Wonder Woman finally gets her own movie and the movie marketing machines for DC and Warner Bros. haven’t seemed to have chugged to life.
We’re less than six weeks out. There’s been more advertising for Justice League than the movie that’s supposed to kick off the whole JLU film arc. On Warner Bros.’ YouTube Channel, Wonder Woman has only three trailers to Justice League‘s six. Where are the TV commercials and product tie-ins (yes, I know about Dr. Pepper, other ones please)? Batman and Supes both had their own breakfast cereal, so where’s my Wonder Woman cereal, General Mills? I’ve seen toys but no toy commercials.
It’s been pretty quiet out there, regardless of the fact that people have reacted positively to the little advertising that’s been released. The few trailers Wonder Woman has have garnered close to 60 million views. Imagine what would happen if the trailer were embedded on major entertainment sites and there were stories out there about the film?
There was more advertising for Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice that there has been for her standalone film. If you look at most film advertising, you’ll notice that things ramp up about two months out from the release date. Think of any recent blockbuster film and you’ll likely remember seeing trailer after trailer in the five to six weeks leading up to the film release.
I don’t know about you, but I definitely recall being ready to snap at the sheer volume of advertising I’ve seen for Wonder Bros./DC blockbuster films more than once over the last five years. Forbes’ Erik Kain talked about the BvS trailer deluge five weeks out from the movie’s release date. Suicide Squad had numerous trailers and ads (by their own official count, there are 30). Man of Steel shows another 19 videos.
If you compare the video counts alone, there’s a disparity in the advertising. Even a news search reveals there’s not much out there. The top news hits are a Maxim article talking about how hot Gal Gadot is (at least they found a way to sell it to their readers, I guess? ) and a video mashup (also good) that’s found a way to meld the iconic ’70s theme and look with film trailer footage.
As a woman who is 100% in their target demographic, I’m sitting here wondering why they don’t want to sell me this movie. And the only explanations I can come up with for a studio failing to market a major blockbuster aren’t leaving me with much hope.
Maybe they don’t want me to see it. Maybe – and I sincerely hope this isn’t the case- they think it’s bad. Maybe they don’t want to build hype for a movie they don’t think is good. Of course, that goes against the logic we’ve seen used for a lot of movies that cost a lot to make but don’t necessarily deliver the goods aka trailer overload with loud rock music and all sorts of splashy action shots. Wonder Woman deserves the full hype machine and more, and her fans do, too.
Put out a trailer that’s 100% Wonder Woman kicking ass. Maybe to Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”? or Bikini Kill’s “Rebel Girl”? Beyonce’s “Run The World” would be pretty amazing, too. Billboards, buses and anything else you can plaster stuff to. People drive. Give them something cool to look at while they’re doing it. Market the movie like you have PRETTY MUCH EVERY OTHER WB/DC MOVIE FOR THE LAST TEN YEARS.
It’s dangerous to leave people with time on their hands when it comes to a movie. Free time means lots of room for speculation and speculation leads to all sorts of nefarious ideas, especially when you’re wondering why a movie studio would make a film with an estimated $120 million budget for a superhero like Wonder Woman and then hide it like a tattered Playboy under the bed.
Bottom line, here’s the problem. The lack of marketing worries me. It worries a lot of people who are invested in the success of female superheroes in film and television. Because it looks like Warner Bros. isn’t even trying, and we all need this movie to be a success because we need more female-led movies, period. Especially ones where the woman is the hero.