The Contemporary Hollywood Blockbuster Is Not so Much a Film as a Dev
" I like ideas, especially movie ideas, that you can hold in your hand. If a person can tell me the idea in twenty-five words or less, its going to make a pretty good movie." Steven Spielberg. '
For this essay I intend to discuss how Hollywood as an industry has used the marketing strategies of blockbuster films to significant advantage in film merchandising. Along with the use of mass merchandising as a form of marketing films, with the hope of creating awareness among the public. As merchandising has become one of the most lucrative arenas ' for Hollywood Studios to earn a profit. Many blockbuster films today come with novelisations of the films story to toy action figures. This is because the contemporary Hollywood blockbusters, in industry terms are high concept films. These are movies that have a striking, easily reducible narrative, which offer a high degree of marketability. This marketability might be based upon stars, the match between a star and premise or a subject that is fashionable. For these movies to earn more money in other merchandising, they are normally easily reduced to a single image. Such as a man flying for Superman (1978), or the two robots, R2D2 and C3PO from Star Wars(1978). This reducibility of narrative to a single image lends its self to the tactile representation of the film, that is, the licensed products constructed around the films characters. These licensed products extend the shelf life ' of the movie by replicating the film 's characters, action and settings through the products. Brad Globe, who was the head of Licensing and merchandising for Amblin Entertainment had this comment to say on the phenomenon:
Licensing is not just about generating revenues. We 're really very concerned that the licensing program have a positive impact on the movie and create some consumer awareness for the film. '
Although Films have been merchandised since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), merchandising has become
For this essay I intend to discuss how Hollywood as an industry has used the marketing strategies of blockbuster films to significant advantage in film merchandising. Along with the use of mass merchandising as a form of marketing films, with the hope of creating awareness among the public. As merchandising has become one of the most lucrative arenas ' for Hollywood Studios to earn a profit. Many blockbuster films today come with novelisations of the films story to toy action figures. This is because the contemporary Hollywood blockbusters, in industry terms are high concept films. These are movies that have a striking, easily reducible narrative, which offer a high degree of marketability. This marketability might be based upon stars, the match between a star and premise or a subject that is fashionable. For these movies to earn more money in other merchandising, they are normally easily reduced to a single image. Such as a man flying for Superman (1978), or the two robots, R2D2 and C3PO from Star Wars(1978). This reducibility of narrative to a single image lends its self to the tactile representation of the film, that is, the licensed products constructed around the films characters. These licensed products extend the shelf life ' of the movie by replicating the film 's characters, action and settings through the products. Brad Globe, who was the head of Licensing and merchandising for Amblin Entertainment had this comment to say on the phenomenon:
Licensing is not just about generating revenues. We 're really very concerned that the licensing program have a positive impact on the movie and create some consumer awareness for the film. '
Although Films have been merchandised since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), merchandising has become
Bibliography: Ali MacGraw " Moving Pictures" Bantam Books, 1991 Cliff Rothman, "Disney: A Merchandising World Leader" Hollywood Reporter, June 10, 1986 Dale Pollack, Skywalking: The life and films of George Lucas, Harmony Books, 1983 Janet Wasko, "Hollywood in the Informaton Age"Polity Press 1994 Martin A. Grove, "Special Report: Licensing and merchandising" Hollywood Reporter, 1986 Olen J