The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug

Charlotte Ellis and Sam Hooper

The Hobbit- Film Poster This is the film poster for ‘The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug’ to advertise the film and notify people on when it was going to be released.

• The release date in the UK and US for this film was 13th December 2013.• The production companies used for this film were: New

Line Cinema, Wingnut Films and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

• Altogether, The Hobbit trilogies cost $745 million to make and made a gross profit of almost $3 billion.

Institution • The Hobbit was institutionalised by ‘Warner bros. pictures’• Is one of the largest film and television producer in the world. • Other recent films it has produced: The Drak Knight Rises, The Matrix • The hobbit is a Horizontally integrated film as Warner bros. The company owns different

processes within the film industry. E.g Warner bros. productions, Warner bros animation etc...

Time Warner inc. :• Is a global leader• Specialises in business, media, television, publishing and packaging. • Split into four subsidiary outlets: Warner bros. Home box office.

Other films the Warner bros. pictures have distributed:• Harry Potter films• The Dark Knight• Suicide Squad• Inception• Sully

Cast• Ian Mckellen• Richard Armatige• Martin Freeman• Ken Scott• William Kircher• Graham Mc Tavish• James Nesbitt• Stephen Hunter• Dean O Gorman• John Callen

• Aiden Turner• Peter Hambledon• Mark Hadlow• Jed Brophy• Orlando Bloom• Kate Blanchett• Evangeline Lilly• Benedict Cumberbatch

How did they market this film?They have advertised this film in a number of ways including:• Creating their own websites. Their website includes a

number of tabs which link to the: story, cast, filmmakers, videos, gallery, downloads and soundtrack. There are also interactive parts to this website such as their own game that people can play and also wallpaper generators.

Advertising their own film posters. To add to the marketing of their film, the marketing team created posters which best represent the film and displayed them in busy cities or roads so the most people as possible could see them. Included are posters on buses, billboards, buildings and bus stops. This is helpful to people who may not have access to social media, specifically the older generation.

• They also organised public speaking appearences. The cast and crewmembers partook in the TV appearance tour. They’ve appeared in interviews both on TV and online with VH1, MTV, Nerdist, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, and many other shows and sites. A highlight of their media tour was “Hobbit week” on The Colbert Report.

Other types of marketing they carried out• Social media accounts: Facebook and twitter• Film blog• Editorial publicity• Youtube channel• Merchandising • Partnership with New Zealand- Making it a tourist attraction

Production• In early October 2010, it was confirmed by the studio that Martin Freeman had

officially been cast in the role of Bilbo Baggins. He had earlier been approached by the producers to play a role in the films, but was forced to turn it down because of scheduling conflicts with the BBC television series Sherlock. In October, it was revealed that several other cast members had joined the project, including Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield, Graham McTavish as Dwalin, Aidan Turner as Kíli, Mark Hadlow as Dori, John Callen as Óin, Stephen Hunter as Bombur and Peter Hambleton as Glóin.•  The screenplay was written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Jackson, and

Guillermo del Toro, who was originally chosen to direct before his departure from the project. The films feature an ensemble cast that also includes James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace and Luke Evans, with several actors reprising their roles from The Lord of the Rings

Trailers and Teasers• https://youtu.be/OPVWy1tFXuc• This is an official teaser trailer for The Hobbit: The

Desolation of Smaug which was released on June the 11th 2013 by warner bros studios and received 13,928,965.• https://youtu.be/lfflhfn1W-o• This video was named as a sneak peak for the film and was

released on November the 4th and received 8,923,580 views.• https://youtu.be/fnaojlfdUbs• Finally, this is the official HD main trailer which was released

on October the 1st 2013 and received 6,603,477 views.

This was the main poster that was sold by warner bros pictures, to promote The Desolation of Smaug.

This billboard that was used the promote the film was placed in Times Square which would obviously gain a lot of people’s attention because the popularity of that location; this would have also cost the company a substantial investment for this to happen.

Interviews• https://youtu.be/PiGhD4QcYV8 • This is a youtube video that has clipped together the

best of the hobbit interviews, this is helpful in showing potential viewers the characters and actors perspective when creating this film.• There are also radio interviews which have millions of

viewers, clearly when deciding what radio station to appear on will be a decision based on the fan basis of viewers that listen to the station consistently.

Who are they targeting?• The posters and trailers are most probably aimed at previous fans,

when I refer to previous fans I just mean people who enjoyed the first lord of the rings trilogy; of course, some new viewers must be established too and this may be difficult, seeing as the concept of the film is hard to grasp. Some people defer from watching such fantasy films.

• https://ifdb.fanedit.org/jreviews/tag/originalmovietitle/the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug/• The link above leads to a hobbit fan site where people talk about

specific aspects of the film, I have also found that some events are organised for those fans that want to engage with people who are also intrigued by the film.

Did they win any Golden Trailer awards?• At the BAFTA awards the film was nominated for two aspects which

were best make-up/hair and best special visual effects.• At the Academy awards the film was nominated for best achievement

in sound mixing, best achievement in visual effects and best achievement in sound editing.

Box Office figures• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug received a domestic total gross

of 258,366,855 and there was an estimated budget of 225,000,000. On the opening weekend in the US there were 3,903 screens with a domestic gross of 73,695,197 and in the UK there were 180 screens with a domestic gross of 9,325,626.

Merchandise