Robert Downey Jr. returns as Tony Stark/Iron Man in Iron Man 3. The film picks up after the events of The Avengers, with Tony suffering from panic attacks. He investigates terrorist attacks conducted by the Mandarin, but discovers the attacks were actually conducted by Aldrich Killian using a treatment called Extremis. Killian has kidnapped Pepper Potts and plans to kill the President on live TV. Iron Man battles Killian and his forces to rescue Pepper and save the President, defeating Killian with Pepper's new Extremis abilities. Tony decides to retire from being Iron Man but hints he may return.

1. PR3
Task 1
SYNOPSIS
Iron Man picks up where Avengers Assembleleft off – Robert Downey Jr. is still the brash,
arrogant but loveable genius Tony Stark, but behind the scenes the events of the attack on
New York City has left him a nervous wreck, paralysed with severe insomnia and panic
attacks. 12 years after humiliating disabled scientist Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) and a one
night stand with the creator of Extremis (a treatment which cures disabilities, particularly
lost limbs), Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) looks like it will come back to haunt him. The
USA’s biggest threat, a man known as the Mandarin, is terrorising the world with his several
bomb attacks. One of these explosions leaves his best friend and former bodyguard, Happy
Hogan (Jon Favreau, director of the first 2 Iron Man movies) in a coma. Tony makes a
televised offer of fighting man-to-man with the terrorist, which results in the mansion he
shares with his girlfriend and the CEO of Stark Industries, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow)
to be destroyed. Iron Man crash lands in Tennessee where he takes shelter in the shed of a 10
year old boy named Harley. Being a massive fan of the super hero, he agrees to let Tony keep
his suit there to be charged and to bring back JARVIS (Iron Man’s Artificial Intelligence
system). Together they find out that the Mandarin’s explosions were not bombs at all, but are
the result of Extremis. Killian has rid himself of his disabilities and, unbeknown to Tony, has
teamed up with Maya to recruit soldiers who have lost limbs as his very own human
explosions. He escapes from the clutches of Savin, Killian’s right hand man and has traced
the Mandarin to Miami. Once there though, he discovers that the Mandarin isn’t what he
seems, and is actually an addicted British actor named Trevor Slattery (Sir Ben Kingsley)
who is oblivious to the carnage created by his alter-ego and is only there because of the drugs
and alcohol that Killian supplies him with. Stark is captured by Killian, who reveals that he
has kidnapped Pepper and is in the process of having Extremis take over her. Killian shoots
and kills Maya when she has a change of heart and steals the armour of Tony’s friend, The
Iron Patron (Don Cheadle), in order to attack the US President on Air Force One. He ends up
taking the President to an impounded damaged oil tanker, where the alive Pepper is, and
plans to kill the President on live TV. Iron Patriot saves the President while Iron Man
engages in a one on one battle with Aldrich. During the battle though, a rig collapses and
Pepper falls to her apparent death. With Killian about to deliver the final fatal blow to Iron
Man, revealing his true identity as the Mandarin, Pepper emerges and with her Extremis
powers, finally kills the mad scientist. Trevor Slattery is arrested, alongside the Vice
President after it is revealed he was in on the act in order to cure a disability to a family
member and take on the reins of the Presidency. Tony orders JARVIS to destroy every Iron
Man suit as a sign of devotion to Pepper. After the battle, her Extremis powers are stabilised
and Tony undergoes surgery in order to remove the shrapnel near his heart but hints to the
audience that he will always be Iron Man.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Certificate is 12A which makes it suitable for children over the age of 12. The action aspect to
the film makes it appeal to males between the ages of 12 and 25 - but because Iron Man was
originally a comic which has ran for many years, people who are big fans of the character and
the comic book genre itself will also be attracted to the film.

