Disney's The Princess and the Frog

     The buzz for Disney's The Princess and the Frog all began when information on the first African American princess was released. This new princess was made the movie so popular.According to Brooks Barnes "Disney has been criticized for years for its lack of African-American royalty" which only shows how the edition of Princess Tiana into Disney Princess history, was well waited for. The marketing of this movie included Halloween costumes reflecting the characters in the movie, and online video games becoming available were only the beginning of the mass advertising of this film. Within the theme parks, Disney World put emphasis on New Orleans, the films setting, by having actors dress in the ways of the time and place of the movie. The movie was released all over the United States and included a limited day release grossing $263,980 and $786,190 its opening weekend.
     Princess Tiana took the world by storm being the first of many ambitious princesses marking a new era and meaning to what it takes to be a princess. The Broadway resembling soundtrack captivated the audience and made the popularity of the movie increase tremendously. Disney added its touch of magic to this film that will be continued to be cherished for years to come.

References:
Barnes, B. (2009, December 13). Disney’s ‘Princess’ Displays Limited Box Office Magic. Retrieved January 29, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/14/movies/14box.html?_r=0

The Princess and the Frog. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2015, from http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/The_Princess_and_the_Frog

Disney is Tangled in Success

    When released in November of 2010, Tangled instantly became a success making $200 million in North America alone. In collaboration with Pixar, Tangled is one of Disney's most popular and profitable films. Prior to the release, Disney promoted the film in an interactive way. At the Disney parks guests could meet characters from the movie and play games with them letting guests be a part of the magic. As well Disney released a short clip for the film months before it hit the theaters and continued to release more clips as the date got closer. The soundtrack was released on ITunes before the film came out which allowed the fans to be able to listen to the songs before they were seen on scene.
    "Thats the magic of the Disney business (bloomberg.com)." This quote is proof that Disney's magic is timeless and is spread throughout each Disney production. It is this magic that keeps the audience coming back for more and more.

References:
By Christopher Palmeri and Anousha Sakoui. (2014, March 14). Disney's 'Frozen' Passing $1 Billion Cements Rebound. Retrieved January 22, 2015, from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-13/disney-s-frozen-passing-1-billion-cements-rebound.html

Disney's Maleficent Casts a Spell on the Audience

     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)>.

Disney's Finding Nemo

     When released in 2003, Disney's Finding Nemo was highly successful grossing $339.7 total in the box offices. The success of this film is owed to its salty sweet marketing and distribution strategy which time and time again has made Disney films top notch and popular. Disney used trailers prior to the film that gave out little information entailing the storyline. However, as the release date got closer pieces of the story were told to the public as Nemo and other friends in the movie made appearances at the Disney parks. This allowed guests to interact with upcoming film character thus building the anticipation for the film. This proved to be successful as according to Disney Wikia "The film's use of clownfish prompted masspurchaseof the animal as pets in the United States." The film's popularity still lives on as there are currently rides in the Disney Parks as well as an upcoming sequel to the movie to be released in 2016.
    Disney new and original ideas are what consistently keeps the target audience of not only children but adults too, interested and anxious to see what is next. It is films such as Finding Nemo that proves that Disney is timeless and can be enjoyed by everyone. With it's stellar marketing and distribution techniques, Disney will never go out of style.

References:
Finding Nemo. (n.d.). Retrieved January 9, 2015, from http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Finding_Nemo

Toy Story 3's Got A Friend in Me

     Our favorite toys came out of the toy chest and onto the big screen in 2010 with the release of Toy Story 3. With a movie trilogy at this large scale Disney began marketing for its production early with the re-release of Toy Story and Toy Story 2  as a double feature in Disney Digital 3D in order to build anticipation for what the sequel would hold. This release of the previous films included a short feature of what Toy Story 3 was all about. Disney Interactive Studio also released a video game based on the film prior to the release date. According to Nikki Finke, "Toy Story 3 started its record-breaking domestic run on June 18 becoming Disney-Pixar’s highest grossing opening weekend taking in $109 million and marking the highest June opening in industry history." Due to Disney's marketing strategy, this film was on of the most successful productions being the second highest grossing animated film (surpassed by Frozen). The success of the film was facilitated by the promotions on ABC Family, The Disney Channel, and Disney XD. Additionally, Toy Story 3 was featured in Apple IPhone OS 4 promoted by Steve Jobs.
     Disney's marketing strategy of wide promotions on a global scale are what creates high grossing films such as Toy Story 3. This production proves the idea that Disney can take an older film such as Toy Story which was released in 1995 and build it into the franchise that it is today. Disney's ability to create family friendly, lovable characters that capture our hearts for many years such as our favorite space ranger Buzz Lightyer and our best pal Woody.

