I just got back from seeing The Hunger Games and saw a trailer for the rerelease of Titanic. Their marketing? Advertise Titanic as being from the guy who made Avatar. Brilliant!
I know Avatar made a lot of money, but
Avatar and Titanic aren’t even similar. Not just story wise, but use of special effects and such too. The entire art and concept direction are practically 100% disparate.
It’s Titanic. I think you could have shown a shot of the poster for three seconds with “FUCKING TITANIC IN THEATERS AGAIN” written over it for 1.5 seconds and get the same, if not better, viewership.
I awaited with bated breath the next of these brilliant marketing tactics:
“From the studio that brought you of Song of the South… Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.”
“From the maker of War of the Worlds… Close Encounters of the Third Kind”
“From the director of Jack… The Godfather”
“From the director of Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure… Sweeny Todd”
I was taking to a 24-year-old girl the other day who a) didn’t know Titanic 3D was a rerelease, and b) didn’t know it was based on a true story. You are not the target of the marketing.
She would have been about 11 when the original movie came out. Today DiCaprio is a respected actor, back then he was the fave of 11 year old girls. I refuse to believe she did not see the movie.
I realize I’m not the target of the marketing. However, I, as a 22 year old male, would find it ridiculously odd if someone in my age range had not heard of the Titanic. I’m hardly a film buff, I could probably name more famous arty films than the average person, but I really don’t watch many films, nor consume media related to famous films.
I wouldn’t fault someone for not knowing about, say, Casablanca or Citizen Kane. But Titanic is a movie that I would be floored if anybody in my age range hadn’t heard about.
Either way, the point was more that I was amused that they were advertising one of the most immensely successful and influential movies of all time, which many consider to have some of the best character writing, in relation to a movie that most people consider at best a really pretty tech demo. I know, logically, what they’re doing. Avatar was a big deal, it didn’t exactly make chump change. I was just being snarky because the implications (for lack of a better word) were kind of funny to me.
Emmm, I’d disagree with you there, I think they’re vary similar:
[ul]
[li]Both are love stories set against cutting edge technology (one 19[sup]th[/sup] century the other, ah, 22[sup]th[/sup] maybe?)[/li][li]Both cutting edge techs ultimately fail[/li][li]Both deal heavily with class differences[/li][li]Both have little (poor) guy vs big (rich) guy[/li][li]Both were shot in extensive ‘virtual’ worlds (by necessity)[/li][li]Both are essentially mega-tentpole chick flicks![/li][/ul]
Reading the Thread Title, I thought the OP complaint was going to be that Titanic was not made by the director of Avatar (because, when he made Titanic he hadn’t yet made Avatar).
“By the visionary director of Avatar” as an ad for Titanic, seems lame to me not because the movies are so different but because Titanic has very solid standing as a “timeless” movie whereas Avatar seemed to me to have a shelf life of about a month to me.
Now, I don’t especially love Titanic- I thought it was o.k. but there are better movies I can watch to see Kate Winslet’s breasts. Still, I give the movie credit for being loved by zillions of people and rewatched in theaters and in homes consistently since its first release (I resisted seeing it until finally giving in and watching it in April- four months after its release and it was still in first-run theaters).
Avatar was a film that people loved as they were watching it, and loved when they talked about it with their co-workers the following Monday- but who the hell ever talks about it anymore? And when people did talk about it, they were mostly just impressed with the 3D. Really, none of us had ever seen movie 3D look that good (and really haven’t since). Still, impressed as we all were with the technological achievment, it didn’t inspired great affection.
You see that on the board all the time. Search for threads about older horror movies and watch what happens after someone suggests The Exorcist or Halloween.