2. GENRE
Superhero/comic-book/action – as well as elements of comedy.
YEAR OF PRODUCTION
2013
DIRECTOR
Shane Black.
Iron Man 3 is his sophomore movie in terms of directing after Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang in
2005 (also starring Robert Downey Jr.) Although only the second film he has directed, he
has experience in the movie business – such as being a screenwriter, a producer and an
actor. He has a history with action oriented films, writing the scripts for the first 2 Lethal
Weapon movies, The Last Action Heroand The Last Boy Scout (which he also produced) – as
well as taking acting credits in Predator and RoboCop 3.
PRODUCER
Kevin Feige.
Kevin Feige is the President of Production at Marvel Studios, meaning he has produced
pretty much all of the Marvel films and franchises, such as X-Men, Spider Man, The
Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Avengers Assemble.
DISTRIBUTOR
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Marvel Studios is a subsidiary of Disney after the latter bought the company for $4 billion
(£2,641,832,000) back in 2009.
BUDGET
$200 million(£132,065,600)
BOX OFFICE TAKINGS (as of now, still increasing)
$1,079,820,220 (£718,347,161)
UK RELEASE DATE
25th April 2013
Task 2
There were several different methods of marketing related to the film. Television adverts and
trailers were made available on the internet, TV and in cinemas. The use of word of mouth
increased the buzz around the film – this is because photographs were leaked onto the net
purposely in order to get the fans of the franchise and Marvel itself become excited.
Newspapers and magazines featured adverts, but also featured interviews with the
cast/director and reviews of the film. The internet also did this. It is always good to provide
these kinds of information on the internet because in the 21st Century world we live in; the
internet has become far more popular than print based journalism.
Synergies, as always with big blockbusters, played a big part. The usual synergies you see for
movies were billboards, posters, video games, mobile apps/games, etc. But Iron Man also
published unconventional synergies, such as a comic book which followed the story between
the events of Avengers Assemble ending and Iron Man 3 beginning. The film also provided
other uncommon marketing ploys, such as the director and the main cast members

3. attending the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con, displaying the new Iron Man suit, a few minutes
footage from the movie, and sitting on a panel answering fans’ questions. An exhibit was
released at Disneyland, allowing fans to ‘visit Iron Man’s world’ as well as a Kinect-style
game that lets fans wear the Iron Man suit and fly through his workshop. All synergies were
produced and distributed by either Marvel or Disney.
Promotional campaigns were uploaded to YouTube, playing trailers before the videos and
also displaying a large player and online poster on the home page. A ‘Like’ page was created
on Facebook in order to keep fans up to date with any developments, such as its release date
and any unseen footage. It also helped in gathering new fans because Facebook is such a vast
platform with over 1 billion users. A Twitter page was created for the same reason. An official
web page for the film was also created where fans could get the latest news, video clips and
trivia on the movie. Web banners and cinema listings will have been available on websites
such as ODEON and Imdb would have provided plenty of information on the film, as well as
ratings and reviews.
Task 3
The way the audience has been targeted by the producer is the fact that a whole host of new
fans have brought in by several methods. The certificate of the film (12A) attracts a younger
generation, as well as the humour – which is almost of a slapstick nature - but doesn’t
alienate the core demographic too much because of the action scenes and violence. The time
setting of the film, Christmas, brings in a bigger audience because films set at Christmas
attract families to all visit the cinema together. Kevin Feige and Shane Black seem to have
found a perfect balance between creating a film aimed specifically at original fans of the
character (and Marvel films in general) and drawing in new audiences. Product placement
seems to have grown important over the years, so the use of Audi cars could possible attract
car lovers. The deal secured with the Iron Man 3 team and the home entertainment
company, TCL, was a great bit of business because they operate mainly in China so by
promoting the movie through their products they are attracting almost a whole country to
the film.
Star Theory
Star Theory is always massively important, extremely so with blockbuster franchises. You
pretty much have to have an established star in these kinds of movies in order to be
successful.
Robert Downey Jr. could have been a risk for the first film, due to his personal problems and
his hiatus from acting. The first Iron Man provided the actor the opportunity to kick-start his
career, which he certainly did. Since starring in it, he has become one of the biggest stars of
Hollywood at a relatively old age (he was 43 when it was released), earning him the role as
another world renowned character, Sherlock Holmes. The Iron Man franchise and the
Sherlock Holmes movies have incredibly earned over $3 billion at the Box Office, which
catapulted him back into the big time. Thanks to these huge characters, and their respected
demographics, the actor is popular with the majority of people of any ages. Thanks to his
skill as a ‘proper’ actor (the fact that it took him almost 20 years into his career to star in his
first blockbuster) he has been able to create the potential of attracting a new audience to his
blockbuster movies.

