Movie Marketing Rule #2

 

Both The Stepfather and Law Abiding Citizen both have proven to me even more my second movie marketing rule...

Movie Marketing Rule #2: If your target audience can't relate to your main character or your story, you will not find greater than normal success. 

You can see this effect time and time again in all successful movie marketing. The first Transformers movie wouldn't have been such a smash hit if it just showed armies fighting robots. The trailer first set up the story of a teenager and his first car.

Movies in my book that skipped this rule: Watchmen, which grossed a relatively disappointing $107 million, didn't even have a real main character. Funny People combined Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen, both bankable stars in their own right, yet was one of the lowest grossing comedies of the summer ($51.5 million). Most Sandler movies open with nearly $40 million. Funny People broke Movie Marketing Rule #2, and had a dying comedian as its main character, a person 95% of audience members could not relate to. That's why there's been so few successful movies based off of Hollywood.

There are, of course, exceptions to this rule. Movies that are exempt from this marketing rule have already got their audience to buy in to their movie in a different way. Tropic Thunder did this excellently by combining various comedy stars and giving the audience a very unique comedy experience.