black widow

Question 1

Conglomerate?

Answer 1

Most major media companies are conglomerates that own a range of smaller companies (called subsidiaries). An example of this is Disney owning Marvel.

Question 2

Vertical integration?

Answer 2

when a company buys another company that has a different production process. this gives them a chance to make money at every stage of production. disney and pixar

Question 3

horizontal integration:

Answer 3

Horizontal integration is when one company buys other companies at the same level of production process.
E.g Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012 (at a cost of $1 billion) so that they could cancel out the competition by making money from both. Horizontal integration allows companies to widen their audience and find other ways to make money.

Question 4

Synergy

Answer 4

Synergy is when a company creates a brand that can be used across different media products and platforms. E.g Disney makes movies but then also has related stage shows, theme parks, merchandise, soundtracks and events.

Question 5

what is a film franchise?

Answer 5

A film franchise is a series of films or multi-picture stories, often including some of the same characters from film to film.

Franchises have become even more important than individual stars. They consist of connected universes (e.g. Star Wars, Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, DC Extended Universe etc) and many sequels.

Question 6

is black widow a blockbuster movie?

Answer 6

YES.
Black Widow is a blockbuster movie. A blockbuster is a major studio movie that’s made with a large budget, big stars and often involves a franchise.
A true blockbuster is extremely popular and brings in a lot of money. Typically, a blockbuster is a summer movie that audiences line up to see the first weekend it’s released.

Question 7

disney and marvel:

Answer 7

In 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment for US$4 billion.
The Walt Disney Company now owns Disney Pictures, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm and Pixar.

Question 8

walt disney:

Answer 8

Walt Disney Studios are one of Hollywood’s major film studios and generated an income of $2.4 billion in 2017. This means that they can afford to make more expensive films, market them around the world at great expense and ensure that they are hugely profitable.

Question 9

star power:

Answer 9

Star Power implies that people will want to see a film with a certain star in it. Most mainstream films and blockbusters will use Star Power to attract audiences to their film. The main star in Black Widow is Scarlett Johansson who is very well known and has established fans.

Question 10

marketing implications

Answer 10

Walt Disney Studios had a huge budget to make and market Black Widow although the success of the film was badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic closing cinemas.

Question 11

marketing strategies:

Answer 11

• posters and teaser trailers on TV and in cinema.
• Stars of the film appeared on a range of TV chat shows and press events.
• Film trailers were released on YouTube and in cinemas.
• Social media profiles on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Social media and YouTube advertising was also heavily used by Marvel to promote the film including using tweets from audience members on massive billboards.

Question 12

covid 19:

Answer 12

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on the film industry and changed the release strategy for many films. While cinemas are still the primary way of making money for the film industry, some movies are being released to streaming services alongside cinema - or bypassing cinema altogether.

Question 13

Was the film a global box office hit?

Answer 13

Black Widow’s success is difficult to judge due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Question 14

budget and profits:

Answer 14

Black Widow’s budget was $200m and it only made $379m at the worldwide box office due to the pandemic. Marvel would have spent well over $100m on marketing the film globally so the profit level is very low. Most Marvel films have made around $1 billion at the box office.
However, this doesn’t take into account revenues through Disney+ so Black Widow may well still make Marvel and Disney a profit in the end.

Question 15

regulation:

Answer 15

Films in the UK are regulated by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).

Black Widow was awarded a 12A by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). It was deemed to have “moderate violence, injury detail”, yet was not too graphic.

Question 16

why do films want to keep the rating at 12A at most?

Answer 16

major film companies want to keep the young audience for:
- Merchandising opportunities.
- Better potential box office.
- 47% of cinema audiences were aged 7-24 in the UK in 2014.

Question 17

ownership:

Answer 17

Disney decided to keep Marvel Studios operating. This meant that the Disney brand had the rights to the Marvel characters and could continue making the film. They eliminated Marvel Studios as competition and they started increasing their possibility of making more.

Question 18

diverisfication:

Answer 18

Marvel Studios is a diversified company. They originally started out producing comic books, but they also have their own TV studio, their own animation tv programmes, films, toys.

They also branched out into music too so they can create their own soundtracks. This means they can operate across a wide range of media industries.

Question 19

production:

Answer 19

Most films spend the same money on marketing as they do on production so in total, Disney is likely to have spent 400m on the film.

CGI is the key expense for Superhero movies but in BW it does not use FULL CGI characters.

Question 20

Scarlett Johansson:

Answer 20

Scarlett Johansson was already appearing as Black widow in other Marvel films. Having an established character and famous actress helped to bring in pre-sold audiences.

