Film Industry: Marketing - MCU

Read this BBC article on the Marvel Cinematic Universe and answer the following questions based on the article:

1) How many films were there in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) at the time of this article?

There were 22 movies, including Endgame.

2) How much money have the MCU films made in total according to this article?

The MCU films have made $18.2 billion or £13.7 billion, according to the article.

3) Why did Marvel create the Avengers films?

Marvel created the Avengers films to tell the stories of characters in the Marvel comic books.

4) Who owns the rights to Spiderman and why is the character now appearing in Marvel films?

Marvel sold off the rights to Spiderman to Sony, in order to recover from bankruptcy. Sony then made a Spiderman trilogy starring Tobey Maguire, which was then rebooted, starring Andrew Garfield. Spiderman is now appearing in Marvel films as in 2016, Sony and Marvel created an agreement to include Spiderman in the MCU. 

 

5) Which company owns the rights to the Fantastic Four and the X-Men?

The Fantastic Four and the X-Men were sold to 20th Century Fox. However, Marvel expects to regain the rights due to horizontal integration between Disney and Fox (this has already happened as of now). Therefore, this may mean Marvel could use these characters in new films.

6) Look at the very end of the article. What has Disney announced regarding TV shows on their new streaming service Disney+?

Disney announced plans for several Marvel TV series, which are to be released on Disney+. They announced Loki (which has been released now).

Grade 8/9 extension tasks

Read this Guardian review of Black Widow to prepare for studying our first CSP. What did the Guardian think of the film?

The Guardian gave the film 4/5 stars, calling the movie "great fun" and "highly enjoyable". They praise Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, calling their fight scenes "impressive" and "bone-crunching". However they state that Black Widow's personality may not be "fleshed out" enough, making it slightly less convincing. Despite this, they praise David Harbour, saying that he could have a spinoff of his own. At the end, they recommend the movie to fans of Black Widow and "everyone else", meaning Marvel in general.

Read this BBC feature on Marvel at 80 years old. How has it survived so long and why is the Marvel Cinematic Universe so important to the recent success of the brand?

Marvel released their first comic in 1939 and continues to succeed, with each movie being huge hits at the box office. However, the company almost went bankrupt in the 1990s. Marvel used to be known as "Timely Comics", featuring lesser-known heroes like "Submariner" and "Human Torch" (who would later inspire a character in the Fantastic Four), although it only started to gain popularity around the 1960s. Chris Murray (a professor of comic studies), stated, " by that point, superheroes had been around for a couple of decades," referencing Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman.

These heroes are still popular today, under DC (Marvel's biggest rival). He also says that Marvel created heroes more similar to regular people, characters like Spiderman or the Hulk, who were "motivated by guilt or rage". These flaws not only helped the heroes relate more to readers, but also connected to the wider world, as they reflected social change in America at the time. For example, the X-Men, hated for powers they were born with, were seen as a metaphor for the hate and prejudice against the LGBTQ+ community at the time. Black Panther was the first black superhero to appear in mainstream comic books, possibly inspired by the Civil Rights movement. Marvel has always "strived to be relevant".

Recently, they also introduced characters like Miles Morales (the first black Spiderman) and Kamala Khan or Ms Marvel (the first Muslim character to have her own Marvel comic book).

Chris Murray states that these diverse characters "challenge conventions and stereotypes". This has always been a strong suit of Marvel, in that they create characters that don't reflect what the traditional/stereotypical hero looks like. These characters helped Marvel survive as brand, as audiences felt personal connections (parasocial relationships - Blumler and Katz' theory).

However, during the 1990s, Marvel underwent financial difficulty, as "the comic industry [was] massively overvalued". Marvel printed millions of copies of titles, relaunching X-Men in 1991 with five different covers in hopes they would become rare (they never did). Marvel moved into the toy and merch business, which "didn't pay off". This led to them selling Spiderman and the X-Men, although eventually they regained the rights to use these characters in films.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been significant in the success of the brand as they spread awareness and make large amounts of profit. Many people think of Marvel as a movie company, despite the fact they originally made comics. This is due to the extreme success of the MCU. The fact that it was bought by Disney has also aided in their rise in popularity.

The article states that Marvel's success boils down to Marvel's rich history, experience in storytelling, development of the characters and most significantly their originality. They remain "culturally significant and relevant", enticing new readers and viewers, while keeping "veteran" readers engaged.

Despite this, a new trend is appearing online, with some fans criticising Marvel for becoming too "woke". Right-wing critics have aided in spreading this rhetoric.

 

Index (so far)

1) First blog task - 10 questions

2) Denotation and Connotation

3) Introduction to Photoshop: fruit bowls:

1

2 

4) Mise-en-scene: Stranger Things

5) Camerawork: shots and angles

6) Camera Movement and Editing

7) Blog feedback and learner response

8) Demographics and Psychographics

9) Reception Theory

10) Media Assessment 1: Learner Response

11) Audience Effects Theory

12) Industries: Ownership & Control

Industries: Ownership & Control

1) What is a conglomerate in the media industries?

A conglomerate is a company that dominates the media industry and owns many subsidiaries (smaller companies). 

2) What is a subsidiary?

A subsidiary is a smaller company under a conglomerate.

3) What are the benefits for media companies of vertical integration?

Vertical integration is when one conglomerate owns different companies in the same chain of production. The most significant benefit of vertical integration for a conglomerate is:

Increased revenue overall:

• Complete ownership of the entire chain allows conglomerates to retain costs and increase revenue as they can obtain profit from each stage of production. For example, if Disney owned each company in the chain of production required to make a movie, money earned by those companies would go back to Disney, increasing revenue.