4. Gwyneth Paltrow is a good choice for a blockbuster movie because she is also capable of
attracting an audience. This is because she is a very attractive woman who men want to see
to drool over and women look up to her as a mother who has had a great career and done a
lot of charity work.
The usage of these two big actors provide an audience and an expectancy that the film will be
of high quality, and the Iron Man franchise has been rewarded with a high box office gross
and also generally positive critical response. The fact that Sir Ben Kingsley featured in the
third film highlights the point that choosing a huge or legendary name for a role is very
important in attracting an audience.
Reception Theory
Alongside Star Theory sits Reception Theory, the theory that explains factors which persuade
a person to go out and watch a specific film. With the target audience being between about 12
and 25, there are several things that attract the audience.
Action.
Males of this demographic are very interested in action. They like to see chases, fights,
explosions, etc. Iron Man 3 provides a lot of action with stunning special effects.
Violence.
Violence is very popular with the demographic and it is thanks to numerous movies and
video games featuring violent fight scenes.
Marvel.
Because Marvel are such a huge, iconic company, they attract a huge amount of people to the
film and their other films because they make the fans intrigued and interested in how their
favourite comics have been brought to life on the big screen.
There are several ways of researching things that can affect how an audience can be targeted.
Pre-Production
Primary research is pretty much the Producers job. They have to gather their own research
through the medium of things like focus groups and questionnaires in order to learn the
preferences of film fans and what they can do in order to persuade people to watch their film
or please potential viewers. This also applies to their decision on casting a certain actor for
any role. From listening to feedback, they may decide that the actor they have in the pipeline
may not be the correct choice and look to replace them. Alternatively, the response to the
actor may be good so they can be satisfied with their choice and tie them up to the film. This
is an example of Qualitative research, which is based on opinions. Secondary research is the
act of finding already existing research and is important for people working on a film,
notably the Location Manager. Their job is to find out facts about a place where they are due
to film or are planning to film, taking close attention to the health and safety aspects of the
location. This is an example of Quantitative research, which relies solely on hard facts and
statistics.
Post-Production
Once the pre-production and a rough edit of the movie has been completed, the Producer
must then begin post-production. This is usually done through inviting members of the
public, people who work in the movie business and journalists to a test screening of the film.

5. Once they have watched it, they will be given a questionnaire to fill out to let the producer
know what they thought about several things, such as the storyline, the editing, the effects,
etc. and see if any improvements could be made before the official release. It could possible
lead to having to re-shoot certain scenes. It is also beneficial to the marketing as the
producer can choose how he/she may market the movie based on the feedback they have
received. This could include asking questions about how they were attracted to the film and
how they had heard about it (or possibly - as this is the 3rd film of the Iron Man franchise and
the 4th overall to feature the character in the recent Marvel reboots - how they heard about
the first film). The marketing team then uses the feedback in any pieces of synergy related to
the film in order to anchor the audience. A short while after the film has been released, the
producer and marketing team will get together and discuss where to go with the next film (in
terms of the storyline, script, editing, characters, etc.) in the franchise after reading reviews
and the public’s response.
Anchorage
The media term ‘anchorage’ basically means that people immediately know what they are
looking at when viewing an image, brand, logo or company, etc.
The Iron Man 3 poster anchors the audience to the film in many ways. One of the reasons is
that it contains the Marvel logo, which is an extremely well known and iconic company
around the world. This could be seen as an advantage or disadvantage to the film because it
carries huge expectations and will disappoint millions of people if the film doesn’t live it to
the buzz. The character himself is such an iconic figure too, making people automatically
recognise him without having to read any text - this makes the filmmakers wary not to
change the characteristics of Tony Stark too much as it could upset long-time fans. The easily
recognisable Iron Man logo is also viewable for everyone. This is placed on all Iron Man
products, as well as the Marvel logo. Big budget blockbuster franchise movies like these
always need good anchorage because it creates situations that normal movies couldn’t
achieve. For example, if a young child couldn’t read and saw an Iron Man related product,
such as a billboard or poster, they can recognise the film straight away just by looking at the
huge central image of the character.
Iconic Iron Man suit.
Recognised by pretty
much everyone, even
people who aren’t fans of
the movie franchise or
character.
The logo is also iconic,
reflecting the red and
gold colours of his suit.
Iconic MARVEL logo
known worldwide.

6. The sell line could be
ambiguous as it relates
to the fact that the film
itself is action-packed
and full of energy, as well
as the suit being
powered by energy. It
also reminds you that
Iron Man is back, having
appeared in the last Iron
Man film and also
Avengers Assemble.
Disney is another iconic
worldwide company