The King's Speech Questions

Who distributed the film in the UK and USA and what were the issues associated with the film’s distribution?

·         Weinstein Company, The (2010) (USA) (theatrical)

·         Anchor Bay Entertainment (2011) (USA) (DVD)
·         Anchor Bay Entertainment (2011) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
·         Momentum Pictures (2011) (UK) (all media)

• Was the campaign a grass roots or mainstream big event? How was word spread about the film? Virally on the Net? Mass advertising campaign with poster, trailers, etc?

The King's Speech was originally an independent film/arthouse film, but due to it's success at the various film festivals, listed below, the interest immediately increased and the film was turned into a mainstream film.

·        Telluride Film Festival
·        Toronto International Film Festival
·        Mill Valley Film Festival
·        Hamptons International Film Festival
·        London Film Festival
·        Leeds International Film Festival
·        AFI Film Festival
·        Bahamas International Film Festival
·        Dubai International Film Festival

There were a variety of posters as well as a few different trailers for the UK and America which were intended to interest the respective audiences. The King's Speech official trailer has 895,399 views onYouTube. The trailer was put up on YouTube on 28 Sep 2010, while the release date was three months later. This enables a large audience to watch the trailer and wet their appetite for the film which is to come out in a few months.

On the video description, it gives the following information:
Release Date: 10 December 2010
Genre: Drama | History
Cast: Helena Bonham Carter, Colin Firth, Guy Pearce, Michael Gambon, Tim Downie
Director: Tom Hooper
Writer: David Seidler
MPAA: R
Studio: The Weinstein Company

It then goes on to explain the plot and a link to subscribe to the YouTube channel.

• How was “the talent” used to publicize the film? For instance,
TV and radio interviews with members of the cast, director, etc.

Colin Firth was interviewed on Piers Morgan’s American chat show: Piers Morgan Tonight. Show averages 978,000.

Colin Firth was also on The Late Show with David Letterman to promote The King’s Speech. Show averages around 914,000.

The main stars of the play are the subject of interviews just before and just after the realease of the film, with journalists taking turns to have a one-on-one interview with them as they sit in front of a advertising poster for the film. The interviews are shown on all different types of channels all over the world for different networks, which immediatley raises the profile of the film again.

Interviews like these were conducted with the stars; Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helen Bonham-Carter, as well as the director, Tom Hooper.

• Who was the main target audience for the campaign? Why?

The target audience for The King's Speech has a lot in common with its other target: the members of the Academy, who are set to cast their ballots for this year's Oscars. According to statistics compiled by The Hollywood Reporter, the average age of Oscars voters is 57.7 years old. With $180,443,023 collected worldwide so far on a $15 million budget, the film has been a definite hit, and if my theatre experience is anything to go by, that 57.7 age range is being reflected in the vast majority of the people who are seeing this movie. You can see, then, why this movie has suddenly started to dominate this awards season.

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Movie Marketing Key Words

Awareness
 what marketing seeks to create - when audiences know something about the content of a film (stars, plot premise etc) and when it is going to be released
 
Buzz
 Positive word-of-mouth

Distributor
 Business entity that buys the rights to sell a film to the cinema, video and TV markets. All blockbuster movies are made with the distribution rights pre-sold or arranged as big studios have their own distribution arm. Smaller, or independently produced movies often have to wait till they are completed before anyone will buy the distribution rights

Exhibitor
 Cinemas - usually large chains of cinemas (eg UA in Hong Kong, Cineworld or Odeon in the UK)

Merchandising
 The process of manufacturing, distributing, licensing and sale of T-shirts, toys, posters, key-rings etc that contain characters or designs from a movie
 Platform release  A limited opening at key cinemas to develop word of mouth. Once a good buzz has been achieved, the movie will open at more cinemas (wide release)

Press kit
 The pack given to journalists containing such things as still photos, press release, biographies of main personnel. Some press kits are unusual and inventive, and contain small gifts as a not-very-subtle persusasive tactice to get the journalist to be nice about the film

Primary Audience
 The main target audience of a film, those who are likely to go and see it on its opening weekend, or even start queuing up six months before it is released

Secondary audience
 The audience who will only go and see a movie after they have heard about it - either from friends or from reading reviews - and have been persuaded that it is worth seeing. They will not risk it on its opening weekend

Tagline
 The one-liner summing up the story which appears on posters ("Same planet. Different scum" etc)

