Hannah Dillemuth
Reuter
Econ B4
17 May 2015
Avengers 2
Practically every person has seen a trailer for the sequel to Marvel’s Avengers, their best opening weekend movie at $207 million, domestically. No Marvel movie has yet topped it, although its sequel was close. Avengers: Age of Ultron was released on May 1st, 2015, and has already earned over $1.1 billion globally (Lang). It’s opening weekend made $191.3 million just in the United States alone. Many paid to watch it on as big of a screen as they could find; 16.6% watched the movie on IMAX or PLF (Premium Large Format) screens (Mendelson). Another 29% watched it in 3-D screenings, which typically have larger screens. There wasn’t much demand to watch the movie on a big screen, yet it still managed to bring in over $30 million, although this may be due to the supply of cinemas that actually have IMAX screens.
Recently released in China, Avengers: Age of Ultron is the second highest grossing debut in the country’s history, right after Furious 7 (Lang). Globally, Age of Ultron is the eighth highest grossing film of all time with its $1.1 billion in revenue after just under three weeks.
Getting tickets for an opening day showing, especially one so highly promoted as Avengers 2, would be difficult. On April 28th, when presale tickets were available, 84% of tickets bought in a 24 hour period were for Age of Ultron (McKnight). But even with the staggering amount of tickets sold for opening night, most people aren’t going to go and wait through the crowds all anxiously waiting to see the very first showing. With $5 Tuesday’s, the less die-hard fans would rather wait three days and pay a much cheaper price than opening night. However, even regular Tuesday priced tickets are scarce. If everyone were to have this mindset, the scarcity of Tuesday tickets would skyrocket.
The sheer amount of advertising for the movie helped gain viewers. Everything from trailers on Disney Channel to the press tour was focused on selling the money to as many people as possible. With a total of 4 different trailers, 42 TV spots, and 16 clips of the movie, there was no way to escape the movie (Mendelson). However, all of this advertisement could’ve turned people off at the idea of seeing a movie where almost every major twist had been shown as a “teaser”. Yet the movie was still successful, but not in the way Avengers was (but sequels never surpass the original).
Image from Business Insider
Plus, movies themselves are advertisements. Big name brands like Samsung and Audi and Under Armor are seen throughout Age of Ultron (Acuna). Most companies do this to try and sway the audience's personal preference. Because who wouldn’t want to wear Under Armor just because Iron Man does too? While this may seem like a ridiculous concept, brands have seen an increase in demand for their products. Avengers 2 didn’t even have largest brand exposure of the Marvel franchise; in fact, they were behind Iron Man, Captain America 2, Avengers, and Iron Man 2 (in that order) (Acuna).
Most people, by now, have seen Avengers 2. Considering that it’s already made $1.1 billion, it may even continue to make more money as the weekends progress. But I think it’s fair to say that Avengers: Age of Ultron was fairly successful.
Works Cited
Acuna, Kirsten. "Here Are the Brands That Appear the Most in 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'" Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 6 May 2015. Web. 18 May 2015.
Lang, Brent. "Box Office: 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' Opens Huge in China." Variety. Variety Media, 17 May 2015. Web. 17 May 2015.
McKnight, Brent. "The Avengers: Age Of Ultron Ticket Presales Are Even Bigger Than Expected." - CINEMABLEND. Cinema Blend LLC, 28 Apr. 2015. Web. 18 May 2015.
Mendelson, Scott. "Box Office: 'Avengers 2' Snags Sad, Shameful $191.3M Weekend." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 3 May 2015. Web. 18 May 2015.
I watched the movie 3 times within the first 4 days of its release. I really enjoyed the movie, but was still able to buy tickets on the day of its release. This made me think that the movie didn't do to well. Though reading this has showed me that I was wrong it is right behind avengers 1 with in just the first weekend of its release. These are great movies and the shear amount of money both made and spent is just amazing.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing to consider in big blockbuster movies like this is the current interest that the public has in genres like this. In the past decade, the demand and appeal for adaptations of superheroes has skyrocketed. Not only do we have Avengers and the separate movies associated with it, but there is also Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, tv shows like Arrow and the Flash, and countless others. Consumer expectation has caused a shift in marketing and in production, because ultimately the film industry wants to capitalize on the product that will reap the most benefits. Clearly, Avengers was not cheap to make, but the fact that it has already grossed over a billion dollars indicates that the costs were worth the benefits. It is definitely the Age of Superheroes along with the Age of Ultron.
