This document provides details about the production, marketing, distribution, and box office performance of the 2013 film "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug." It discusses that the film had a $250 million production budget and was produced by New Line Cinema, WingNut Films, and Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. Traditional and viral marketing campaigns began in March 2013 with details from director Peter Jackson and trailers were released in June and November. The film was distributed by Warner Bros. and had strong opening weekend box office returns.

1. The Hobbit: The
Desolation of
Smaug (2013)
A case study for
reference for the exam

2. Production
• Director: Peter Jackson- previous films such as,
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003) and King
Kong (2005)
• Production budget of $250,000,000!
• Produced by “New Line Cinema”, “WingNut films”
and “Metro-Goldwyn Mayer”
• New Line became a unit of Warner Bros.
Entertainment in March 2008- vertical integration
with distribution.
• New Line also created very successful films such
as; The Mask, the Austin Powers titles, Hairspray,
Rush Hour, Elf, Sex and the City and Wedding
Crashers.

3. • The film was filmed on the various islands of
New Zealand, for the setting of the shire on
the scenes of walking to the Dwarf Kingdom
of Erebor.
• The film has a worldwide Box Office of a
massive $833,695,000 and it was only
released on the 13th December 2013.

4. Important factors in the success of
the film
• MARKETING campaign
• VIRAL marketing
• LORD OF THE RINGS history and
contract with the audience
• CASTING
• DIRECTOR’S PORTFOLIO
• DISTRIBUTION most cinemas to date
• Online ticket sales

5. Traditional forms of marketing
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Peter Jackson told the first details about the second film at a live event on March 24, 2013.
The access code to view this live event was attached to the DVD editions of The Hobbit: An
Unexpected Journey. The Dvd was distributed by Warner Bros- vertical integration.
The live event revealed some plot details, he said that the role of Taurial, acted by
Evangeline Lilly, is a part of the elven guard and a bodyguard of the Elvenking, Thranduil.
He also revealed a scene from the film in which Gandalf and Radagast the Brown search
for the Necromancer fortress and discover that the Ringwraiths have been released from
their graves.
The first trailer for the film was released on June 11, 2013
On November 4, 2013, an extra long 3 minute trailer/sneak peek was released and
revealed new footage and major plot points
Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Benedict Cumberbatch, Luke Evans, Evangeline Lilly,
Peter Jackson and, to a lesser extent, Orlando Bloom and Ian McKellen, took part in the
press tour, appearing on talk shows and giving interviews before the film's release.
They also released a whole range of The Hobbit Lego, character figurines, board games
and toys. (this is horizontal convergence and examples of synergy)
24th
March
2013
June 11, 2013 first trailer released
Told the first details at live event
13th
December
2013
November 4, 2013 extra long 3 minute trailer

6. Viral marketing
• On November 4, 2013, a special Desolation of Smaug live online fan
event, hosted by Anderson Cooper in New York, was held across
eleven different cities with participants including Peter Jackson, Jed
Brophy, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Orlando Bloom, Luke Evans,
Andy Serkis and Richard Armitage
• The first trailer for the film was released on June 11, 2013
• On November 4, 2013, an extra long 3 minute trailer/sneak peek
was released and revealed new footage and major plot points
• These become viral by people sharing them on social networking
sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.
• They created a website called http://www.thehobbit.com/ and also
released a game called ‘Barrel escape’ to engage the audience this
is another example of synergy and cross media convergence

7. Technological Convergence
• The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug have
released a game on their website called
‘Barrel Escape’
• Social media was part of the technological convergence.
Trailers and posters were released onto sites such as
facebook.

8. Technology used
• Filmed in 48 frames per second, rather than
24.
• including 2D, 3D, IMAX, IMAX 3D and HFR 3D.

9. Issues a/effecting Production
• MGM nearly went bust a year before The Hobbit
was made. This may have affected the
production as money used to produce the film
may have been tight or reluctant to spend a lot.

10. Distribution
• Distributed by Warner Bros
• Warner Bros owns New line cinema who
were part of the production process
• Furthermore, Peter Jackson (director)
owns Wingnut films which was also a part
of the production process
• This is an example of vertical integration,
saving companies millions of dollars on
hiring other companies.

11. Cinemas
• Friday 13th December 2013 – Shown in 3,903
cinemas
• Increased to 3,928 on the Friday 20th
December
• Decreased over the next three weeks to
1,815 on Monday 20th January 2014
• On the day of release cinemas made
$31,190,587 with an average of $7,991 per
cinema
• This gradually increased to $249,340,000 to
date.

12. Star Appeal
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“The Lord of the Rings” Franchise
Peter Jackson
Martin Freeman
Ian McKellen
Orlando Bloom

13. Posters
• There is several different posters for the
main characters of the film; here are some
examples… adding to the star appeal.