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How Early Is Too Early To Promote?

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Purple Dave
06/28/09

In reply to How Early Is Too Early To Promote?
It depends on many things. What is the movie? Is it something that people have already been anticipating for a long time? Are you giving away too much of the movie with your early stuff? Is any of the footage in the trailer actually going to be in the final film? Can you slowly build on what you've put out that early while leading up to the eventual release? And is your trailer coming out after the last major internet boom?

Ep1 had a _very_ minimalist teaser trailer put out at least a year before the movie was due for release, but all it gave us was a few snippets of text interspersed between very familiar mechanical breaths. Nothing was spoiled, people freaked out, and the film (while much maligned) went on to do record-shattering business when it finally came out.

Pixar has similarly dropped some early teaser trailers that are only _based_ on the setting and characters from the film, so you only get a vague introduction to the movie by way of something that will never be seen outside of that specific context. No real plot spoilers, and even the characters feel like they're way out of context if you watch them after the finished film.

Conversely, some movies that don't have much to offer pretty much pull out all the big guns and feel like you've already watched them several times over when the first trailer only hit about a month before release.
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GlennA
06/27/09

In reply to How Early Is Too Early To Promote?
I think 'Cars' still hold the record (2+ years).

'The Last Airbender' trailer looked good. What more do you want from a trailer? I expect it'll be only the first of more coming every couple months till the release. Give those who are already fans something to look forward to and those saying "the last... what?" something to find out more about. And if it's "too soon", then it can't really be "too little"... more to come. :D
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Purple Dave
06/28/09

@GlennA:
Pixar cheats by scripting and animating many of their trailers from scratch, like they did with Mr. Incredible trying to squirm his way into his supersuit, Mater running into a baby bee, and Remy describing his life as a rat in Paris. Nothing from those trailers came straight from the movies, and yet each of them got its point across. I can't remember if they did anything similar for pre-Incredibles movies, and the only one I can say for sure that they've done it with since Ratatouille is Toy Story 3.

Also, Cars' release date was pushed back over half a year at what was originally supposed to be the 11-month mark. That was well after the first teaser trailer came out, so I'm guessing it was only originally given a two-year lead, and then partly because there was such a long gap between Incredibles and Cars.
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ZanipoloLebron
06/27/09

In reply to How Early Is Too Early To Promote?
It confirmed our worst fears. Airbender will be a bad version of Avatar: The Last Airbender. I have a sneaking suspicion that it will ruin in a single film what took years of animation to tell.
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Pope John Peeps II
06/27/09

@ZanipoloLebron: Just quit whining. FRIG.
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Pope John Peeps II was starred

Pope John Peeps II
06/27/09

@ZanipoloLebron: Or at least wait until it's OUT and you have something to whine ABOUT.
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Pope John Peeps II was starred

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