We have looked in a previous blog at how movies can sell products using everything from Minions to characters from Disney.
But it doesn’t just have to be food they can put their name to, clothing, of course is an obvious one. I’ve many a film related T-shirt.
Licensing can be a multi-million pound industry, all adding to our film experience! Star Wars is often praised as being the one film to take control of this, and it is down to them we owe the action figure world just for starters.
Star Wars is also stated as being the reason for the change of fortunes for Lego, would we have had The Lego Movie without the force involvement, possibly, but we know it’s a model that works as now Lego has Jurassic Park, Back to the Future and Ghostbusters licenses for their little toy bricks.
James Bond 007 latest adventure has been used for Belvedere Vodka, Heineken and various Sony products from TV’s to phones.
Characters can appear anywhere, Dreamworks Animation and Disney characters can be found on cruise ships and entertaining Zoo guests by putting on mini shows.
This Halloween, Thorpe Park has in addition to its Saw: the ride, a maze where you can feel what it’s like to feel fear from Jigsaw.
Planet Hollywood has props and costumes from the movies to impress, whilst you eat and drink.
Competitions can help promote a film too, Cadburys is using Hotel Transylvania and Kellogg’s are using The Hunger Games on their Krave Cereal to name just 2!
Surely, we can expect to see more to come with Star Wars: The Force Awakens but first out of the doors is the Post Office who used various characters on their stamps.
Sometimes, you can get to experience the film in shopping centres, I once went to a become Iron Man experience in London. The O2 displayed the cars from Mad Max: Fury Road and more recently Universal had a display of all the raptors from Jurassic World which they sent on a mini tour of the UK for fans to take pictures and get the buzz going for the films DVD/BluRay release
Sadly these experiences are no longer as frequent for me, as the Isle of Wight is missed off these promotions as it makes sense to target the larger populated areas.
I mentioned Saw: The Ride at Thorpe Park, but that is only the beginning, Harry Potter and Marvel dominate Universal theme parks, sadly at the expense of my beloved Jaws ride.
Disney already had rides and built the films around them. Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion must surely be more popular since their films, so much so, plans are now in place to base a film on their lift of terror ride! But to be safe Disney have also announced a Star Wars themed area to their park too.
Here in London, we have a Shrek themed attraction and to meet our favourite film stars we will always have Madam Tussards, again going for an additional new Star Wars attraction now as well.
As well as that, in the UK we have a Warner Brothers Studio Tour attraction for Harry Potter fans.
For some films though, you even get an exhibition, Lord of the Rings, Titanic, Star Wars and Frankenweenie are just some of the ones I’ve been to and hopefully I can add The Hunger Games to that list if it transfers from its current home in the USA.
Finally, we’ve mentioned the stage, the musical or play based on a film is increasingly becoming more popular! Disney even go for arena tours by putting their characters on ice!
What is the best way to celebrate a film other than watching it, we’d love to hear about your experiences so do get in touch.
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