ReplyDeleteI can Imagine everyone waiting for these movies. First how they all tied together at the end of there own separate films to the Avengers and they movies they've made together now. I heard the movie was good, but I didn't think it was so good as to produce more than the first avengers in the first couple of days after the premier.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who was able to see Age of Ultron on the opening night, I do feel that the movie was actually over advertised. I big problem that I have with advertising movies is that it can be done too much. As someone who doesn't watch TV, I was still brought into viewing many ads for the movie on Youtube, IGN, and many other websites. The point being, that I was able to buy an opening day ticket, on opening day. I feel that many people didn't want to attend opening night as the movie was practically ruined by the commercials. I believe that many more people would have been more enticed to see the movie had the trailers not been over used.
ReplyDeleteI saw this movie last week on a weekday and there was still a decent amount of people in the theater. I did not really notice the product advertising in the Avengers: Age of Ultron, as much as other moves like Transformers. The latest transformer movie really overdid the products in every scene, they did it so much that it distracted me from the movie. But hey, they got a lot of money from that movie and it worked for them and it only cost them a lot of terrible reviews.
ReplyDeleteSince the Avengers 1 was a popular movie I surely agree that the Avengers 2 movie will be out of the control with the tickets and the money. Everyone that went to the movie on the opening night had to pay $11.00 or $12.00 why you can just go and see it on a Tuesday for only $5.00. But the movie was to good that even more people went on the weekend.
ReplyDeleteAvengers Age of Ultron was obviously a highly anticipated movie considering the 1.1 billion dollars it has made since opening in theaters. I did not expect this movie to make $191 million in the first weekend because that is very close to the 207 million made by the first avengers and as you said the second movie never surpasses the first. It would be very interesting to see how much this movie has been able to gross from weekend to weekend after the initial release date because some fans do what for special days such as $5 tuesdays. It would also be interesting to see how many die hard fans saw the movie multiple times during the opening weekend. I am very excited to see what comes next for the Avengers once they are done with Joss Whedon.
ReplyDeleteWhile without a doubt this film was successful, it's somewhat alarming that movie theaters have declined in popularity within the United States. With other alternatives such as Netflix, Hulu, or illegally downloading the film it's apparent that actual movie theater complexes will decline in physical appearance especially with such advancements in home theater technology. Yet all of the services listed are offered relatively globally, thus leading to the question of "why do movie theaters still exist?". It could simply be due to the overall cinematic experience, or the desire for instantaneous satisfaction due to the period of time it takes for films to be posted on Netflix? Regardless of whether movie theaters will exist in the next twenty years or so, the film industry will continue to thrive as this industry is constantly evolving through accessibility, thus causing a greater demand for these theatrical works of cinematography.
ReplyDeleteIts interesting to hear that the popularity of movies have declined in the United States. I thought with the ever improving technology being applied to movies, more people wold be willing to go see them. But as technology improves so does the chance of people stealing or downloading the movie illegally. As I know you work at a movie theater, it is interesting to hear your take on movies vs. subscription services.
DeleteIt was interesting to read about how the want to see this film differed from the last Avengers movie or other Marvel movies in general. That being said it was still a huge success. The 8th highest grossing movie of all time. The movie itself, i enjoyed a lot. I liked it more than the first one.
ReplyDeleteI went to the movie and it was great! For some reason, I can always see the brands implanted in movies, and of course I noticed quite a few. Subliminal ads within movies must be on the rise because they are in almost every major movie I see. Since there are millions of people watching the movie there must be great value in these ads.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see how much companies will pay to have their products featured in huge blockbuster movies such as this. And with the amount of advertisement done for the movies themselves, the companies with their products featured are practically guaranteed to rake in more money from the people who want to use the same products as superheroes.
