This document summarizes a case study analyzing poster advertisements for superhero/comic-book films in the British marketplace. It provides background on the commercial success and target audiences of superhero films. Production budgets for major superhero films are listed, showing most cost $200-250 million to produce. The document also analyzes audience demographics like gender attendance percentages that are mostly male for these films. Finally, it discusses how advertising aims to appeal to social stereotypes to influence marketing campaigns.

1. Investigating the commercial
importance of target audiences and
the extent to which they influence
marketing campaigns?
A case-study of poster advertisements
for superhero/comic-book films in the
British marketplace

2. - Brief overview of the superhero/comic-book genre
including current popularity
- Background on Production, Distribution, and Exhibition
circumstances
- Target audience information and advertisement analysis
- Conclusion
'… anxiety about failure can mean that producers are reluctant to try anything
new'
(Stafford, 2007, p. 7)
Avengers Assemble UK Weekend Box Office £15.78 million
(The Guardian, 2012)

4. $343,746,188
(Box Office Mojo, 2015)

5. Film Production Budget
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) $200 million
Iron Man 3 (2013) $200 million
Man of Steel (2013) $225 million
The Dark Knight (2012) $230 million
Avengers Assemble (2012) $220 million
Green Lantern (2011) $200 million
Spider-Man 3 (2007) $258 million
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) $210 million
Superman Returns (2006) $204 million
Spider-Man 2 (2004) $200 million
(Finances Online, 2015)

6. ‘… has always played an important role in
the oligopolistic control of markets. It
stimulates demand and maintains market
shares where price competition is mutually
disadvantageous to the firms involved. It
further serves to defend the market against
new entrants by raising the price of entry'
(Garnham, 1990, p. 201)

7. 'Through their domination of marketing and
promotion, the majors ensure that it is their
films that the public wants to see and that
cinema owners want to secure for their
cinemas'
(Kochberg, 1999, p. 30)

8. Film Opening Sites UK Opening Weekend UK Box
Office Gross
X-Men: Days of Future Past
(2014)
537 $15,392,815
Iron Man 3 (2013) 555 $21,215,105
Avengers Assemble (2012) 521 $25,670,014
Thor (2011) 500 $9,106,603
Iron Man (2010) 521 $11,712,073
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
(2009)
488 $11,712,073
The Dark Knight (2008) 502 $22,285,591
Spider-Man 3 (2007) 522 $23,555,095
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) 446 $13,181,822
Fantastic Four (2005) 406 $6,175,480
Spider-Man 2 (2004) 504 $13,180,732
(Box Office Mojo, 2015)

9. Film Gender Attendance Percentage
Man of Steel (2013) 68% Male
Avengers Assemble (2012) 69% Male
Captain America: The First Avenger
(2011)
78% Male
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) 66% Male
Iron Man (2008) 71% Male
Hellboy 2 (2008) 69% Male
X-Men 3 (2006) 65% Male
Batman Begins (2005) 64.8% Male
(BFI, 2015)

13. 'Advertising confirms social
stereotypes about gender roles
and the relations of power in
depictions of body posture and
stereotypical posing
conventions'
(Schroeder, 2005, p. 62)

21. Conclusion

23. Filmography
Avengers Assemble, Joss Whedon, Marvel Studios, USA, 2012
Captain America: The First Avenger, Joe Johnston, Marvel Studios, USA, 2011
Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Anthony & Joe Russo, Marvel Studios, USA, 2014
Daredevil, Mark Steven Johnson, Marvel Enterprises, USA, 2003
Fantastic Four, Tim Story, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, USA, 2005
Iron Man 2, Jon Favreau, Marvel Studios, USA, 2010
Iron Man 3, Shane Black, Marvel Studios, USA, 2013
Jonah Hex, Jimmy Hayward, Warner Bros, USA, 2010
The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan, Warner Bros, USA, 2012
The Spirit, Frank Miller, Lionsgate, USA, 2008
Thor: The Dark World, Alan Taylor, Marvel Studios, USA, 2013
Watchmen, Zack Snyder, Warner Bros, USA, 2009
X2, Bryan Singer, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, USA, 2003
X-Men, Bryan Singer, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, USA, 2000
X-Men Days of Future Past, Bryan Singer, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation,
USA, 2014
X-Men First Class, Matthew Vaughn, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, USA,
2011

24. Bibliography
‘Avengers Assemble blows Battleship out of the water’, The Guardian Website, (2012), http://
www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/may/01/avengers-assemble-battleship-uk-box-office [accessed April
2015]
‘Film Industry Statistics and Reports’, BFI Website, (2015), http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-
industry-statistics-research [accessed April 2015]
‘From Iron Man 3 to Hangover III: The Profit Breakdown of May’s Blockbusters’, The Hollywood Reporter
Website, (2013), http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/iron-man-3-hangover-3-562666 [accessed April 2015]
‘Jennifer Lawrence is striking a blow for healthy, sweaty women’, The Guardian Website, (2013), http://
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/12/jennifer-lawrence-strong-healthy-sweaty-women [accessed
April 2015]
‘Robust Opening of Iron Man 2 and Summer Films’, The New York Times Website, (2010), http://
www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/movies/10box.html?_r=0 [accessed April 2015]
‘The Full Comic Book Superhero Movie Schedule’, Newsarama Website, (2015), http://www.newsarama.com/
21815-the-new-full-comic-book-superhero-movie-schedule.html [accessed April 2015]
‘Thor sequel hammers all opposition, while Philomena shows gentle class’, The Guardian Website, (2013), http://
www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/nov/06/family-animation [accessed April 2015]

25. Bibliography
Angus Finney, The International Film Business: A Market Guide Beyond
Hollywood (Oxon: Routledge, 2010)
Jonathan Schroeder, Visual Consumption (Oxon: Routledge, 2002)
Kerrigan, Finola., Peter Fraser and Mustafa Ozbilgin, Arts Marketing (Oxford:
Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, 2004)
Kochberg, Searle., ‘Cinema as institution’, in Jill Nelmes, An Introduction to Film
Studies, second edition (London: Routledge, 1999) pp. 13-59
Nicholas Garnham, Capitalism and Communication: Global Culture and the
Economics of Information (London: SAGE Publications, 1990)
Roy Stafford, Understanding Audiences and the Film Industry (London: BFI,
2008)