"In Snow White and the Huntsman, Charlize Theron handed in a perfect answer sheet to the director. Her portrayal of the Queen was truly devastatingly beautiful, flawless. In contrast, Kristen Stewart's Snow White was like a clay sculpture loser same expression from beginning to end, and her under-eye bags and buck teeth were endlessly magnified."
"A princess more beautiful than the queen? Magic mirror, are you blind? The voluptuous, seductive, and imposing Queen completely crushed the vampire big-mouth, big-eyed and lifeless, underdeveloped-body Snow White. I dare say Chris Hemsworth's cup size is bigger than Snow White's! I've already bowed down before the Black Queen's raven dress…"
Back to work, Duke also kept an eye on the reviews for Snow White and the Huntsman. These made for the perfect humorous material to lighten up the stress from intense work.
Although filming had gone on for many days, outside of work interactions, Duke had very little private contact with the actors. They were from completely different circles. If there was no need, the actors wouldn't bother him either.
As one of the real bosses of the film, Duke wasn't foolish enough to get chummy with those working for him.
Just like Black Widow, most of the action scenes for other actors were done by stunt doubles. For this, the crew prepared three stunt actors for each main actor. As long as it wasn't a close-up, it was hard to see any difference between them and the real actors. With post-production touch-ups, it was practically the real Avengers.
Actors like Robert Downey Jr. mostly just had to show their face in front of the camera.
While Duke continued filming, Marvel Studios and Warner Bros. didn't slack off in promoting The Avengers. Recently, they even used some unconventional methods to grab attention.
Late October. A piece of news went viral online and was sensationalized by the media The Avengers script had been leaked!
If a movie's script leaks before it hits theaters, how serious could the consequences be? Hard to imagine! Under the careful planning of Marvel Studios and Warner Bros., the Avengers "script" was exposed and publicly auctioned online. This easily drew public attention back to The Avengers.
The event originated from an email, in which the sender claimed to possess a 129-page Avengers movie script, each page printed with the respective actor's name. After being asked for proof to verify his claims, the sender released two photos. The actor who lost the script was then revealed — S.H.I.E.L.D. director Samuel L. Jackson!
This section was written on May 8 of this year, and the signature of "Duke Rosenberg" on the paper confirmed its authenticity.
The media and fans buzzed with discussion. Many spectators were eagerly waiting for the email sender to reveal more of the script, not just two pages, hoping to see Duke Rosenberg and Warner Bros. who had been riding high take a major fall...
However, the whole incident was just a publicity stunt. Would Marvel Studios and Warner Bros. really shoot themselves in the foot?
"Our latest report: The author of the leaked Avengers script email says the script is the only copy, and he won't make duplicates. So far, no one has bid on it. Whether Samuel L. Jackson will face trouble remains unknown. Up to now, Warner Bros. and Marvel Studios have yet to respond."
After a week of stirring up headlines online and in the media, the Avengers script leak gradually cooled off like any other piece of news. That leaked script was never sold. At this moment, Duke's crew responded, once again bringing attention back to The Avengers.
During a routine press conference on set, Duke announced that Samuel L. Jackson had bought back the leaked script at his own expense. He would be halting filming and calling the writers together to rewrite the leaked parts of the script.
"How will you prevent another leak?" a reporter asked.
"To prevent further incidents involving The Avengers script," Duke said, "starting last week, all scripts are delivered by security personnel and no longer sent via email."
This was all part of the stunt. Duke dropped another bombshell: "I've ordered the actors to burn the script immediately after reading."
After the press conference, the media's focus on The Avengers didn't die down. Instead, they latched onto a new curious question: how would the actors memorize their lines?
As a result, countless reporters and paparazzi swarmed Warner Studios. Anyone involved in the Avengers crew became a target, even janitors weren't spared.
Naturally, the Avengers actors stepped forward at the right time to answer the public's questions.
Tom Hiddleston, who plays Loki, told a BBC reporter, "We have to burn the day's script after reading it. It's really fun… We're not allowed to take it home."
