Momentum Pictures (the independent company responsible for the distribution and marketing of TWIB) worked alongside a company called Romley Davies to produce the print, broadcast and online publicity for the UK theatrical release of The Woman in Black, which was released nationwide on 10th February 2012.
CLICK HERE to visit their website and a description of the campaign and its success.
'The Woman In Black' also used online and viral marketing as a means of reaching a wider audience in the marketing of the film.
CLICK HERE to see an example of this as outlined by DreadCentral.
What other examples of online or viral marketing can you find for 'The Woman In Black'?
Look at this extract from Exclusive Media (the company who own Hammer) in relation to Momentum's marketing of the film and its subsequent success:
(CLICK HERE to see this article online)
MOMENTUM TAKES HAMMER'S THE WOMAN IN BLACK TO HIGHEST GROSSING BRITISH HORROR FILM IN THE LAST 20 YEARS
UK DISTRIBUTOR MOMENTUM PICTURES TAKES HAMMER’S “THE WOMAN IN BLACK” TO NUMBER ONE AT THE UK BOX OFFICE
FILM GROSSES £3.13M IN ITS OPENING WEEKEND
Hammer’s chilling ghost story The Woman in Black shattered UK box office expectations during its three day opening weekend (Fri-Sun), grossing £3.13million with a per screen average of £7800 for distributor Momentum Pictures.
This weekend’s three day gross makes The Woman in Black the highest opening ever for a Hammer film in the UK and the biggest British independent opening of 2012 for Momentum Pictures. Momentum also released The King’s Speech, the highest grossing British independent film of all time. The Woman in Black was released in 412 cinemas across the UK and Ireland on February 10.
The film’s UK success follows last weekend’s sensational US release, which opened at an outstanding $21 million.
The Woman in Black, starring Daniel Radcliffe, is directed by James Watkins and adapted by Jane Goldman from the classic novel by Susan Hill. Radcliffe has been a huge draw for audiences everywhere and delighted fans on Saturday by introducing public screenings at The Empire Leicester Square and Vue Westfield.
The film is a Hammer, Alliance Films, The UK Film Council presentation, in association with Cross Creek Pictures and is a Talisman production in association with Exclusive Media. Producers are Richard Jackson, Simon Oakes and Brian Oliver. Executive Producers are Guy East, Nigel Sinclair, Tobin Armbrust, Marc Schipper, Neil Dunn, Xavier Marchand, Roy Lee and Tyler Thompson.
Daniel Radcliffe who plays Arthur Kipps in The Woman in Black said: “The whole experience of working on The Woman in Black has been truly magical, eerie and amazing. It’s been an honour to work with Hammer and continue to contribute to British film after ‘Harry Potter’. I found Hammer’s legacy fascinating and it was great to be able to draw upon such a rich heritage as the influence for my role as Arthur Kipps.”
Commenting on the success of The Woman in Black, Simon Oakes, President & CEO of Hammer and Vice Chairman of Exclusive Media added: “We are delighted The Woman in Black has performed so well here and in the US. This is Hammer’s first feature ghost story and we’re delighted UK audiences have embraced it with so much enthusiasm and shows that British audiences enjoy intelligent genre which are the types of films Hammer is known for.”
“This is a fantastic result. The buzz in cinemas and online suggests great word of mouth which bodes well for the half term week ahead. Our congratulations to James Watkins, Jane Goldman, Daniel Radcliffe, and all those at Hammer,” said Xavier Marchand, President of Worldwide Distribution, Alliance Films and Managing Director Momentum Pictures.
Nigel Sinclair, CEO and Co-Chairman of Exclusive Media, which is Hammer’s parent company, added: “This is a great result for Hammer in the UK and follows on from the film’s strong performance at the US box office. This project, like The Ides of March and Rush, further underlies Exclusive’s commitment to making great mainstream movies with top tier talent, and I’d like to congratulate our partners Momentum and of course Cross Creek Pictures on this success.”
Tobin Armbrust, President of Worldwide Production & Acquisitions of Exclusive Media added: “We are thrilled to share in the success of The Woman in Black with our close family, Daniel Radcliffe, Jane Goldman, James Watkins and the entire cast and crew who all worked incredibly hard on this great project. Hammer is one of our key production brands and to see it embraced in the US is a great show of support for its production philosophy.”
The Woman in Black director James Watkins said: “I'm thrilled that a British ghost story, made with a British cast, crew and investment, is playing so well with British audiences.”
Amanda Nevill, Director of the BFI said, “Following a record year in 2011, it's fantastic to see another British independent film continuing to achieve box office success, both here and in the US. Even better that a classic British story has been brought to life by Hammer, a classic British brand and with much-loved British on screen talent.”
Use the internet to search for research that has already been done for you by other media studies students such as the following.
CLICK HERE to access this post.
The Woman in Black - Researching a full marketing campaign
On the 12th of March 2012, 'The Woman in Black', a horror film starring Daniel Radcliffe, was released in the UK. Focusing on the horror genre of film, I have decided to look further into its marketing campaign to help me when creating components of my own campaign.
The first case of marketing for this film began with the showing of the first trailer, on the 10th of April 2011 at 'Kapow!' Comic Con in London. Due to the fact that many people who go to Comic Con are interested in films, and possibly even franchises like Harry Potter (which Daniel Radcliffe starred in), this may intrigue them. Later that year, in July 2011, another trailer was advertised before showings of the final film in the Harry Potter series, 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2'. Again, with the finale of the series, 'The Woman in Black' may provide fans of Daniel Radcliffe to see him in a new film. This choice of advertisement means that a specific part of the target audience is addressed (which may result in more viewings when the film is released). One month later, on the 24th of August 2011, posters within the UK were released, and by the 14th of October the official UK trailer was released. Posters were displayed around the country from billboards to the sides of buses. The posters, with the blues and black colouring linked together with the trailers.
On the 14th of October 2012, Momentum pictures released an official International trailer, and even a new version of the already established book (which was written in 1983 by Susan Hill) was released with a brand new cover, featuring Daniel Radcliffe. Again, this attracts fans of Daniel Radcliffe and even Harry Potter fans.
Daniel Radcliffe also appeared on around 10 magazine covers during the campaign and was even invited to be on both The Jonathan Ross Show and The Graham Norton Show (which was a first within the film industry).
As well as this, a national competition was held for people to submit their own original ghost stories, from the 31st of October. A video was filmed, featuring Daniel Radcliffe again requesting the entries, for which the prize was that the winning entry would be read out by him on the special features of the DVD when it was released. This competition promoted the film virally, and the competition was unique to this films advertising campaign, setting it apart from other films of its genre.
The fact that Daniel Radcliffe endorsed this campaign would have increased the interest in the film as his fan base is quite large. However, apart from this, the synergy throughout the campaign allows the advertisements to be viewed by many different types of people, right across the country and internationally. The website and Facebook pages also added to the advertisements across the internet, and overall, the campaign reached a lot of different demographics.
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