4) What are the benefits for media companies of horizontal integration?

Horizontal integration is when one company buys other companies at the same level of distribution. It allows companies to:

• Widen their audience
• Find other ways to make money, by moving on to different platforms
• One conglomerate could own companies in TV, Radio, Magazines, Newspapers, etc. This would increase profit.
• Spread risk
• If a conglomerate owns different companies at the same level of distribution, when one of those companies fails or loses revenue, the conglomerate will have other streams of revenue to fall on. 

5) Give three examples of media companies or brands that have used synergy to maximise their profits.

Synergy is when a company creates a brand that can be used across different media products and platforms.

For example:

Disney owns the Lion King as a movie. This movie is then referenced through products/merchandise (e.g. toys), the Lion King musical, events, theme parks, etc.

Apple uses Apple TV and Apple Arcade on their devices, effectively creating a brand used across different media products. This maximises their profits as consumers pay a subscription to use these services on Apple devices.

Sony creates technology (audio, video, cameras, computing, smart devices), produces film and television through Sony Pictures Entertainment, caters to the video-game industry through PlayStation, etc. This maximises their profits.

6) What is convergence and what device has changed the relationship between audiences and producers?

Convergence or technological convergence refers to the fact that we can now access all different types of media on one device. Smartphones have been the most significant in changing the relationship between audiences and producers, as traditional industries (such as newspaper companies) are now moving onto video content / content on social media, and audiences are now creating their own user-generated content.

7) Why did Facebook buy Instagram for $1bn? Answer in as much detail as possible.

Instagram had a huge audience at 30 million users at the time Facebook bought it. This increased Facebook's audience by a vast amount.

Instagram was a significant rival to Facebook and through buying Instagram, Facebook essentially removed the competition and ensured that they would dominate the social network industry.

The deal increases revenue overall, potentially increasing Facebook's value by around $100 billion. 

 8) What is the name of the media billionaire who used to own Fox?

Rupert Murdoch.

9) List 10 companies that are part of the Disney media empire. The graphic below will help you.

• Lucasfilm
• Pixar
• ABC Entertainment
• Hulu
• Marvel Entertainment
• Disneyland Inc.
• ESPN Books
• Maker Studios
• Marvel Press
• The Muppets Studio
  

10) Why did Disney buy Fox - what are the benefits? These benefits are particularly discussed towards the end of the article. 

 

Disney bought fox because:

• It adds high-grossing films such as the original Star Wars movies, the Marvel superhero pictures, Avatar and Deadpool, and popular TV shows such as The Simpsons and Modern Family. This heavily increases revenue as more consumers will pay subscription services (Disney+) to view them.
  
• It expands their offerings in the live television area with the FX and National Geographic cable channels, and Fox's regional sports network in the US. This helps to increase revenue as it reaches into new markets.
• It extends their outreach into global/foreign markets after purchasing companies such as Star India and Tata Sky.
• It gives Disney majority control (as it is also owned partially by the conglomerates Comcast and Time Warner) over the streaming service Hulu. This increases profits as Hulu makes an extremely high amount of revenue.
• By investing heavily into online streaming platforms, Disney counters threats from companies like Netflix and Amazon (Amazon Prime).
• It expected to create at least $2 billion in cost-savings.
• The deal puts Disney in a great positon against California's "tech giants" (conglomerates).
• At the time the article was written, the CMA was investigating Fox's bid to buy the parts of Sky that it doesn't already own. As the Disney deal will not alter the investigation, if the deal is approved before Disney's purchase of Fox assets, the whole of Sky would be transferred to Disney's ownership. If not, Disney will still obtain 39% of Sky (the amount Fox "currently" owns). However, Disney will be able to decide Sky's future either way.
• It would increase Disney's power (as said by the Writer's Guild of America West).
• Looking at the graphic, Disney would obtain many subsidiaries under Fox that generate high amounts of revenue, such as:
• Amstrad
• LAPTV
• Star TV
• 20th Century Fox
• Fox Studios Australia
• Hulu
• National Geographic Partners
• Endemol Shine Group
• Fox International
• Fox Networks
• etc.

Grade 8/9 extension tasks

Read this Inverse feature on Disney buying Marvel. Why does the article suggest it may not have been good for the movie industry overall? 

 

It suggests that although Disney helped skyrocket Marvel's reputation and revenue, the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) is creating new movies and TV shows so fast that movies are losing their "spark" and feel lifeless / made only for the purpose of profit. Marvel's dominance in the movie industry has effectively meant that comedy movies or movies with mid-budget action cannot compete and have been disregarded by most audiences. The VFX industry is also struggling to keep up with Marvel's unrealistic expectations, as they "pump out" movies at an extremely high rate.

In summary, although overall it more than quadrupled Disney's revenue, Marvel's popularity seems to have killed creativity in the movie industry, as movies have begun to primarily seek profit instead of creative innovation and audience enjoyment.

From my own experience, the MCU seems to have been experiencing a decline in quality in general. The CGI is ruined as it is too rushed, and looks worse even when compared to movies like Avatar, which was made in 2009. The writing feels somewhat uninspired and most new series and movies depend on one significant plot twist (that is made obvious most of the time) instead of great direction all throughout. Originality is lacking and when I watch a new Marvel movie, it feels like I've seen everything already. Based on what I've seen online, many other people seem to hold this opinion as well. Therefore, although Marvel has increased profit for Disney and has secured itself as a dominating force in the film industry, it has created a trend of "quantity over quality" that has ruined many other movies, not just ones that Marvel have created.

 

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