Blog Post #3

"'Mockingjay' Marketing Earns Greater Plaudits Than The Flick Itself"

By Thom Forbes

          In an article for Media Post, Thom Forbes writes about how despite outperforming any other film this year on opening weekend, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 has been deemed a box-office disappointment by its distributor, Lions Gate Entertainment. The film's earnings are impressive as long as they're not being compared to the profit made by its predecessor last November. Mockingjay grossed 33% less than The Hunger Games: Catching Fire did. Forbes claims that "It was so-so reviews [...] and decidedly not the lean-and-keen marketing that kept the numbers "down" for Jennifer Lawrence and "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1" (Forbes). Forbes praises the use of social media as a means of marketing Mockingjay. He cites The Hunger Games franchise as a prominent example of transmedia largely due to social media and advertising. Forbes quotes Alanna Bennett, who writes that "(t)he social media team for 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay' [...] seem(s) to be showing the world exactly how transmedia can enhance audience experience long before people even buy their tickets to the movie" (Forbes). Forbes cites character posters released several months ago as an example of transmedia encouraging audience interaction with the film before it is even released and giving rise to a considerable amount of hype. 

          The transmedia storytelling/marketing of The Hunger Games franchise echoes the earlier example of The Matrix a mere fifteen years ago. Henry Jenkins writes that "A transmedia story unfolds across multiple media platforms, with each new text making a distinctive and valuable contribution to the whole." (Jenkins 97-98) Although not as prominent as it is now, social media did exist in 1999. Both The Matrix and The Hunger Games franchises were made popular through pre-release advertising. Neither franchise is reserved to merely one film or three films. Viral campaigns which teased the question "What is the Matrix?" are akin to some of the advertising techniques found in current transmedia franchises such as The Hunger Games. Marketing creates hype for a franchise film and ensures that tickets will be sold. 

Forbes, Thom. "'Mockingjay' Earns Greater Plaundits Than The Flick Itself." Media Post, 24 November 2014. Web. Viewed 24 November 2014.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/238786/mockingjay-marketing-earns-greater-plaudits-tha.html?edition=78129

Jenkins, Henry. "Searching for the Origami Unicorn: The Matrix and Transmedia Storytelling." Convergence Culture: When Old and New Media Collide. Ed. Henry Jenkins. New York: New York University Press, 2006. 93-130. Print.