1. LO3 ESSAY
In this essay I will be discussing how a big blockbuster film such as ‘Captain America First Avenger’ is
financed and how it is marketed. The marketing strategies of certain types of film can change and
alternate but when there is a big blockbuster involved, the marketing is truly extensive.
The new highly anticipated action/adventure ‘Captain America First Avenger’ which was released in
cinemas nationwide in July which reached a staggering $65,058,524 on its opening weekend, just in
America! This big budget film’s worldwide gross was $368,608,363...Worldwide; this is however
expected when a film has a budget of $140,000,000! With a film with a budget such as this it is vital
that they make much more money so this is where the marketing of a film comes into play, they
have to get the film advertised as much as possible.
Which they did.
This is the first poster which was used to advertise
Captain America and as you can see this poster is
intensely gripping. We all know Captain America from
our childhood and when word came out that it was
going to be made into a Hollywood Blockbuster, they
was great anticipation, especially since it was being
directed by Joe Johnston.
On the poster we can see that the background is
extremely dark and ominous which adds a much
darker feel to the childhood classic thus the rating 12
which we know it is aimed at a much older audience
than the cartoon. His clothes are fairly dark and we
can’t really see much of his face but what does stand
out the most is the shield which we all know and love. The colours of the shield are so vibrant which
really get’s our hearts pumping, the text is big and bold and to the point. This poster already has us
gripped and intensely waiting the release of the film and it’s
only the first one.
The first official trailer for Captain America aired during the
super bowl in the USA which instantly gripped fans and
before we knew it the trailer was nationwide hitting out TV
sets and all over the web. We then got flooded online by
viral ad’s and banners everywhere from Facebook to
YouTube, the Facebook page inset shows how thousands of
fans were keeping up to date on the release of the film
online on the social networking site Facebook. The page
showed the latest in official trailers and posters. By having a
Facebook page and online viral ads it shows that the
producer and marketing company have thought carefully
about the relations between their target audience and the
way they have marketed this film. It shows that the film is
aimed mainly at teenagers so by having viral adverts on social networking sites is appealing to their

2. target audience. Not only were they across the internet but advertisements were across all
billboards and any available advertisement space.
I personally think that the way that the film has been marketed is a big contributing factor as to why
the film has done so well at the box office because we saw the adverts which added to the
anticipation of the film which sent people nationwide to the cinema to watch it.
The producer has appealed to the female audience by including the heartthrob which is Chris Evans,
this appeals to the female audience because they are much more likely to watch a film if there is an
attractive character especially in an action film. This theory mainly appeals to teenage girls and they
are the females which are mainly interested in the big
handsome characters because not only do they get the
chance to go to the cinema to look in awe at them but they
also get to get away with it if they are with their boyfriend.
This is also how big famous movie stars build up such a
large fan base by using sex appeal as a strategy to get
audiences into cinemas and to buy the films. So by having
an attractive lead male in Captain America this will bring in
a large range of demographics because it appeals to males
(especially comic book lovers) with the violence and the
incredible storyline which has built up the majority of the
anticipation and also it appeals to females because of the
attractive lead male role which will have them on the edge
of their seats as they watch him being heroic and manly.