How was the film ‘Monsters’ marketed and distributed?

Mention:
• Budget – production
• Locations
• Marketing methods –which were most effective
• Other films released at a similar time
• Critics reviews
• The role of vertigo
• Any other studios or institutions involved
• Box office profit


The film Monsters was released in December 2010, and was produced at a budget just under $500,000. This compared to other huge production films out around the same time, is a very small budget, such as; Harry Potter, Deathly Hallows Part 1 which had a budget of £150,000,000 or Black Swan with a budget of $13,000,000, plus both these films had a much bigger Cast and Crew. The total success of Monsters was bigger in the UK than it was in USA, as it made£348,577 in the opening weekend compared to $20,508 in the USA. They made a good profit from the movie as that was just what they gained in the opening weekend, let alone the sales of DVDs and BluRay, which would add to the money. The main reason they had a good profit from the movie, was because they only had two real actors, and anyone else that happened to be passing by weren’t real actors or they just happened to be there, this meant that there was less wages to pay out to the Cast and Crew. Plus, there was not a script therefore; they didn’t really need a writer, as they were just told how to interact with other cast members. Gareth Edwards – the director – as well as wrote the narrative, he also edited the footage from over 100 hours, down to 94 minutes, again saving money on wages. However, since it was a UK produced film, it would have cost more money to shoot the movie in Costa Rico, Mexico. Although it might have cost them to go to Mexico and film it, it wouldn’t have cost that much as there wasn’t much of a Cast and Crew to take. Momentum Pictures which helped Vertigo distribute Monsters. Momentum Pictures is a leading motion picture distributer, and has won 8 BAFTAS awards in February 2011. Films like The King’s Speech were also distributed by Momentum Pictures, which had a budget of £8million.
As for the Marketing Methods, they used Foursquare to promote it, as they would has ‘infected areas’ where people could check in and have a chance of winning Monsters merchandise, this was set up by Vue Entertainment and Cineworld Cinemas, which also gave users access to exclusive Monsters content. As well as posters and online trailers, they also premiered the movie at film festivals like the Southwest Film Festival. The most effective method out of these, was probably the trailers shown online, and they were even advertised by Virgin Media, for example; if someone played a song on Music On Demand, the trailer would come on beforehand, and I think this was the most effective as it would hit the main target audience of teenagers.
Critics reviews were mainly positive, it received a 6.6 out 10 on the site Rotten Tomatoes with the site’s consensus; “it doesn’t quite live up to its intriguing promise, but Monsters is a surprising blend of alien-invasion tropes, political themes and relationship drama”. The film also ranked 3rd on Moviefone’s Top 10 Sci-Fi Movies 2010 list. Vertigo plays the role of paying for the promotion of the films and distribution. Compared to well-known companies like Paramount, they needed to pay for their equipment and things, whereas Paramount would own the smaller companies who make the equipment, so they can just take it off them. Vertigo played a big part in the production of the movie, they have also produced award winning films.