I'll add something else for balance here: I went to see The Avengers after studiously avoiding any marketing for the film. I wanted my mind free to experience every scene for the very first time, like a pledge-ring wearing co-ed looking forward to her wedding night. I didn't even know that Loki was the villain, that's how innocent I was.
My friends and I arrived at the cinema early, secured great middle seats and sat back to endure endless local commercials (Annie got it done no less than four times.) Then it was time for the very last advert before the trailers started: Lego. A Lego set featuring the Avengers. An animated Lego set where the various characters recapitulated the plot of the film in thirty seconds. Many, many angry voices cried out, to the general tune of, "That better f-ing not be in the movie." It all was.
It tainted our experience pretty badly. Even if the advert had featured a completely different story we'd still have been looking out for similarities. This was a few days after opening weekend, too!
I still love Lego, but she's given me my first disappointment. I guess I'm growing up.
Had this exact same experience, and you are the first person I know of that saw it as well. I distinctly remember (SPOILER) when they were on the roof, about to disable the device, going "I can't believe that Marvel allowed Lego to do this before their big movie blockbuster". For that matter, who was the marketing genius who thought that surmising the entire story arc would make for a good commercial at any time?
His name is Mads Nipper and I wrote to him and Jorgen Knudstorp (the CEO) over email the day after I saw the film. Sadly despite a day's research I couldn't find an email address for either of them that wouldn't bounce so I left it. I could have killed a tree, but in the end something came up and I moved on.
I just dug it out again. I was really angry. I'm almost glad it didn't get through. Here is a short excerpt:
What in Thor's name were you idiots thinking? Did you seriously believe that you'd engender goodwill in the audience by spoiling the film as it was starting? It's EXACTLY as if you'd shown an advert before a 1980 screening of The Empire Strikes Back featuring Yoda, a handless Luke and Han Solo in a block of carbonite.
For great shame, Jorgen. May your bare feet always find bricks.
My favorite kidsafe curse is from an old BBC radio show from the late 40's and early 50's, called The Goon Show. The main character would say "curses and naughty words". The BBC at that time was super-strict and you couldn't say curses and naughty words, so he would literally say it instead. Very funny.
Sounds good but no use to me :-) My sister used to frequent a Bay Area theater where the ads comprised the owners of the theater chatting (honestly) about upcoming features and the food they were serving (and this was considered a hugely positive component of the experience).
It's interesting to me that no major movie chain has tried to differentiate itself along the lines of "going to movies at our theaters is actually pleasant" but I guess the fact that they're able to sell soda and popcorn at a 1.0E+5% markup dwarfs any business model trying to sell some kind of decent experience at a plausible price.
My friends and I arrived at the cinema early, secured great middle seats and sat back to endure endless local commercials (Annie got it done no less than four times.) Then it was time for the very last advert before the trailers started: Lego. A Lego set featuring the Avengers. An animated Lego set where the various characters recapitulated the plot of the film in thirty seconds. Many, many angry voices cried out, to the general tune of, "That better f-ing not be in the movie." It all was.
It tainted our experience pretty badly. Even if the advert had featured a completely different story we'd still have been looking out for similarities. This was a few days after opening weekend, too!
I still love Lego, but she's given me my first disappointment. I guess I'm growing up.