There's a little movie opening this weekend. Titled Sunset or Daybreak or something like that, it's about vampires falling in love with humans in rural Washington state. With a concept like that, how popular can it really be? Anyway, we'll have more on that foggy fangfest on Monday.
There is one other film opening this weekend about hip non-humans living in extreme weather conditions.
But before we get to Happy Feet 2, some food for thought. In the underrated 2000 indie film State and Main, the movie's filmmakers struggled to find a product placement opportunity for a dotcom (so last century).
One quandary when it comes to product placement today: Luxury brands are most compatible with moviegoers watching high-brow fare. But much of that high-brow fare affords no opportunity to place brands. How does a brand heavy into product placement attach itself to film properties in which its product would be a blazing eyesore?
Audi seems to have found a workaround.
By recently sponsoring the American Film Institute's AFI Fest at the Mann's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, Audi was able to attach its name to the directors, actors and properties of such Oscar-trawling fare as J. Edgar (top) and My Week with Marilyn.
It's great exposure for Audi; how else to get Clint Eastwood saying Audis are "great cars?" short of paying him to appear in an ad?
Audi's year continues to be a record breaker. Not far from Mann's Theater at the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show, Audi's A7 received the 2012 Car of the Year award from Automobile Magazine. It was also named the Motor Press Guild 2012 Vehicle of the Year Award.
Just how big of a cash-in is this weekend's sequel to Happy Feet? The official website doesn't bother with any games, specials, partners, or even a link to buy tickets. Practically unheard of for marketing a children's film, the whole site is just plugging the trailer.
Oh, and Burger King.
And then the video game.
Speaking of the marketing behind film websites, also opening this weekend is George Clooney's critically praised The Descendants. The website for that film is at King-Family-Tree.com, mixing challenging navigation that takes users through the characters' family tree. It's complex, to say the least, but — hey — might hook that underserved "genealogy buff" segment.
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