References:
Finke, N. (2010, August 13). 'Toy Story 3' Now Biggest Toon Of All Time. Retrieved December 17, 2014, from http://deadline.com/2010/08/toy-story-3-now-biggest-toon-of-all-time-61387/

Toy Story 3. (n.d.). Retrieved December 17, 2014, from http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Toy_Story_3

A Pirate's Life for Me

     The skull and crossbones flag was risen once again as Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides set sails into theaters globally on May 20th 2011. As the fourth installment of the movie series, it had high expectations to uphold and exceed the films before it. Disney used special techniques for promoting this film including online videos and games, trailers, posters, and picture galleries to build the hype more than six months before its release. Disney also had promotional character greetings at Disney Parks prior to the film so that guests could experience an element of the film before its release. According to Pirates of the Caribbean 4- Production and Exhibition ,"The films advertising campaign was intended to remind people of why they fell in love with Jack Sparrow in the first place." This was executed through trailers containing classic Jack Sparrow moments meaning that the trailers would mostly include funny or trademark behaviors of the character. Additionally, Disney's first poster release was the symbolic skull and crossbones. This was done to get the consumer excited without revealing too much about the movie.The film was distributed in the UK and the U.S. and grossed over $1000 million to date.
     With a production at this large of a scale, Disney had to create a new 3D experience as well as create over 1,112 shots of computer generated imagery. "The film used new media technologies using 3D cameras similar to those used in the production of the 2009 film Avatar."
     Overall, Disney;s marketing and distribution technique are what made this fill so successful. Its interactive games, online videos, advertisements at Disney Parks, and posters all facilitated the large popularity of the movie to the extent in which a fifth movie is rumored to be produced. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is the tenth highest grossing films in the world owing all of its success to the brilliant strategy of Disney movie making.

References:
Pirates of the Caribbean 4 -Production, Distribution & Exhibition. (n.d.). Retrieved December 12, 2014, from http://www.slideshare.net/sandraoddy2/pirates-of-the-caribbean-4-production-distribution-exhibition

Why We'll never let Disney's Frozen go

     The world was hit with an icy blast when Disney's 'Frozen' was released in 2013. Its catchy songs and lovable characters are only responsible for only half the success, the other half of success is from Disney's genius marketing and distributing techniques behind the magic.According to Scott Davis, What Marketers Should learn from Disney's 'Frozen' , "Disney has stuck with female protagonists accompanied by great storytelling and songs that belong on Broadway and, in turn, continue to capture young girls' and their parents' hearts and money time and time again." Disney's approach to this film was that of a slow reveal, meaning that they only released certain commercials and advertisements leading up to the release. this also went hand in hand with the chosen title, 'Frozen'. The title was chosen to make the film more unisex rather just selling it to primarily to young girls. The film's slow reveal and title choice turned out to be highly successful as 43% of  the audience was males. Additionally, Disney understood the importance of giving the consumer what they wanted. By making it a musical that included Broadway stars to be the voice of many characters such as Idina Menzel and Josh Gad, the popularity reached out to more than just young girls as audience members. As said by Scott Davis "Last week, Frozen knocked Beyonce out of the No.1 spot on the Billboard 200 album sales chart, only the fourth animated film soundtrack in the charts 58 year history to do so." Disney also included advertising for the movie before its release at the Disney Parks in which park visitors could meet the characters and learn their story while building anticipation for the film as well as allowing consumers to become a part of the magic.

     With production at this large of a scale, Disney animators were faced with the challenge of creating realistic looking snow. As a result, Disney created several new tools in order to show the heaviness and depth of the snow as the characters interacted with it. Disney also created new video games in order to promote the film such as Olaf's Quest which was released a week before the film. This large Franchise is soon to have a ride at Disney World Florida as well as be adapted into a Broadway stage musical due to the sheer popularity of the movie.

     Disney's marketing and distribution of 'Frozen' have set the stage for all animated films following its release. Its massive amounts of merchandise, music sales, new technology, and slow reveal all facilitated the success of the film. By making the film interactive through the means of meeting the characters at Disney Parks, the popularity of the film grew and now sets the stage for future Disney Films that will capture or hearts and make us believe in the Disney Magic time and time again.

References: 

Davis, S. (2014, January 15). What Marketers Should Learn From Disney's 'Frozen' Retrieved December 5, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottdavis/2014/01/15/what-marketers-should-learn-from-disneys-frozen/

Frozen (2013 film). (2014, April 12). Retrieved December 5, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_(2013_film)