Home Entertainment X-MEN APOCALYPSE producer talks Comic-Con leaks

X-MEN APOCALYPSE producer talks Comic-Con leaks

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At the rate that trailers and footage are leaked at the San Diego Comic Con, the 2016 showings at Hall H might just kick off with a small electromagnetic pulse detonation in order to finally stop people posting bootleg trailers online.

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Comic Con exlcusive trailers serve their purpose: They’re a neat hook for attendees, as well as a form of free word of mouth publicity that has the potential to grow into even more positive spin for the companies involved.

They’re also easily the most viewed videos on YouTube or a dodgy Asian video provider, once a fan manages to upload a badly-tilted version of the trailer , with Dutch angles that would make the 1960’s Batman TV series envious.

And it’s not to say that the studios don’t try and plug those leaks. A takedown notice can only be so successful however, and once something is on the net, it’s there forever. But some studios play ball, and release the Comic Con trailer as a way to keep the hype rolling, much like Warner Bros. did with Suicide Squad last week.

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However, some folks with tinfoil hats, reckon that studios intentionally allow trailers to remain leaked, as a form of viral marketing. But that’s not the case with X-Men Apocalypse, as producer Hutch Parker explained to SlashFilm:

I’d say it really isn’t intended to be leaked. It’s really intended to excite a core. From a marketing perspective, what they want is to share it with the most discerning eyes that are out there for this material. It’s the biggest and probably most intense focus group any of us ever have.

You hope that you excite a level of interest that they will express and celebrate it. But it’s a scary-ass deal, because they’re not shy. If they don’t like it, if they aren’t feeling it, they’re going to let you and everybody else know. [Showing footage] is something people do with trepidation, but with hope. We make a movie and you want to believe it’s going to be great. The reality is, not all of them are. But you have to believe that going in. We go in wanting to be accepted and embraced, and ideally even acknowledged for having done it well.

The problem with the theory about the marketing is, I don’t actually think it’s good marketing. Leaking footage a year in advance of a movie’s release is not such a good thing. The reason you don’t see footage out that far is you run the risk of it getting stale.

Generally speaking, and I can’t speak for other studios — I can’t even speak for Fox any more — but I don’t believe their intention is [for footage to be leaked]. I think their intention is to get the most important opinions and opinion-makers in this community engaged in the promise of what’s coming.

I understand why some studios would want to keep the leaks under wraps. Most of the time, the footage shown, isn’t of the film at its best. And it is in their best interest, to keep a lid on things. On the other hand, I don’t have tens of thousands of Rands to go see the footage in San Diego myself, as Nick’s organs barely got me a scum-class seat to Bloemfontein when I sold them.

And dammit, I also want to see some comic book movie footage. X-Men Apocalypse is out next year.

Last Updated: July 20, 2015

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