Saturday, August 9, 2014

Something New?

I saw Guardians of the Galaxy last night – generally a good movie, and certainly no more difficult to accept than any other superhero film. If you’re going to have issues with tropes like everyone in the universe speaking American English, unmodified humans remaining unhurt after impacts that should have been instantly fatal, ships that can change directions in outer space the way aircraft do inside the atmosphere, weapons that randomly violate the laws of physics, or talking raccoons, I don’t know why you’d be going to see a movie like this in the first place. But when we consider the film as part of a larger business strategy, and in particular with the development of a new and remarkably powerful brand identity, I’m forced to conclude that all of the people heaping scorn on this production either don’t know or don’t care about business - or are missing the point…

If you aren’t familiar with what is generally known as the “Marvel Cinematic Universe,” the basic concept is that over the last decade or so Marvel Studios have been making superhero movies that all take place within the same reality, much the way their comic books traditionally do. Previously this approach had been extremely rare, possibly to help build dramatic tension – it’s hard to convince the audience that a given hero is the only one who can possibly defeat the bad guy and save the world if they know that Superman or Wolverine (depending on which universe we are in) could potentially show up and sort everything out. However, this convention prevented the use of one of the genre’s most interesting plot devices, and what is turning out to be a very successful marketing strategy…

Anyone with any significant exposure to the medium already knows that one of the most interesting features in any comic book series is what are generally called “crossover” episodes – when characters from one title show up in another, either as allies or antagonists. Like guest stars in a television series, or stunt casting in a movie, these appearances allow the writers to introduce plot elements and narrative possibilities beyond those present in the story’s base scenario, as well as connecting the story into a larger narrative picture. In the case of the Marvel imprint, this has allowed several of their recent movies and the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. television series to contribute to the development of a single over-arching story, to which Guardians of the Galaxy is apparently connected (the film features antagonists featured in both the Avengers and Thor series). It has not yet been revealed how the characters in this new offering will fit into the larger picture, but it seems apparent that they will…

From a business standpoint, this same effect allows the Studio to draw on the fan base from multiple series of movies when they make a new feature – e.g. fans who don’t care about the other five main characters watched the Avengers movie because their favorite character was in it; the most recent Hulk movie gained support because it featured Tony Stark/Iron Man, and so on. Even better, it will draw viewers to offerings they care nothing about, because any given movie in the shared setting may have implications for the next sequel in a series they do follow. And meanwhile, every Marvel release gives the company an additional opportunity to display its logo and theme music at the start of the feature, and drive home the fact that their products are the ones you want to see…

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we’re about to see the first major crossover movie from DC Comics, Marvel’s main competitor, only now that Marvel has demonstrated how well the concept works – especially when you consider that DC was actually the first to bring their superhero stories to the big screen, decades ago. I don’t know if the company’s rumored Justice League movie (their equivalent of the Avengers concept) will be successful, assuming it is more than a rumor, or if we will ever see the ultimate in crossover projects, featuring characters from both companies. For the moment, however, I think we can say that the concept appears to be working, even for movies featuring obscure superheroes no one (except for hardcore fans) has ever heard of before. Whether it will be enough to save a genuinely bad movie remains to be seen – but I’m not going to place any bets either way. As a true innovation in both A/V narrative and brand development, this concept has the potential to change everything…

No comments: