The $34 million plus opening of horror thriller The Purge has startled many. The movie was expected to fare well but the opening comes as an absolute shocker. Content aside, this victory should be attributed to the production and marketing team whose smart work proved the predictions of most of the box office pundits wrong.
The Purge has been produced by Jason Blum’s Blumhouse, the company which produced successful horror franchise Paranormal Activity. 2011’s sleeper hit Insidious was also produced by the same company. The common thing between these films apart from being produced by the same production house – except for 3rd and 4th films in Paranormal Activity series, rest all were produced on a shoestring budget. The latest film cost just $3 million to produce. However, the marketing costs do make these films expensive, but then the smart marketing also produces brilliant results like we saw this weekend. The Purge was distributed by Universal whose big budget fare Fast and Furious 6 is still going strong.
So how this remarkable success was achieved? There were a no. of factors behind it. Firstly, there hasn’t been any significant horror release in months and so there was a definitely a need there. The timing of the release was also very crucial considering there was no big budget summer movie opening alongside because of the direct competition from Man of Steel releasing next week. Horror films are often frontloaded and make most of their money in the initial week only. Sensing the opportunity, the marketing team went for the kill. The unique premise of The Purge also helped in generating huge curiosity on social media and as a result more than 50 % of the audience comprised of the people below 25 years of age.
The success of The Purge yet again proves how much important the marketing and strategizing is in the world of cinema today.
No comments:
Post a Comment