‘Spectre’ (2015) – Tentpole release case study

“You’re a kite dancing in a hurricane, Mr Bond.”

Spectre is the fourth 007 movie with Daniel Craig playing the famous fictional secret agent of the British secret service, James Bond, based on the character created by Ian Fleming in his series of Bond books.  The film was directed by Sam Mendes, the director of the previous Bond film, Skyfall, and was released on 26th October 2015.  The film follows 007 as he follows a cryptic message which takes him across the globe and leads him to discover a secret and sinister organisation, SPECTRE.  As he ventures towards the heart of SPECTRE, Bond discovers a chilling connection between himself and the leader of the organisation whom he seeks to find.

Production budget: $245,000,000

Genres: Action/Adventure/Thriller

Media Ownership

Director: Sam Mendes

Producer: Barbara Broccoli

Executive Producer: Callum McDougall

Production companies:

• B24
• Columbia Pictures
• Danjaq
• Eon Productions
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
• Sony

Distribution company: Sony Pictures

Box Office

UK opening day gross profit: £6.3 million ($9.2 million)

Uk opening week gross profit: £41.7 million ($63.8 million) – broke the UK record for highest first-week opening, which was set by Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in 2004, making £23.88 million ($36.9 million).

Worldwide gross profit (as of 31st March 2016):  UK – $135.5 million  +  USA – $200.1 million

= Worldwide – $880.7 million

In the UK, it surpassed Avatar to become the country’s highest-grossing IMAX release ever with $10.09 million.

Spectre also broke the record for the best per-screen opening average with $110,000, a record previously held by The Dark Knight with $100,200.

Marketing

The marketing for Spectre was varied but relatively successful, mainly relating to sponsors and product placement that would feature in the film, as well of course the standard trailers and posters that accompany every movie.

One of the main things to be linked with James Bond is cars, and during the December 2014 press conference, in which the start of filming for Spectre was announced, Aston Martin and Eon unveiled the new DB10 as the official car of the film.  An Aston Martin is of course 007’s car of choice, with him driving a variety of models over the years, but the Spectre DB10 was designed especially for the film; it was made as a collaboration between the Aston Martin and the film makers, with only 10 actually being made as a celebration of the car company’s association with the Bond franchise.  In addition to this, Daniel Craig, as reward for his time spent playing the character, can take any Aston Martin of his choosing from a factory or show room.  The Williams F1 team also had a part in the marketing process as, after they modified a Jaguar C-X75 for the film, they carried the 007 logo on their cars at the 2015 Mexican Grand Prix; the team also played host to the cast and crew prior to the Mexican premier of the film.

Sony offered Daniel Craig $5 million to be seen with their new Sony Experia Z4 smartphone in Spectre, and offered $18 million for the marketing and production of the film.  This figure was trumped by a $50 million offer from Samsung and a $5 million sum for Craig if he was seen with their latest smartphone.  However, Daniel Craig and Sam Mendes were not happy with this offer of product placement.  But in September 2015 Sony released an advert for their Sony Experia Z5 smartphone featuring Naomie Harris as Miss Moneypenny picking up the phone for Bond in a movie style commercial, however Daniel Craig does not feature in it.

There was also an advert created by Heineken which featured Daniel Craig as James Bond in a high-speed speed boat chase.

One of the biggest aspects of Spectre‘s marketing strategy was the theme song for the film.  It was first rumoured that pop star Ellie Goulding would sing the song, but for whatever reason it was Sam Smith that sung the song, Writings On The Wall, which was used in the opening credits and as the film’s official theme song.  The song came with a lot of success after the success of the theme song for the previous Bond film Skyfall, which was sung by Adele and shared the same name as the movie.

An official website for the film was created featuring news, pictures and video clips and trailers of it.

On 13 March 2015 on BBC1 for Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day, several members of the cast and crew of Spectre, including Daniel Craig and director Sam Mendes, as well as previous James Bond actor, Sir Roger Moore, appeared in a sketch written by comedian David Walliams and the Dawson Brothers. The sketch was shown as a behind-the-scenes mockumentary on the filming of Spectre.  

The first teaser trailer for the film was released worldwide in March 2015, followed by the theatrical trailer in July and the final trailer in October.

The fact that this was a new film in the Bond franchise helped massively with the success of marketing in the UK as the franchise is massively popular and has been in existence for over 50 years; it could be considered a British classic.  The 007 franchise has made such a name for itself that following the announcement of the start of filming of Spectre,Paramount Pictures brought forward the release of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation to avoid competing with it.

New Technologies

The various trailers for Spectre were shown in various different ways after their release, such as on television, in cinemas and largely on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Commercials by companies such as Sony and Heineken featuring characters from the film helped spread knowledge of it.

An official website for the film was created featuring news, pictures and video clips and trailers of it.

Spectre was released on both DVD and Blu-Ray several months after its release in cinemas, and was also available on various VOD services.

Digital Distribution

Spectre had its world premiere on 26th October 2015 in the Royal Albert Hall in London, which was the same day of the films release in the UK.  The IMAX corporation announced in March 2015 that it would screen Spectre in its cinemas due to the success of Skyfall.

The film received a much wider release than its predecessor Skyfall; Spectre was shown in a minimum of 647 cinemas and 40 IMX screens, compared to Skyfall being shown in 587 cinemas and 21 IMAX screens.

Spectre was released on both DVD and Blu-Ray several months after its release in cinemas, and was also available on various VOD services.