With box office tallies now firmly cemented as a favorite American pastime among the press and general public, the studio isn’t taking any chances with its Marvel superhero franchise, especially since it’s already begun development on a third installment and is plotting upwards of six big screen Spidey adventures.
It is hoped that the web of advertising will help the sequel trump the amazing gross of its predecessor which raked in a record $115 million in its opening weekend in May of 2002 on its way to a global haul of more than $800 million.
And a primetime spot on one of TV’s hottest shows would go a long way toward achieving that goal, considering 22.8 million viewers watched last week’s episode of The Apprentice.
By contrast, a trailer screening ahead of this week’s box office winner pulled in a much smaller audience, roughly 4 million people.
Of course, there’s a fine line between promoting your movie, and giving away too much of the plot–the latter of which could up alienating moviegoers if they think they’ve seen it already.
Which is why some studios have resorted to literally showing full scenes of their pictures on TV and the Internet–a strategy which aims to entice viewers without making them feel like they’re being marketed to.
To that end, Universal recently presented the first 10 minutes of its R-rated horror remake of Dawn of the Dead on USA Networks in March. The flick went on to knock The Passion of the Christ out of the top spot at the box office and has since made $51.5 million.
Warner Bros. also presented exclusive clips of its Harry Potter movies on the WB network while Sony hyped its thriller Darkness Falls by broadcasting five minutes over the Net.
With all the advertising hoopla, fans of the wallcrawler aren’t likely to miss the new flick when it swings into theaters.
Spider-Man 2, which was set to open on Friday, July 2, will now hit theaters two days earlier on Wednesday June 30 to take advantage of the Fourth of July holiday.
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