Variety just posted a great article on the Mockingjay films. They spoke with Lionsgate's head of marketing, Tim Palen, producers Nina Jacobson and Jon Kilik, production president Erik Feig, and director Francis Lawrence on everything from the marketing plan to European shooting sites. Read on:
“When we started, we decided to look at this as one big movie that’s eight hours long,” notes Tim Palen, the architect of Lionsgate’s marketing effort. “Otherwise, it’s going to be kind of overwhelming to do a new campaign for each movie.”
Palen admits the bar is set higher for the Mockingjay movies than for the first two pics — even though foreign box office jumped by more than 50% (to $450 million from $283 million) from the first to the second pic.
“A big part of the second film was growing the franchise, and the greatest potential was international,” he says. “We did a major presentation to distributors in Cannes, and did six premieres outside the U.S. And we still have room to grow. We’ve matched Iron Man 3 on domestic, but we can do better on international.”
Mockingjay: Part 1, which hits theaters Nov. 21, takes place in a location far different from the world of Suzanne Collins’ first two books — and the first two movies in which Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen battles through two versions of the gladiatorial Hunger Games. In the coming film, Katniss becomes the poster child of a massive rebellion in a world on the brink of war.
In his promotional materials, Palen used the iconic mockingjay image from the The Hunger Games book covers for the first film as a symbol of freedom and for the second with the pin ablaze. In the third image, the bird is breaking free and taking flight — reminding fans of what they liked about the first two movies and hinting at what’s to come.
Director Francis Lawrence ended Catching Fire with a shot showing a spark in Lawrence’s eyes, followed by the rebels’ mockingjay logo. “It was a great way get from one to the next eloquently and elegantly,” Palen notes.
There will be reveals of the campaign in May at the Cannes film festival and in July at Comic-Con. Until then, Lionsgate is trying to keep specifics under wraps, though director Lawrence allows that the next two films take place in a Panem so devolved as to be barely recognizable.
Much more after the jump!
