One of the regular topics of conversation that often comes up around the movie webshpere is the issue of how much or little of a movie should or shouldn’t be given away in its marketing (posters, commercials, trailers). Sometimes marketing campaigns give essentially everything away… sometimes they don’t tell us nearly enough about a movie to make a decision about seeing it or not… and sometimes the marketing is deceptive and makes us think we’re about to see one type of movie, when in reality it’s something we weren’t expecting at all (worst and most shameful case of this I’ve ever seen was how Disney handled the marketing for the film “Bridge To Terabithia”).
So here comes “The Incredible Hulk”. Today, Movie Blog reader and participant Amish Bill wrote to me asking for my opinion on how Marvel has handeld the marketing campaign. Bill isn’t happy with the trailers because he believes they give too much of the movie away. He makes his understandable case here:
“I’m really pissed at how much of the Incredible Hulk movie has been shown in advertising thus far. This morning an ad appeared showing Tony Stark in his cameo. I thought that was supposed to be a surprise cameo! OK, so it wasn’t a very well kept secret but casual movie fans would have this spoiled because of the f’ing preview. I know there trying to get a buzz going but I’m so sick of seeing great stuff in previews. I think it’s also a mistake to let us hear “Hulk smash” in the preview. That’s something I was looking forward to hearing once I see the movie. Now I’m going to hear it 20 times before I actually see the movie. It just ruins that part of the movie. I guess my beef is that this movie specifically has really gone above and beyond to give away key items in the story and I hate it”
It should be pointed out that Amish Bill is not the only person to feel this way. Amidst the excitement of hearing “HULK SMASH!!!” several people wrote to me to express some disappointment at the fact it was in the commercial because ever since they heard it was going to be in the movie, they had been looking forward to hearing it for the first time when they went to the theater… not in a commercial. The Tony Stark cameo Bill brings up is indeed another thing others have written to me about.
However, I’m personally going to have to differ with Bill on this issue for a few reasons.
1) HOW MUCH HAS ACTUALLY BEEN SHOWN
There have indeed been many trailers and commercials for The Incredible Hulk… no doubt. But really, much of the trailers are just re-cycled footage of what had been shown in previous trailers/commercials. I think just about every single one of them have shown that same sequence (or at least part of it) of Bruce being trapped in the glass bridge… being gassed and Hulking out. Or that scene from the downtown battle between Hulk and Abomination. So although the sheer number of trailers/commercials may make it feel like we’ve seen a lot of the movie thus far… the reality is that we’ve probably only seen about 4 minutes of the 112 minute run time.
2) TONY STARK APPEARANCE
Let’s face it, we’ve all known that Tony Stark was making an appearance in The Incredible Hulk almost as long as we’ve known they were going to film the movie. More importantly, what I want to know is WHAT ARE STARK AND GENERAL ROSS TALKING ABOUT? Yes they show us that Stark is in the movie, but it’s a cameo appearance and ultimately doesn’t mean anything (that might have been different if they showed him in the actual Iron Man armor obviously). What does have an impact (or at least potentially so) on the story is what Stark is there to say. Showing him there isn’t a “spoiler” by any definition.
3) HULK SMASH
Hearing a line from a character in a movie isn’t close to spoiler material (unless that line gives away some key significant plot point). The movie is called “The Incredible Hulk”… the main character is the Hulk.. hearing the main character of a movie say a line isn’t unusual. Hearing that character say a line that famous for (ie. “HULK SMASH!!!!”) is just good marketing and common sense. Remember, although Hulk didn’t really talk in the last movie, nor in the 70’s live action show… he has always talked to one degree or another in the comic books and in the different cartoon incarnations. I can understand some people wanting to hear it in the movie for the first time… but I don’t think it was unreasonable in the least for them to have that line in the commercials at all
BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO KEEP IN MIND…
4) THE INCREDIBLE HULK NEEDED MORE LEEWAY IN ITS MARKETING
Keep in mind, just 4 months ago everyone and their sisters were giving laundry lists of reasons about why The Incredible Hulk would fail. And most of those reasons had to do with the Ang Lee version of Hulk that came out just in 2003. “Too many people will be confused about the connection between the old one and this new one” many people said. “It’s too soon for another one”. “The other one sucked so bad I’m not going to waste my money on a new one”. And you can’t really blame them too much for feeling that way.
So although most film start with zero buzz… and some lucky others start with pre-existing positive buzz due to being a sequel or being based on a popular franchise from another medium… The Incredible Hulk was starting in a HUGE hole of negative buzz because if the first film… which has nothing to do with THIS movie. Through no fault of its own, The Incredible Hulk was having to fight an uphill battle right out of the gates. As such, it was in a position where it had to do more with its marketing, do better, be more impressive and basically do everything it could do to not just get people interested in the movie, but ALSO get them to temporarily forget about the Ang Lee version (which I kind of liked by the way).
Anything it could do to achieve those two objectives HAD to be done (without crossing the line). I think with that in mind, things like showing Tony Stark or hearing Hulk say “Hulk Smash” in the commercials become not only understandable, but absolutely essential for them to do.
So can I understand where Amish Bill and those like minded are coming from? Totally. However I also understand where the Marvel marketing team is coming from and personally find the extent they went to in order to promote this movie didn’t cross any important lines. But that’s just my opinion.
And personally… I think they did an amazing job! Just think about it… it’s been weeks since I heard anyone even mention the Ang Lee version. People are pumped about The Incredible Hulk. Two things that just a few short months ago most people thought would never happen. Mission accomplished. But that’s just my opinion. What do you guys think?
