Chapter 248: Brand and Blockbuster
$20,714,477. This was Back to the Future's second-week box office.
Adding the $11,152,500 it had achieved during its relatively stellar debut… that was a total of $31,866,977 cumulative box office already!
As Alexander ruminated on those numbers in the comfort of his home… it made his pretty enhanced mind ponder on a lot of things.
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What makes a film stand out?
What makes a film a blockbuster?
Is it the events of the real world that make it or is it what makes events in the real world happen?
A lot of factors do come into play into the birth of a blockbuster... and it is quite hard to truly keep track of what makes certain films become behemoths at the box office!
Take Jaws for example...
It is considered as the very first "blockbuster" yet it really wasn't intended as such… and the production's expectation of it was pretty low.
After months of production being extended and going far over the budget with cast and crew both miserable, it's easy to understand why some thought Jaws would bomb. One of the movie's leading men, Richard Dreyfuss, was actually so convinced that Jaws was a failure that he told people not to see it prior to release.
Oh… how wrong they were and how the film exceeded and overturned their expectations.
Jaws owe at least part of its success to timing. When it hit theaters in June 1975, people were ready for some summer excitement.
With sweltering heat and bored schoolchildren on break, it's not a surprise that millions of people flocked to well-conditioned movie theaters.
Back then, Universal tapped into something when it chose to release Jaws and other studios started are starting to test the waters with summer scheduling.
Of course, it had to be mentioned that they capitalized on a scheme-y tactic that scared summer-goers about shark-infested beaches and inadvertently drove these tricked people to turn their attention to a shark movie!
As devious as it was… it worked and this milestone gave critics and film historians a chance to reflect on the industry-changing film.Jaws didn't just make filmgoers afraid to go in the water or give birth to one of the most misquoted taglines of all time. It made film history in more ways than one.
Jaws set precedents in Hollywood and changed the way the industry did business. It also changed the way people in America go to the movies and introduced one of our most prolific and talented directors to the world.
While Jaws' box office records would be surpassed by many, its mammoth effect on Hollywood would still be felt in the long future.
Before Jaws, film distribution companies worked on a much different schedule. There were rarely big opening weekends, and few mass-market media campaigns to draw attention to upcoming releases. Instead, movies usually opened in a few cities, then slowly rolled out to theaters around the country.
Jaws changed all of that. Universal Pictures put on an aggressive television marketing campaign to build excitement and then opened the film nationwide in over 400 theaters.
The results were instantaneous as eager moviegoers lined up around the block to see what all the excitement was about.They loved the movie and they told their friends.
It grossed $7 million in its first weekend, breaking records and still going strong due to its history-breaking hype!
These earnings at the box office were so significant, that analysts had then coined a new term- 'blockbuster'.
It was perceived as a new cultural phenomenon: a fast-paced, exciting entertainment, inspiring interest and conversation beyond the theatre which was mostly comprised of the now-aforementioned buzz, and in turn resulted in repeated viewings.
After Jaws' monumental success, most film companies were eager to replicate its rollout strategy and the recipe that made it such a big milestone in film history.
There are only very few films that managed to 'replicate' or 'emulate' that success though...It goes to show that the film industry and moviegoers are as fickle as they can be!
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Like the other film studios and film bosses before them, Creed Pictures and the Creeds are hoping to 'replicate' and/or 'emulate' that Jaws blockbuster success as well.
They did it their way though… no 'My Way' pun intended!
They did it through the power of their established brand…
The Creed brand!
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In the view of the general public but mostly isolated in society's film-side perception… most film company and studio brand doesn't really matter much.
What matters to them is that they get to see an interesting film, an interesting story, and get to support their favorite celebrity... if they even have one.
The relevance of the studio that produces the film or casts their favorite actor or actress... is on the low side of the spectrum.
They might like this Warner movie but they might not even care for the next movie that Warner had in stall.
That's just how film business is... and how much a film could be an unpredictable hit or miss... of course, it also goes to show how fickle movie audiences are…
If something works... then something works.
If something doesn't... then it doesn't.
Disney even has a PG and kid-catering policy in a lot of its films... which proved to be somewhat successful and gave it a much more relevant brand recognition compared to the others...
However, Disney film projects don't necessarily work out all the time... just like all the other studios... and they even limited their options to kid-catering movies and productions as well!
Granted, Disney would come to be a behemoth in the future with this strategy... and that is surely something to learn from.
Alexander was no film major or business major... but there was something he took away from these observations and general knowledge. Although he also thinks don't really matter much when it comes to watching movies… he also saw the immense benefit that an established brand could have when handled well.
This was how his attention and cultivation of the Creed brand came to be what it is today in this freshly altered timeline. It wasn't just about the family legacy... it was something much more.
This was no easy feat... and was not a quick process as well.
Well... everything has to start somewhere...From Creed Comics… to Creed Toys… and the Alexander Creed-linked comic strip!
It was a step-by-step process that ultimately culminated into what it had done for Back to the Future recently.
With all their steady growth and cumulative brand strategy… they did manage to tap into a different method that pushed 'Back to the Future' from a summer must-watch into a summer blockbuster alongside the likes of Jaws!
They harnessed the power of the nerds! Nay… they harnessed the potential of fans!
And… they harnessed the potential of a brand!The Creed brand!
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Creed Pictures in itself wouldn't really be cutting it!
It had to find stable ground in all of these film industry messes... and establish a brand recognition that would help them stand out from the rest.
Fortunately… it wasn't standing alone for long as its fellow Creed compatriot companies were there to help it out.
Back to the Future in itself was a relatively successful start… but it can't be denied that for the most part... it is Columbia Pictures that are taking the clout from all the BttF success even though the Lady Liberty fellows were supposedly just the distributors.
The Creed duo wasn't content with that for long though... and they did something about it…
Alexander simply translated his sway on comic books, comic strips, and toys… towards a film.
By publishing just one comic book about Back to the Future… everything came full circle with Creed Comics, Creed Toys, and Creed Pictures becoming a co-influencing tripartite.
Everything finally morphed into the encompassing Creed Entertainment brand and inadvertently made a blockbuster on the side!