MAKING OF BLOCKBUSTER SELLING Doubleday editor Tom Congdon saw some articles Peter Benchley wrote and asked him to write a novel about a great white shark terrorizing a beach resort. Benchley wrote Jaws. Richard Zanuck and David Brown read about the book in Browns wifes magazine, Cosmopolitan, and immediately optioned the movie rights before the book was in stores. Doubleday released the book in 1974, and the book stayed on the bestseller list for 44 weeks. Meanwhile, Zanuck and Brown hired Spielberg to direct Jaws. Benchley started working on the screenplay. I wont go into the making of the film, as Im more interested in talking about the films distribution, and the Making of Jaws is readily available. The novel is still on the bestseller list while the film is being made. Its a given the audience for the best-selling book will be the audience for the movie. This best-selling novel tie-in falls into the category of pre-sold films which Yankelovich and Associates indicated creates the best possible scenario for a films success. Universal lays out their plan to do a saturation release. Up until the release of JAWS, saturation bookings had not been done on A-list films. A few exploitation films had used the saturation booking technique of simultaneously opening a film in as many theaters as they could, along with an intensive advertising campaign so they could rake in profits before bad reviews and word of mouth kills their film. Given the novels best selling status, it stands to reason the novels audience will respond to a saturation release. Eight months before the release of Spielbergs JAWS, Universal sends Brown, Zanuck, Benchley, and the films editor, Verna Fields (who later becomes Marcia Griffins mentor and introduces her to her assistant, George Lucas) on the talk show circuit. Benchleys paperback publisher Bantam does a tie-in deal with the movie, using the same logo and design. Tony Seinigers agency spent 6 months designing the poster because it didnt look scary enough until he decided you had to actually go underneath the shark so you could see his teeth. (FYI - This is the same Seininger Agency who we later hire to do Star Wars Pointy W brochure.) Spielberg hires John Williams to do his score. The ominous, thudding score is so great Spielberg has since credited his films success to it, and Williams wins his first Academy Award. Universal spends $1.8 million on promotion, including an unprecedented $700,000 on TV advertising. Three days before the film opens in 407 US Theaters, Universal does a saturation media blitz on all media outlets within signal range of the theaters, using John Williams theme and Seiningers poster. There were 25) 30-sec spots aired per night on prime-time networks before the opening. The blitz pays off. Opening days, lines streamed around the block. Movie history was made. Thereafter, saturation booking strategy became used. Today, this is de rigeur tactic. Bottom line is you need a vehicle to carry the film -- a previous hit, character, or source material, and you bank on making your money back in a short period of time. I wanted to post the 30 second spot, but all I could find is the 3:22 trailer, which doesnt have the same impact. Williams score was so definable it really made all the difference in the world. https://youtube/watch?v=ucMLFO6TsFM
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 00:10:15 +0000
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