‘In
Hindsight’ is a weekly column where I take a look at the aftermath of a
film’s opening weekend and dive into what its marketing campaign did
right, where it went wrong, and how it impacted the bottom line.
I’ll be diving into the marketing campaign for
The Revenant.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
To
say that it fared well in its first wide-release weekend would be an
understatement: At $38 million in its debut, the opening weekend box
office haul for
The Revenant blew away even the most optimistic of predictions. Plus, as a fun sidenote,
The Revenant earned the distinction for being the first film to topple
Star Wars: The Force Awakens from the top spot since the juggernaut’s release, if only for Friday.
It’s timely, considering the triple Golden Globes win over the weekend, one for lead Leonardo DiCaprio for Best Actor in a Drama, one for director Alejandro Iñárritu for Best Director, and
the film itself taking home the Golden Globe for Best Picture. The
heavy-handed Oscar hopeful marketing campaign in the lead up to its
release seems prescient now, as this weekend has catapulted
The Revenant to both the top of the box office and the front of the Best Picture Oscar race.
5 Things to Know About The Revenant
And heavy-handed, it was. The marketing campaign for
The Revenant
all but screamed, “This is the movie that will finally win Leonardo
DiCaprio his first Academy Award for Best Actor or there is no justice
in the world!” But it was an obviousness that worked to its advantage.
Make no mistake — the marketing campaign for
The Revenant was
aimed as much toward Academy voters as it was toward moviegoing
audiences. DiCaprio has long been a big box office draw and fan
favorite, and the fact he’s not yet won an Oscar, despite several
legendary performances, has been so ingrained into pop culture that it’s
become a running joke. Even audiences who don’t pay particular
attention to the ins and outs of the movie industry know what DiCaprio
brings to the table and will pay to see him. At this point, the Academy
can’t
not acknowledge him after another noteworthy performance,
lest it undermine what credibility it has left. And that “Oscars or
bust” theme carried over to the box office returns.
Alejandro
Gonzalez Inarritu, left, and Leonardo DiCaprio pose in the press room
with the award for best motion picture – drama for “The Revenant” at the
73rd annual Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016, at the
Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.
But
The Revenant‘s marketing campaign wasn’t just a two-pronged approach for DiCaprio, but for director Alejandro Iñárritu,
as well. The marketing campaign, including every interview on the press
tour, took pains to illustrate just how difficult it was to make the
film, how brutal and unforgiving the conditions were, how relentlessly
hard it was on cast and crew alike. “This is as real as it can get”
boasted the promo material. Shooting in subzero temperatures; using only
natural light (thereby limited some days of shooting to only a few
hours); the famously vegan DiCaprio eating raw bison liver; DiCaprio
sleeping in an actual animal carcass; DiCaprio almost getting
hypothermia and frostbite; DiCaprio being physically wrecked in any way.
It spoke to the lead actor’s commitment, but also to Iñárritu’s
vision as a daring and creative director who takes risks and demands
even more from himself than does from his cast and crew.
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