2 FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING Commercials Online!!! Additional News About Ad Campaign For LOTR!!!
Published at: Nov. 17, 2001, 12:42 a.m. CST by staff
New Stuff Under Links!!!
Hey folks, Harry here... Ahhhh, at last I have my United Cutlery created STING blade... I sent off for this about 2 weeks ago, and now it is here. Now I have my one true ring and Sting... Did you know that the Sindarin on STING says, "Maegnas is my name, I am the spider's bane."? I was able to get it pretty cheap on Ebay, and personally I believe it to be one of the most elegantly created swords I've ever seen in a film. My documentation with my Sting tells me that Production Designer Daniel Falconer designed the sword, then the production swordsmith Peter Lyons made the blade, production armoursmith John Harvey made the handle and production armoursmith Stu Johnson completed the Elven etching. David Salo translated the phrase and suggested it to Peter Jackson!!! And now it is mine. I just wish I had the dang scabbard. My Green Destiny Sword came with its original box from the film... and I've seen the scabbard in the movie, its pretty dang sweet. I wonder what would be an excellent transparent black light active glow blue chemical to soak the blade in?
I've officially gone LOTR crazy... MUST SEE THE MOVIES!!!
To answer some questions below first. I got my 'ONE RING' from SPENCER'S GIFTS at the mall... The company that made it seems to be on the path of making ALL the rings. They have the Witchking's ring, Galadriel's ring, Elrond's ring, The One Ring and more... Will they make the 3 rings for Elven Kings? The Seven for the Dwarf lords? Nine for the Mortal Men? Time will tell, but I'm certainly hoping so.
As for the big push for FELLOWSHIP OF THE RINGS, I learned tonight that it will indeed hit the mainstream immediately following THANKSGIVING, in fact they even have ad time on the broadcast premiere of THE PHANTOM MENACE!!! Right now the ads are just running in specific 'key' event markets on Cable. After THANKSGIVING the Burger King stuff kicks in hot and heavy... the New Line spots hit and the other advertising partners come onboard the selling of LORD OF THE RINGS!
There is a burnt out effect that can happen by peaking too early... the real world people... (NOT US) has a point at which they just shut down. Us geeks, we can eat candy like this from morning to morning for years. But Mrs Rottincrotch and Mr Twiddledick... They have short term memory and attention... There they must focus on the 3 weeks leading to release so that Mrs Rottincrotch and Mr Twiddledick don't fixate on something else because they've burnt out.
Right now, buying TV time when every news station and all the spots on HARRY POTTER are everywhere... it'd be a waste of effort to combat that to build an awareness on something that is still over a month away. The merchandize is hitting the stores. Targets are getting their t-shirts and tennis shoes.... The toy aisles have Hobbit gear and Elven bows and Orc-crossbows.... E-Bay has thousands of items for sale, The books are hitting the stores big, displays are growing. At my BARNES & NOBLE here in Austin they have giant Lord of the Rings displays in the windows facing traffic.
MAY IT BE is going to hit the radios... with Enya's upswing in popularity in the wake of Sept 11, it will get play time. The music video is set to hit. Tattoos are being made.
New Line is reportedly set to spin $140 million dollars (according to an article I read the other day) on advertising LORD OF THE RINGS... Folks... patience.... Watch it unfold.... They've been smart, selling the films to sports audiences.... during the WORLD SERIES.... During BASKETBALL games on TNT.... During the MTV Movie and Music Awards... They're gonna hit PHANTOM MENACE with a great spot I hear....
I hear the spots will appear in gorgeous Quicktime on the official site.... But fear not Ring-faithful.... The Selling of this series is going to be hitting full throttle very very soon. New Line knows what they have to do now.
Here in Austin, I've heard that the Alamo Drafthouse North has already sold the first couple of weeks out... all showings. Believe me... New Line isn't tripping, they are laying a trap... waiting for the public to see the cheese.... They haven't put it out yet... But on like November 26 or so.... The Cheese is put out. You'll see.
Why is it important that FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING be financially successful at a spectacular level? Why is this discussion about advertising and merchandizing important?
Simple. Let's say you, me... We see FELLOWSHIP and we love it. That it is like a dream come true, a perfect film. Let's say a lot of people feel that way. Enough to make the film say... $110 million domestic.. That's a huge disappointment according to 'expectations' from New Line.... Why does that concern you?
It has to do with the post production process. If FELLOWSHIP underperforms there is always the risk (however unlikely let us pray) that New Line decides to cut the post-production budgets on TWO TOWERS and RETURN OF THE KING.... Meaning that the effects won't be finished as well as they could... they'd have to farm out shots to dozens of companies, fire folks that work at WETA and basically... The films and the series would suffer.
Depending where you look, this film series is going to cost NEW LINE $300 million in production costs and $140 million in advertising. Now sure, a good deal of that is offset with foreign investors, distribution deals, etc... But if they feel like the film doesn't perform the way they had hoped... Cutting costs based upon the rule of diminishing returns is not beyond the realm of reason.
Why do I get excited about the fact that they are set to WAKE the rest of the world up? Because... If the NON-GEEKS go, if they fall in love like us.... If it latches on to the 'beyond geek' audience... Then we will see these next two films produced to perfection.
It is not enough in this day of publicly held corporate filmmaking that a movie be great (in art) but that it also be financially great.... Sad, but true. However, I'm quite pleased to report that on the marketing side, everything seems to be being set up to be quite successful... and a good portion of screenings of HARRY POTTER have that LOTR trailer and the response I've been hearing from various screenings is that the LOTR trailer performed the absolute best of all.
