Presentations

The Avengers
Assemble
QfL: What is synergy?
Do now:
Brainstorm ideas you
associate with a
blockbuster film.

What is a blockbuster?
A movie which is a huge financial success is a blockbuster.
In common usage a "blockbuster" is a movie that has a boxoffice of more than $100 million upon release in North
America;
It has a global appeal, attracting mass audiences;
Often a summer release (40% of the year's takings for big
production companies are concentrated into this period);
Possibly with a major star, or is part of a franchise , or is a
remake, or an adaptation of a book, comic, TV show or
computer game;
High production values, with costly settings, props and
SFX;

DISCUSS:
How do these ideas relate to The Avengers Assemble?

Which films do
you think were
most
successful and
why?
What are the
ingredients for
a good
blockbuster
movie?

Avengers Assemble
A huge weight of expectation met The Avengers
Assemble upon its release. The film needed to be a
rewarding smash; many had invested in these
characters before and paid to see a range of related
films. The Avengers is perhaps the most humorous
of recent superhero movies, a big contrast to the
two other major comic adaptations of 2012 - the
moody and serious Dark Knight Rises and the gritty
and emotional Amazing Spider-Man. The Avengers
had plenty to satisfy a range of moviegoers.
Write a paragraph explaining:
Which films were released before The Avengers
Assemble?
How was there a lead up (hype) for this film?
What did it have to satisfy moviegoers?

Synergy Defined
Jill Nelmes in An Introduction to Film
Studies defines synergy strategy as:
Combined or related action by a
group of individuals or corporations
towards a common goal, the
combined effect of which exceeds
the sum of the individual efforts.
(Nelmes, 1996: 42)

What Synergy Looks

Like

Product Placement Companies pay to feature their product in a film, which often leads to a
deal in which the films protagonist or other characters are featured in their advertising
campaigns.

Tie-ins / Promotional Partnerships, where the film or its characters will feature on existing
products. This may be in the form of competitions.

Spin-Offs. Products based on the original, i.e. the Film. A film may be a spin-off of a television
series, ora television series may be created as a spin-off of a film. We can also think of this as
media convergence.

Pre-Existing Property. If a film is based on pre-existing material (for example a video game,
novel or comic book)the pre-existing material is often re-released featuring imagery from the film
on its cover, or a special edition is released in synch with the films scheduled cinematic release.

Merchandise Companies create products specifically for the film, for example toys, calendars,
video games. These products not only help market the film, but the audiences knowledge of the
film brings their awareness to the merchandise.

Vertical Integration When distribution and some forms of exhibition are kept in-house ,
meaning other subsidiaries of the conglomerate (who owns the production company) distribute
the film and create DVD releases of it.

Which examples of synergy can you identify in The

Avengers Assemble?

Synergy in Avengers Assemble

The

Avengers is perhaps one of the greatest examples of the extremes synergy can be taken.
The film is based on pre-existing property and has raised the profile of its comic book
characters, most of the characters have been features in a spin-off television animation
series, re-issues of the old comic books, or re-branded new comic book series.

Tie-ins

have been arranged with fast food restaurants such as McDonalds (for their happy
meals), Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robbins and fizzy drinks, such as Pepsi.

However,

the most unique facet of The Avengers marketing and synergy campaign is that each
of the protagonists has their own film(s) which have been used to market The Avengers.
Each of these films has had tie-ins, product placement, merchandise, computer games
and spin-offs and each is based on pre-existing property - which has been exploited and
promoted by the films release.

IronMan,

Thor and Captain America have been film franchises in their own rights, but
from the build up to the release of Thor it has been clear that they are all part of the Campaign
for The Avengers.

Marvel

was bought by Disney, however a pact was organised between Marvel and Paramount
Pictures to produce a slate of comic book films. The inter-relationship between two
organisations owned by two different conglomerates: Disney andViacom respectively, expresses
the oligopoly nature of Hollywood. In 2012 this relationship ended leaving both with sizeable
profits and Disney will continue to distribute the later films, including Iron Man 3 and The
Avengers.