Robert Downey Jr. also mentioned the so-called heightened security during filming, "Everything at Marvel has a very complete safeguarding system. I've signed a new NDA with them."
Chris Hemsworth, who plays Thor, told Vanity Fair in an interview, "After signing the new NDA, Marvel no longer sends scripts via email. Instead, they have two security guards personally deliver them to the actors."
The hype didn't stop there. Later, some media outlets revealed that Samuel L. Jackson's script wasn't lost on set, but was stolen from his apartment in Burbank.
Various related reports kept popping up, keeping the public's attention locked on The Avengers.
The key to marketing is differentiation. Whether it's the product, packaging, distribution, positioning, or branding, standing out from competitors is what ensures success in the market. Looking at many products that rose to fame, they either created a new category or did something different from their rivals. In today's world with numerous media platforms, creative marketing is what draws attention.
It wasn't just Marvel Studios and Warner Bros. The film's advertising sponsors also assisted in promoting The Avengers.
Just like Duke's other films, The Avengers featured a ton of product placements — from cars to all kind of things, from banks to insurance companies all kinds of brands made appearances.
In a studio set built at Warner Bros. the street where the final battle takes place logos and brand names were plastered everywhere.
Starting from the standalone Iron Man, Tony Stark has always been the most popular rich and handsome character among fans. Naturally, the car he drives became a hot target for sponsors. There's also a scene in the script where Iron Man returns to Stark Tower and puts on a pair of bracelets at his private bar. In the movie, these bracelets are set up as the remote activation device for the Iron Man Mark 7 armor, but in fact, they are a meticulously designed product placement!
Colantotte is a well-known Japanese magnetic health brand, and the pair of bracelets Iron Man wears in The Avengers is a series specially designed by the brand for the film, retailing at $199.
This brand placement will even get a close-up shot in the film—the script notes that during the chaotic battle in Manhattan, an alien blast blows up a shop, and that store space was allocated to the brand by the commercial development team.
During the following shoots, three Asian faces joined the crew. In an explosion scene, Duke placed them at the very front of the panicked fleeing crowd. These three people were none other than Colantotte's owner Komatsu Katsuji, his wife, and daughter.
The reason for doing this is simple: Duke is not only the film's director but also its biggest investor, and Colantotte poured a whopping $100 million into The Avengers for these specially tailored product placements.
Not just Colantotte there are N other placements appearing during the Manhattan battle scene, including: Citibank, ** brand Aussiebum, insurance companies, and more.
They all appear in the form of street advertising signs.
For example, in the setup, Iron Man falls down near a telephone booth, and the already constructed booth has a large "Jansport" logo on it it's a well-known American backpack brand.
In already filmed scenes, when Captain America, Hawkeye, and Black Widow's aircraft crash-lands on a street, it stops right in front of a Citibank branch.
Like the Transformers series, The Avengers also features Chinese brand placements. In the constructed private jet set, the TV Pepper Potts uses to watch news broadcasts is clearly labeled with "TCL."
In one of Scarlett Johansson's early filmed scenes, before Black Widow makes her appearance, a CG-added train passes through the frame. On the last two carriages are red advertising posters—"Yili Grain Duo."
While The Avengers will be filled with wild ad placements, they won't appear out of place. Most of the product placements are set in the film's vehicles and the final battle scenes on the streets of New York. This is, after all, a modern world setting. Seeing some logos on New York's streets is completely normal, and no one would complain about branding on vehicles after all, superheroes can't rely solely on their legs to get around, right?
Even though The Avengers hasn't been released yet, these ad placements alone are enough for the crew to recoup the production costs. Such a high amount in advertising sponsorship has also set a new record for advertising revenue in Hollywood films.
The enthusiasm of advertisers has greatly eased the film's financial pressure. However, Duke remains absolutely focused during filming. After all, the success or failure of The Avengers will determine the future trajectory of Marvel Comics.
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