ReplyDeleteWell, I still haven’t seen the movie, but people say it is great. I am not surprised that a movie from the Avengers franchise would bring that much revenue in the United States, and I’m sure around the world it was a success as well. I find it very funny everytime I see a brand in one of these movies, since with my movie experience some of the older ones took their time to make sure no brands were visible in the clothes characters were wearing or the objects they used. However, now it seems that whoever had the idea to start sponsoring movies and being shown in them was a genius since this does have an impact in consumer view of what to choose when buying. Very good topic!
ReplyDeleteI personally have not seen the movie yet. I think it was really interesting to read about the difference both Avengers movies made during their opening weekends. I expected Age of Ultron to do better than the first Avengers opening weekend. It was also interesting to see the different brands advertised in the movie. It will be interesting to compare the brands represented in all the Marvel movies.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen the movie, but I've heard about it. From what I know it doesn't seem like it should have grossed as much as it did, but here it is. The anticipation was very high for a movie that didn't deserve that much. Especially with dozens of super heroes movies coming out in the next decade, that market is going to get tougher.
ReplyDeleteThere may really be an informal market which also hides the true demand for the movie, as it has become increasingly easy to illegally watch/download movies. this informal market, which makes its money off the jollies of spreading free movies, and advertising, is fairly large, as the quality of televisions in homes continues to increase.
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ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the movie yet either, but there was no doubt in my mind that it would do well. I remember the days where company logos were blocked out in videos, but now, companies are so competitive, especially ones like different phone and clothing companies who have sort of an oligopoly and are always competing. Having Samsung be the brand in the Avengers movie instead of Apple, for example, looks really good for their company because the Avengers is such a big franchise. Strategic advertising by companies like that really helps business and reputation. Cool article!
ReplyDeleteI saw this movie about a week ago, and I thought it was a decent movie to go see. Obviously you saw it too. Avengers Age of Ultron was obviously a highly anticipated movie considering the 1.1 billion dollars it has made since opening in theaters and I thought that was extremely interesting. I didn't expect the movie to make $191 million in the first weekend. A lot of people were afraid it wouldn't be as good, but I guess this wasn't correct. I think it's cool that this movie was very close to the 207 million made by the first avengers. I wonder how much it single-handily made in other countries, because it was apparently one of the most popular movies in the nation and around the world. I'm amazed how many advertisements they would have blocked out in this movie because of the various beers and t-shirts and so on that everyone had. Overall, I enjoyed this post and I found it unique and interesting you wrote about it.
ReplyDeleteI think the statistic that “there wasn’t much demand to watch the movie on a big screen” interesting because I would think that as many people as possible would want to watch on a big screen. It makes sense that Age of Ultron is in the top ten highest grossing movies of all time because it seems like the movies that come out now can more easily go global because of widespread technology. I kind of disagree that people wouldn’t want to wait in line to watch the movie on opening night, I think people would make an event out of the release.
ReplyDeleteThis article brings up a good point that marketing has had a massive field opened up this past decade but it the vast opportunities that are offered might be a bit more exclusive than maybe first perceived. Product placement can only really be effective for products whose labels are bold and noticeable, yet for those products who can’t advertise quite so loud, there’s no room for them to advertise. On top of that product placement almost always uses products that are already doing financially well so their gain isn’t quite as impressive as a less competitive advantage. Overall I think product placement has been a huge step forward for companies, I just think that the opportunities are much more limited than initially perceived.
ReplyDeleteI think it's crazy that Age of Ultron was the 8th highest grossing film of all time and made $1.1 billion. That doesn't really surprise me because of how popular the Marvel movies are and how they appeal to so many different people. The craziest part to is thinking about how much Marvel merchandise is available from Age of Ultron and also just the Marvel movies in general and how much they must be gaining from these sales.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting that Age of Ultron was the 8th highest grossing movie of all time. Also I though it was interesting how you brought up the advertisements that companies do in the movie. Although some people might think it's crazy to put advertisements in the movie people notice it and tend to buy the products more. One thing I wonder is how much do companies pay to get their product put in movies?
ReplyDeleteIt is always interesting to see the effect of movies on the economy, especially because of how large the effect tends to be, while I understand that this is logical, it still is amazing to see. Your piece is very well written and informal in this regard.
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