The document discusses the marketing strategies for the 2011 blockbuster films Captain America: The First Avenger and The Thing. It provides details on the target audiences, directors, producers, budgets and box office earnings for each film. It also analyzes how Captain America appealed to both male and female audiences through its action scenes and portrayal of romance. The producers maximized sales by connecting the film to other superhero franchises and playing trailers for upcoming related films after the credits.

1. Publicity and Marketing Strategies for Hollywood Blockbusters - Captain America; the First
Avenger/the Thing.
Captain America: The First Avenger is an action,
adventure, and sci-fi movie released in July 2011
and produced by Marvel Enterprises. The movie
was directed by Joe Johnston, the creator of
Jumanji and Jurassic Park III. He has never really
made any popular, blockbuster movies, but
there’s always first time for everything. Captain
America earned over $65 million on the opening weekend, and grossed over $175 million by
November 11th 2011, so it’s easy to see that Joe Johnston has finally made a Hollywood
success of himself.
Captain America: the First Avenger The Thing
Genre – Sci-Fi/Action/Adventure Genre – Sci-Fi/Horror
Target audience – 12a+ Comic book geeks Target audience – 15+ Horror fans
Year of production - 2011 Year of production - 2011
Director – Joe Johnston Director – Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.
Producer – Kevin Feige Producer – Marc Abraham
Distributor - Paramount Pictures Distributor - Universal Pictures
Box office takings - $176,636,816 Box office takings - $16,907,450
Budget - $140,000,000 Budget - $35,000,000
UK release date – 29th July 2011 UK release date – 2nd December 2011
The target audience for Captain America is mainly fans of Captain America as a superhero,
and fans of comic book related projects in general. Statistically, as expected, males (64%)
over 25 (58%) dominated the cinema screens, leaving only measly amounts of women, and
people of a different age. Superhero movies are almost always guaranteed to sell out
because of the rising amount of comic book fan boys that linger in today’s population. A
female audience had also been accounted during the production stages of this movie. Chris
Evans and Sebastian Stan were casted to play two very important parts to maximise their
on-screen time because, dare I say it, they are a couple of
muscle bound attractive men. Captain America does a
good job of portraying a romance in amongst the
sometimes overpowering amounts of action, which gives
the female audience a bit of a rest from all of the
testosterone. It is very important for production
companies to appeal to as many different markets as
possible in order to maximise sales and improve their
standings in the Box Office.
(http://news.softpedia.com/news/Captain-America-
Takes-Down-Harry-Potter-at-the-US-Box-Office-213245.shtml)

2. As previously mentioned, the main audience for Captain America is people who are
avid comic book followers, therefore, it would make sense for the producers to
incorporate some kind of synergy with other similar movies and products. At the end
of the movie, for example, in cinemas, a trailer is played after the credits for an
upcoming movie about The Avengers, who are a collaboration of superheroes
including Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, etc. And a trailer, relevant to that hero’s
part in The Avengers is played at the end of every one of the respective superhero
movies screened in cinemas at a similar time.
Captain America’s trailer, screened after the credits.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2-VaFMk9-M
Before a film goes into production, the producers would need to conduct extensive
amounts of research to find out what the target market wants, they may use focus
groups, surveys, interviews and general knowledge of what fans want. Every
superhero movie in the past has had a rather good turnout, because of the high
demand for bigger and better versions, therefore it was only a matter of time before
a movie about Captain America was made, considering, although he is a big hit for
Americans, I don’t think there has ever been a Captain America movie made prior to
this one.
Star and Reception Theory
Star and reception theory play big parts in the success of many, many movies, for
example, a movie like 50/50 wouldn’t usually be a big hit, considering it is about
cancer, a very touchy subject indeed, but with the additions of Seth Rogan and
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, it’s turned into a more light hearted affair.
“Adam is a 27 year old writer of radio programs and is diagnosed with a rare form of spinal
cancer. With the help of his best friend, his mother, and a young therapist at the cancer
center, Adam learns what and who the most important things in his life are. “

3. Seth Rogan is a comedy actor that has been in quite a few of my favourite films, however, I see him
as more of a supporting actor than one that stands out himself. He has roles in Superbad, Paul,
Pineapple Express, Knocked Up and 40 Year Old Virgin, but in all of those films he acts alongside
Michael Cera, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, James Franco, Steve Carrell and Katherine Heigl
respectively. They are all actors/actresses that all have a more prominent spot in film hierarchy.
He is incredibly popular amongst teenagers because of the character he plays in almost every one of
his films. He always plays the funny guy, the wasteful stoner who doesn’t have a care in the world,
which, with all due respect, is probably related to the way he is in real life. This is no bad thing,
however, actors such as James Dean and Clint Eastwood play characters of the same style in every
film they represent, and it bodes well for both the movie, and their future acting career, because
every time a movie is in the pipes with a character that fits their repertoire, they’re more often than
not at the top of the list. Without his
involvement, I do believe that many of
the films Seth has appeared in wouldn’t
be quite as successful, especially 50/50
because of its dark subject matter. His
inclusion in the 50/50 cast was no
accident, he was obviously chosen after
a great deal of research into himself,
his career, and the real life struggles
when a friend of yours is suffering.