It's my usual style to write about the popular theatrical movie releases along with their promotional partners. So how could I not write a post about Twilight which took the box office by storm this weekend and reportedly pulled in an estimated $70.6 million. It was all from some major girl power and it goes to prove again that today's teenage girls are a huge market.
Well as you know, I have two teenage daughters and they've both read all the books in the Twilight saga. They were at Barnes and Noble at midnight when the latest book, Breaking Dawn, went on sale. They've been on the website, Twilight The Movie, since it first launched with the announcements of the cast. Now Alex, my 17 year old high school senior, was at the midnight showing Thursday night/Friday morning with a dozen of her best friends to see the movie. They luckily had Friday off from school, so they planned a sleep-over to go with the event.
My college daughter, Kelsey, wasn't able to go on Friday, but did make on Saturday with some of her girlfriends. A group of women that I now work with at the agency all had passed around the books to each other and they left early on Friday afternoon to go see the movie together. When I told them that my daughter had gone to the midnight showing they insisted that I call her and get a review.
Well, the review wasn't good. As with most great books, the movie does not live up to the hype. Alex found it disappointing because the movie left out so much and also that some of the characters were not at all like they were described in the book. Some of the girls that haven't read the books yet gave the movie a much better review.
Summit Entertainment is the studio behind the release of Twilight the movie, which is based on the novel by Stephanie Meyers. In case you're not aware, the story is all about forbidden love between a vampire, Edward Cullen, and a high school girl, Bella Swan. Summit just announced over the weekend that they will be moving ahead with the production of the second novel in the series, New Moon.
Nokia is one the major partners involved with the movie. They have exclusive Twilight theme wallpapers and screensavers for Nokia phones as well Twilight voice and ring tones which include Edward's voice. They also have Twilight trading cards that give info on the characters and the movie trailers can be watched on the phones. Plus they have the Twilight widget to share which I've embedded below.
Nokia is also utilizing the entertainment marketing partnership to promote Nokia Maps. Fans can use the product to be their guide to Forks, the main town the story takes place in, plus other places of interest.
Borders is another big partner of the Twilight movie release. Their website has a special Twilight page that has interviews with Stephanie Meyers, cast members, fans, as well as the trailers and other clips. They feature a Twilight online shop which features exclusive Twilight merchandise such as a calendar, t-shirts, jewelry and special designed Borders gift cards. Makes for great Christmas gifts for any teenage girl on your list!
Hot Topix has grabbed the retailer partner spot. They are featuring HT Twilight bloggers on their homepage all wearing their favorite HT tees along with a link to their blog, The Bite, where you can read about them and their posts. They had run a sweepstakes and sent the winner, Melissa from Towson, MD, to the movie premiere. And of course, they have an online store with Twilight licensed apparel and merchandise.
Twilight exceeded what Madagascar Escape 2 Africa did a couple of weeks ago at the box office at $63.5 million over their opening weekend. I'm sure it will continue at the top for awhile. Catherine Hardwicke also broke the record for the biggest opening ever for a female director, far surpassing the previous standard of $41.1 million set by Mimi Leder 's " Deep Impact " in 1998. So we have a female author, female director and many, many female fans with this hit. I'm surprised we didn't see more female type partner brands. I'm sure they'll be working to get involved with the next release.
Hot Topic's sister store, Torrid, is also in on the action. They are promoting the official jewelry from the movie--5 pieces with the Cullen Crest. Amazon is selling those as well. They are tie-ins to the movie more than the book.
Posted by: Tricia | November 23, 2008 at 10:51 PM