She had a lot of power as Disney needed her in order to go ahead with the standalone Black Widow film. If she decided that she wanted something in the film then Disney and Marvel had to listen.

Question 21

mee too movement:

Answer 21

Scarlett Johansson insisted that Disney employ a female director to reflect the political and social context of female empowerment. The Mee Too Movement.

Question 22

cate shortland:

Answer 22

Cate Shortland was chosen to direct the film and she immediately started researching action movies with female lead characters and fight scenes.

Question 23

settings:

Answer 23

The production of the film took 6 months which would have cost a lot of money.

Black Widow was filmed in multiple locations around the world including Norway, Budapest (Hungary), Morocco, Pinewood Studios (England) and Georgia (USA).

Global filming locations is a huge expense that can often only be accomplished by very large companies.

Question 24

stunts:

Answer 24

The huge budget allowed for massive stunt sequences involving cars, explosions, blue screen, CGI, wires etc.

188 stunt performers were used to create the stunt sequences.

Black Widow was shot digitally mostly using 3x Sony Venice cameras at the same time. This multi-camera set up allowed them to capture big action scenes from multiple angles

Question 25

the production process:

Answer 25

Pre-production
Production
Post Production
Marketing
Distribution/ Circulation

Question 26

CGI: use and complaints

Answer 26

CGI can be a great way of attracting mainstream audiences who often love big budget action scenes and effects.
Some audiences complained online saying that in some scenes the CGI did not look realistic or high quality.
This shows that simply having a high budget and almost endless resources isn’t always enough to get everything right.

Question 27

music: post production

Answer 27

Disney were able to purchase the rights to several songs that people would recognise, bringing in more audiences. - example = sia.

In addition, Disney and Marvel had the money in their budget to create their own original music. They got an orchestra in, this consisted of 118 people and 60 person choir to record the music

Question 28

audience testing:

Answer 28

Disney and Marvel had test screenings where they showed audiences a preview of the film. Audiences then gave them feedback. This is called a focus group.

Audiences said that they didn’t like some of the scene of Johansson in her underwear – that it was too sexist and misogynistic. So Disney re-edited the scene to cut those shots out. They also said that they liked the relationship between Mason and Romanoff, so they said they wanted to see more of those characters. So Disney employed the entire cast and crew again to reshoot some more scenes just to please audiences.

Question 29

power of star actors:

Answer 29

Scarlett Johansson brings in her pre-sold audience from other Marvel films; but she is also a very attractive woman, she’ll bring in male audiences. She also may have fans from other films that she’s done in the past.

Question 30

david harbour: star icon

Answer 30

David Harbour is familiar to many audiences from the TV series ‘Stranger Things’. So he would have also had pre-sold fans.
So choosing particular actors who may be familiar audiences would widen the audience for ‘Black Widow’.
There was a real range of older and younger globally recognised stars which helps to make the film more appealing.

Question 31

more marketing:

Answer 31

The film was originally announced at the 2019 San Diego Comic Con, which is a great event and good way of targeting super fans of comic book franchises.

Question 32

film release:

Answer 32

Black Widow was originally due to be released in May 2020 but this was delayed due to the COVID pandemic.

Question 33

New marketing after covid:

Answer 33

When they started marketing again in 2021 Disney were worried that the old marketing material may feel stale boring.
So they created a new marketing for the film in 2021 to make the film feel fresh. Creating new posters and new trailers. So the new marketing campaign used white costume and it focused on Black Widow’s legacy as being part of the Avengers.

Question 34

old vs new trailer:

Answer 34

The old trailer had 33m views whereas the new trailer had 70m views in 24hours of it being uploaded. This is a great way of marketing the film to a global audience.

Question 35

super bowl:

Answer 35

Disney spent huge money on featuring a trailer for the film during the ad breaks for the Super Bowl. It’s approximately 5.6m to get a commercial slot for the Super bowl, this demonstrates the power and resources that Disney has.

Question 36

use of social media:

Answer 36

On social media, Marvel created accounts for Black Widow, uploading huge amounts of interactive content, asking audiences to send in comments, putting Q&A sessions with the cast and crew. Showing behind the scenes videos etc.
this engaged the audiences with the movie.

Question 37

scarlett lawsuit:

Answer 37

Johansson sued Disney, accusing it of breaching her contract when it offered the movie on its Disney+ streaming service while it was still showing in cinemas.

She said the decision meant that she was deprived of potential earnings.