Disney took a huge risk when they created the live action form of Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of the villain. There was much talk by the production team on whether or not this would change the public's opinion on the timeless classic that is Sleeping Beauty. With a production at this challenging of a level, the Disney team had to market and distribute it in a special and unique way. Disney first revealed its plans for Maleficent in 2013 as a part of the motion picture panel of the Disney D23 Expo in the Anaheim Convention Center in California. At this event Disney released a minute sneak preview and Angelina Jolie herself (Maleficent) made a special appearance to help promote the movie. Disney also used social media to their advantage when marketing this film. They hit their target audience by finding out the most popular age range and gender of those on Instagram, Pintrest, Facebook, and Twitter. According to
commercialAppeal.com, Maleficent is one of the most stylish Disney villianesses of all time, and has inspired on of the most extensive assemblages of fashion and beauty tie-ins in recent film history.
Disney's ability to take this 1959 classic and turn it into a popular movie of 2014 is what makes Disney timeless. By connecting with their target audience, the films popularity increased largely making the film gross to about $106 million in just its opening weekend. Disney's endless skills in marketing and distribution of the film is what continuously expands the company while creating highly successful films.
Refernces:
"Movie Capsules: What's Showing." MCA. Web. 15 Jan. 2015. <http://www.commercialappeal.com/go-memphis/movies/beifuss-on-movies/movie-capsules-whats-showing_65796337>.
"Maleficent (film)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 15 Jan. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maleficent_(film)>.
I find that the best approach is to do research, and find out the type of audience that the film creators want to go watch the film. A great way to make a connection with the audience, especially teens, is the use of social media. It's cool to see this dark approach to such a well-known princess story, and the concept is intriguing of having it from the villain's perspective.
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