Forbes Explains The Lack of Marketing for X-men Days of Future Past

It’s now been over four months since the last theatrical trailer for 20th Century Fox's X-Men: Days Of Future Past. That first trailer, which dropped in advance of Disney’s Thor: The Dark World‘s international release, was itself basically a variation on the footage that was shown at last year’s San Diego Comic Book Convention. Instead of a second (and possibly third) trailer, we have been “gifted” with studio-sanctioned stills from the film, January’s Empire Magazine cover blitz, as well as 5-10 second mini-teasers. By releasing this bite-sized marketing samples instead of spoiler-filled trailers and clips, the Fox marketing gurus are (thus far) saving the fans from themselves.



At the end of the day, the purpose of a piece of marketing is to get people talking and/or excited about the film being marketed. In a more pinpoint fashion, the point of releasing an image or a trailer or a clip online is to get people talking about the film by having film sites write about the release of said image or trailer, which in turn acts as “free” advertising for the film. But generally speaking, that blog post is going up just as quickly if the goods being offered are a handful of photos or a four-minute sizzle reel. The objective is for the entertainment media to cover said film. Be it a full trailer, a spoiler-filled interview, or just a new photo, that goal is accomplished no matter what is released on a given day. Why release a two-minute trailer when a 5-second teaser will accomplish the same goal?

20th Century Fox has been able to keep fans and pundits talking about their big summer tent pole release pretty consistently since late October by offering them proverbial crumbs. Three months before the release of X-Men: Days of Future Past, we don’t know that much more about the film then we did when the first teaser dropped. 20th Century Fox’s marketing has been akin to a diet that consists of more meals with smaller portions, as opposed to three huge or more meals a day. Fox knows that they will get around the same amount of publicity for a full trailer as they will for a mini-teaser or the release of photos. Why show more of your hand when you don’t have to?

In this age of saturation-level marketing often months in advance, where copious trailers are followed by copious television spots and a deluge of online clips, Fox must be and should be commended for holding back. The people who would watch a mini-teaser for an X-Men film and/or click on a blog post about said teaser or new photos are all-but-certain to see the film when it drops in theaters over Memorial Day anyway. The general audiences aren’t viewing this material, but they also go to the movies infrequently enough that the late-October teaser trailer may be new to them or merely viewed once or twice at previous theatrical outings.

20th Century Fox will surely release another trailer between now and May 23, 2014. It would make sense for them to have something new to show in front of the general audience moviegoers seeing Captain America: The Winter Soldier and/or The Amazing Spider-Man 2. I hope they can wait that long, just as I hope they can hold off until opening weekend of X-Men: Days of Future Past before releasing another Dawn of the Planet of the Apes trailer. I will cover these trailers when they drop and, per usual, use it as an excuse to discuss some other issues related to the respective film or the industry overall (come for the trailer, stay for the lecture). But I will happily wait if that means Fox is sticking to their breadcrumbs approach.

Fox has kept the hype machine in full swing even as they released only tiny morsels of material. They have achieved the same result as (for example) Sony's Amazing Spider-Man 2 campaign with a fraction of the footage. Fox’s X-Men strategy is thus far a model of restraint and a potential “better way”. We may yet see a deluge of trailers, clips, spoilery TV spots, and spoiler-filled interviews with the cast and crew between now and the film’s Memorial Day release. Fox still has time to revert to the saturation game, but I hope they don’t. They have thus far shown restraint and creativity in marketing X-Men: Days of Future Past. They will not likely suffer at the box office this May for their restraint any more than Sony w0uld boost its box office chances for Amazing Spider-Man 2‘s by virtue of its “leave no narrative stone un-turned” campaign.

Whether by coincidence or design, Fox’s X-Men: Days of Future Past ad campaign has shown us the way when it comes to marketing these predetermined blockbusters. Imagine a summer blockbuster where nothing is revealed save a single trailer, official still photographs, various television spots with footage mostly culled from the trailer, and a handful of 5-second online-only teases. Imagine going into these mega-movies with almost no real idea of what transpires or how it transpires until the opening credits roll. Fox doesn’t need to drown us with X-Men: Days of Future Past material, because it’s as much a sure thing as you can get. When you’ve already made the sale, less is more.