The movie manufacture is n’t just diffident about self - furtherance . After all , theAcademy Awardsbegan in 1928 just to generate insistence coverage for the movies and stars of the day . Well - organize PR campaigns designed to get citizenry into theater have helped many films ' box office succeeder . Here are some of the furious exploit in the long chronicle of moving-picture show publicity .
First up : Find out how a Hollywood legend and a dozen resident from Canada arrived on the scene of the world premiere of a 1937 classical motion picture .
1. The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)
Legendary Hollywood publicist Russell Birdwell created a buzz for this David O. Selznick - directed swashbuckling moving picture by fix up for anairplaneto convey a dozen residents from Zenda , Ontario , to the earth premiere in New York City . The packaging apparently worked because the movie received two Oscar nominations .
2. Gone With the Wind (1939)
Birdwell was also involve in one of the manufacture ’s most illustrious PR exertion : The search for the actress to play Scarlett O’Hara in the screen door version of Margaret Mitchell ’s novel created much hype as the casting theater director locomote the country hold undefendable auditions . After three old age of interviews and sense of hearing with stars such as Katherine Hepburn , Paulette Goddard , and Lana Turner , the role proceed to Vivien Leigh , who had appeared in a few films , but remained largely unknown outside of Great Britain . honestly , the populace did n’t seem to give a damn , because they madeGone With the Windthe high grossing film in movie chronicle ( set for inflation ) . Its original release and seven re - releases over the yr have raked in nearly $ 2.7 billion in today ’s figures .
3. Down Missouri Way (1946)
This melodious features an factory farm professor who fasten a movie role for her trained scuff , Shirley . To push the film , a studio apartment publicity man take Shirley , with an ad for the movie on her back , down Fifth Avenue and into the eatery overlooking Rockefeller Plaza ’s ice rink . director naturally turn down to seat the animate being . The mechanical press shew up to read the upshot , so it accomplished the publiciser ’s mission … but it did n’t appear to do much for the motion picture , which was not a box office smash .
Check out more of Hollywood ’s most hideous publicity stunts on the next varlet .
4. Teacher’s Pet (1958)
Clark Gable and Doris Day star in this drollery about a newspaper editor program . For publicity use , Paramount film 50 Hollywood newsmen sitting at desk and gave a few of them line of credit in the film . What better style to get reporters to focus on your motion picture than to put them in it ? The bombination may have make ; the New York Times placedTeacher ’s Petin its top ten of 1958 , and the movie received twoOscarnominations .
5. Mr. Sardonicus (1961)
Colombia Pictures executives order director William Castle to shoot an alternate , happy closing for this dour moving-picture show . Castle turned the sequence into a packaging opportunity , giving consultation members cards with ovolo - up and quarter round - down to " vote " for the main character ’s destiny . Castle apparently sympathize human nature well – there are no accounts of audiences want a felicitous conclusion . But he may not have known their film desires quite as well because they give their thumbs - down to the movie .
6. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Producers intimated that this thriller ’s docudrama style was unquestionable and implied that the footage making up the entire film had been bring out after three student filmmakers searching for the so - called " Blair Witch " disappeared in the woods of rural Maryland . They even lean the film ’s lead actors ( the reckon filmmakers ) as " missing , make bold dead " on the Internet Movie Database before the movie ’s release . The stunt seemed to work : The flick made the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest corner - office - proceeds - to - budget proportion in film account . It be only around $ 35,000 to make but pulled in more than $ 140 million in the United States and more than $ 248 million worldwide .
7. Office Space (1999)
The corporate " cube farm " is the mark of both this cult classic – which follows three company workers who renegade against their less - than - rewarding work environment – as well as its publicity stunt . For a week , the studio had a human being sit inside a Plexiglas work cubicle on top of an office building overlooking Times Square . Everyone from Howard Stern to nearby office worker expressed fellow feeling . The publicity seemed to aid the film , which ranked number 65 on Bravo ’s 2006 list of the 100 funniest movies of all clock time .
8. House of Wax (2005)
producer often utilise a renown ’s star power to draw audience to their films . But Joel Silver withdraw things in a dark-skinned direction for this revulsion flick by advertising the death of Paris Hilton ’s fictitious character in the picture show . Turning her ill fame to his advantage , he deal shirts reading " See Paris Die May 6 . " The publicity may have been for naught . House of Waxwas almost universally trash , and U.S. ticket sales came a few million buck short of covering the movie ’s $ 35 million output costs . But it made up for its weak domestic carrying into action overseas , grossing more than $ 70 million worldwide .
9. Borat (2006)
As the title character , British worker Sacha Baron Cohen played a misspeaking journalist from Kazakhstan . In September 2006 , Secret Service police officer foreclose Cohen ( dressed fully in character , as he often does for his stunt ) from enter the White House where he hop to bid " Premier George Walter Bush " to a screening of the plastic film . His antics even prompted the Kazakh government to remind audiences that the obnoxious character does not properly represent the nation ’s values . Whether due to Cohen ’s antics , generally electropositive critical review , or word - of - mouth , the film made more than $ 248 million worldwide .
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS :
Helen Davies , Marjorie Dorfman , Mary Fons , Deborah Hawkins , Martin Hintz , Linnea Lundgren , David Priess , Julia Clark Robinson , Paul Seaburn , Heidi Stevens , and Steve Theunissen
