Film Industry: Black Widow

Film Industry: Black Widow

Companies involved in Black Widow:

  • Marvel Studios: The primary production company, as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
  • The Walt Disney Company: The parent company that owns Marvel Studios and handles distribution.
  • Cinesite & Trixter: Companies that provided significant visual effects work for the movie. 
Conglomerate Ownership + Black Widow:
Conglomerate ownership refers to a single, large corporation owning numerous smaller companies across different media sectors. The link to Black Widow illustrates several key aspects of the movies marketing strategies: 
  • Acquisition and Control: Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment in 2009 for $4 billion, bringing the intellectual property (IP), including the Black Widow character, under its corporate umbrella. This allowed Disney to control the character's cinematic future.
  • Horizontal Integration: Disney owning Marvel Studios is an example of horizontal integration, where a company expands its ownership within the same industry (film production) to eliminate competition and increase market share.
  • Vertical Integration: Disney utilizes vertical integration by owning different stages of the production chain. This includes the production studios (Marvel Studios), the film distribution company (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures), and even the exhibition platforms (cinemas and its streaming service, Disney+). This complete ownership means more profit stays within the conglomerate.
  • Synergy and Marketing: The film's promotion leveraged Disney's vast holdings (synergy). The marketing campaign included tie-in products like toys (Mattel partnership), a Super Bowl ad (utilizing Disney's financial power), and promotion across various Disney-owned platforms and partner channels.
Black Widow Trailer:
  • Star Power & Ensemble Cast: Featuring A-listers like Scarlett Johansson (a known commodity from Avengers), Oscar winner Rachel Weisz, Stranger Things' David Harbour, and rising star Florence Pugh, immediately signaling major investment.
  • Epic Scale & Spectacle: Shots of Russian cities, massive explosions, high-speed chases with advanced vehicles, and large-scale CGI battles confirm huge production values.
  • Action & Visual Effects: The trailer showcases intricately choreographed fight scenes, parkour, all rendered with cutting-edge CGI and explosive practical effects.
  • Global Scope & Settings: Moving beyond typical MCU locations, the film takes audiences to snowy Russia and other international locations, requiring significant location shooting or set building.
  • Brand Recognition & MCU Tie-in: The immediate Black Widow title card and familiar MCU aesthetic (music cues, character nods) instantly link it to the billion-dollar franchise, guaranteeing a massive audience.
  • Intense Sound Design & Score: The powerful, dramatic musical score and impactful sound effects (gunshots, crashes, booming score) create urgency and excitement, typical of tentpole releases.
Black Widow Promotion:
  • Extensive Social Media Campaigns and Influencer Collaborations The campaign heavily utilized platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter for engaging content, including behind-the-scenes footage and cast interviews. A notable tactic was the collaboration with TikTok personality Addison Rae for the viral #RedRoomChallenge.
  • Intertextuality and Tie-ins with the Existing MCU The promotion positioned Black Widow as a crucial installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) storyline. Marvel Studios produced a dedicated episode of Marvel Legends to reacquaint audiences with the character's journey and released comic books and graphic novels.
  • Simultaneous Theatrical and Disney+ Premier Access Release In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Disney released Black Widow in cinemas and on Disney+ Premier Access simultaneously for an additional fee. This was a new distribution model at the time.
Black Widow Budget:
- Black Widow had an estimated production budget of around $200 million and grossed approximately $379.8 million worldwide at the box office, facing unique challenges with its simultaneous Disney+ Premier Access release during the pandemic, impacting its overall financial success.

Is Black Widow a Blockbuster:
- Yes Black Widow was a successful Hollywood blockbuster, especially considering its pandemic release, achieving huge opening weekend numbers in theatres and via Disney+  proving the viability of female-led action films and boosting the MCU's return.

Who regulates the film industry in the UK?:
- The primary regulator for film content and classification in the UK is the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).

What is the Age rating for Black Widow ?
- The age rating is PG-13 because of its intense action violence, language and themes of child trafficking making it not suitable for extremely young audiences.

Black Widow's marketing: 
- The marketing of 
Black Widow
 included a simultaneous theatrical and Disney+ streaming release during the COVID-19 pandemic, a strategy that led to legal action from star Scarlett Johansson. Other details involve emphasizing female empowerment, conducting targeted test screenings for young girls.

Extension:

- I believe that Scarlett Johansen has a right to be angry with the multi-platform release as her salary completely depends on the Box Office and by Disney uploading it to its streaming service it get rid of the exclusivity of of seeing it in theatres and also makes the need to go to the cinema gone because of it being available and watchable from the comfort of their homes therefore damaging Box Office sales. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

First Blog Post

1)  Which part of Media are you looking forward to the most? -  Designing things 2) What knowledge and skills do you hope to learn in Media? 3) What grade are you realistically hoping to achieve in Media?   7 - 9 4) What device do you use most to access the media? (The media = news, TV, music, film, social media etc.)  - Phone, Tv, Laptop, Tablet 5) What is your average 'screen time' (or equivalent) on your phone each day. Is this about right, too little or too much? Why?  - 3-5 hours a day 6) What was the last TV programme or film you watched? - Doctor Strange 7) What device or subscription do you use to listen to music? - Spotify 8) Are you on social media? If so, what social media do you have and why do you like it?  - TikT ok, Pinterest 9) Finally, do you think the media is a positive or negative thing for young people? Why? It can be a helpful way for young people to communicate with each other but can also have unhealthy effects on young people and ho...
Read more

Denotations and Connotations Analysis

Image
      Denotation and Connotation Analysis Denotations: - There is a boy, looking at the camera. There is a tagline that says " Dig toilets, Not graves" - In the background there is a mud wall and a blurry village behind the boy Connotations: - The photo suggest the boy lives in poverty and judging off of his facial expressions he is sad or angry. - From the background, the use of a mud wall emphasises his struggle and poverty which is supposed to make audiences pity this boy, but it also highlights the text which illustrates the narrative that this boy will likely die without help (the charity) which makes this ad more effective - The positioning of the boy next to the text looking sad is supposed to make audiences or anyone who comes across this ad to feel sympathetic towards the boy and want the help him. Denotations: - The is a bottle of Coca Cola, behind the bottle there is a sunny field. - There is also a tagline that says "open a Coke, open happiness" Connotat...
Read more