LOS ANGELES (AFX) - Movie marketing is big business. Studios spend about $3.5 billion each year to advertise and promote films. And sometimes the biggest talent works on the posters, trailers and slogans that lure moviegoers into theaters with images and tag lines more memorable than the films they promote.
Those behind the ad campaigns are under intense pressure to fill seats on opening weekends, when a movie's financial fate can be determined.
'If you can't get people the first weekend, you can't generate the word of mouth needed to sustain a run in theaters,' said Bob Israel, a former movie marketer who is producing the annual Key Art Awards on Friday night honoring artists behind movie marketing.
The average movie costs $60 million to make -- and $36.2 million to market, according to the Motion Picture Association of America.
To conduct those campaigns, studios often hire specialized companies to create previews, ads for TV, Internet sites and billboards, and packaging for DVDs.
The effort often starts with a single image -- or 'key art' -- to capture the story or message of the movie. The image can be a photograph from the film or a graphic created before filming even starts.
The memorable poster for the 1979 film 'Alien,' for instance, shows a cracked egg emitting a green gas and white light. The famous tag line reads, 'In space, no one can hear you scream.'
This year, the poster for the horror flick 'Saw II' caused a stir with its image of two grisly fingers, a saw, and the tag line, 'Oh yes, there will be blood.' The movie was a big hit for distributor Lionsgate.
Sometimes, studios create short 'teaser' trailers before a film even hires a cast or starts shooting.
One such teaser for the 1980 film 'The Shining' evoked a sense of horror without ever showing Jack Nicholson's evil grin.
A camera was simply fixed on a set of elevator doors. After a few seconds of ominous music, blood gushes from the bottom of the doors and rushes toward the camera until the photo frame is filled.
'It's just, Oh my God, what is this about?'' Israel said.
Actor-comedian Kevin Nealon was slated to host Friday's Key Art Awards honoring those making such irresistible come-ons. The 35th annual event, sponsored by The Hollywood Reporter trade paper, was likely to fill the Kodak Theatre with a lot more levity than seen during the Academy Awards held there. It is usually a freewheeling, irreverent production where presenters often use coarse language and short parody films skewer the industry.
'You have a collection of 1,500 of some of the most creative people you'll ever meet, quick-witted, fun,' said Oren Aviv, president of marketing at the Walt Disney Co.
'They should be celebrated along with their peers for the work that they do that makes everyone else rich,' Aviv said.
While the awards recognize the art of movie advertising, executives are keenly aware that the work must always be in the service of the business.
'It is an art form whose purpose is not art,' said Adam Fogelson, president of marketing at Universal Pictures.
'It does take real genuine artistry to create great advertising materials, but you always have to look at them with the additional filter of will they sell tickets to the movie?' he said.
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