Teaser Trailer
 A short trailer which does not give very much at all away about a film. It is designed to arouse curiosity and may appear a long time prior to the release of a movie (6-8 months)

Tie-ins  Promotional campaigns (Happy Meals, car tvcs - you name it) where another company gets together with the film company and they promote their products jointly
 
 
Trailer 
A 'sample' of the best points of a film which works to create awareness in audiences. Can be anything from 30-180 seconds long

Twitter bombing 
Moviegoers now tend to tweet the moment they leave a theater, and the mass of their opinions can have an instant, harsh effect on ticket sales. This effect is noticed when early screenings on the opening day for an anticipated movie sell well, but later screenings are empty. 
Viral 
use of pre-existing social networks (E.g. YouTube) to "spread the word" about a movie. Like a virus, a short video clip can pass from one consumer to another. This UK Cadbury's advertising spot became a global viral phenomenon, thanks to YouTube.
Word-of-mouth 
The general public attitude to a movie - what people tell each other about it. This is thought to be the most important ingredient for box office success

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The King's Speech Profile

Synopsis
The King's Speech tells the story of the man who became King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II. After his brother abdicates the throne, George (Bertie) reluctantly becomes King. Plagued by a dreadful stammer and considered unfit to be King, Bertie engages the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue. Through a set of unexpected techniques, and as a result of an unlikely friendship, Bertie is able to find his voice and boldly lead the country through war.
 
What is the Genre?
The King's Speech is a period drama, so it had to be authentic - combining regal opulence and scruffy, depression-era London.


Who is the Target Audience?
The original target audience was the members of the Academy - those who vote for the nominations in the Oscars. According to statistics, the average age od Oscars voters is 57 years old.  As The King's Speech was not a mainstream film but instead an independent and art house film, it relied on the reviews on the film at the various film festivals that it was entered in. Due to it's excellent reviews at the events, there became a general buzz of excitement, and the film went mainstream.


The film was initially given a 15 rating by the British Board of Film Classification for its release in the United Kingdom, due to scenes where Logue encourages the King to shout profanities to relieve stress. At the London Film Festival, Hooper criticised the decision, questioning how the body could certify the film "15" for bad language but allow films such as Salt (2010) and Casino Royale (2006) to have 12A ratings despite their graphic torture scenes. 


Following Hooper's criticism, the board lowered the rating to "12A", allowing children under 12 years of age to see the film if they are accompanied by an adult. Hooper levelled the same criticism at the Motion Picture Association of America, which gave the film an R rating, preventing anyone under the age of 17 from seeing the film without an adult. This rating was not appealed. 


In his review, Roger Ebert criticised the R rating, calling it "utterly inexplicable", and said, "This is an excellent film for teenagers". In January 2011, executive producer and distributor Harvey Weinstein said he was considering having the film re-edited to remove some profanity, so that it would receive a lower classification and reach a larger audience.


The film was re-released in the USA on 1 April with a PG-13 rating, replacing the original R rating.


Director
Tom Hooper was the director. He has directed films including Elizabeth I, which was about royalty like the King's Speech, as well as the Damned United, which was again, based on true events. 


In both the King's Speech and the Damned United, Tom Hooper filmed at Leed's United football ground, Elland road. At the start of the King's Speech, when the Prince is giving a speech in Wembley, it is actually filmed at Elland Road. It was chosen because of the resemblance it had to a 1925 version of Wembley stadium.


Budget
The UK Film Council, which is to be cut, contributed £1 million to the overall budget.

However, 

The lion's share of its £10m budget came from the Aegis Film Fund, a consortium of private investors that also contributed to another Firth release, St Trinian's 2.

The film also received money from the film's UK distributor Momentum and the London-based post-production company Molinaire.

Some credit should also go to the European Commission, which contributed £480,000 towards its distribution costs via the EU Media fund.

Distributors

The film is distributed by Transmission in Australia and by Momentum Pictures in the United Kingdom. 

The Weinstein Company is the distributor in North America, Germany, Benelux, Scandinavia, China, Hong Kong and Latin America. 

The film was released in France on 2 February 2011, under the title Le discours d'un roi. It was distributed by Wild Bunch Distribution.

Box Office

In the UK and Ireland, the film was the highest earning film on its opening weekend, it took in £3,510,000 from 395 cinemas. The Guardian said that it was one of the biggest takes in recent memory, compared to Slumdog Millionaire (2008), which, for example, two years earlier earned £1.5 million less.

In total, it has so far made a worldwide total of over $400 million.

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