Minions (Pierre Coffin / Kyle Balda)

[Philip J. Fry]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3d/Minions_poster.jpg

Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eisKxhjBnZ0

IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2293640/) / wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minions_(film)) / RT (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/minions/)

Official website (http://www.minionsmovie.com/minions.html)

[Mal]

The Minions themselves are charming but no Gru no care.

[Dukefrukem]

$120.9M opening weekend

[Irish]

A "record $46 million Friday." $395 million worldwide :roll eyes:

Universal's ad partners spent $590 million on Minion related advertisements. Universal itself spent $25 million on TV ads in the US alone.

[D_Davis]

A "record $46 million Friday." $395 million worldwide :roll eyes:

Universal's ad partners spent $590 million on Minion related advertisements. Universal itself spent $25 million on TV ads in the US alone.

Sometimes I really love not knowing what's going on.

[Dukefrukem]

A few of my Amazon boxes shipped to me in the last week were painted yellow with Minions on the side of them.

[[ETM]]

$590 million on Minion related advertisements.

Surely this is incorrect? Don't you mean "merchandise"?

[Irish]

;543179']Surely this is incorrect? Don't you mean "merchandise"?

Nope! I'm talking about when a company runs an ad for their own product, or sells a product, but it's tied to the film or it features the characters. (Like Duke's Amazon example).


Of the partners’ $593 million in spending, less than half was for ads such as TV and print, the rest being the estimated value of promotions, for example using Minions on cereal boxes, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who asked not be identified discussing non-public information. Universal isn’t disclosing its own additional marketing costs.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/minions-593-million-publicity-spree-040001024.html

(The original version of this article on Bloomberg did say that Universal spent $25MM on US television ads.)

This strikes me as a sorta Phantom Menace deal -- they could probably let everybody who wants to see this movie see it for free, and it would still turn a profit.

[[ETM]]

That's actually what I meant. There's money coming back from those that is not movie ticket money.
When you put up a billboard, that's all there is to it.

[Irish]

Ah, okay -- I thought you meant toys and tee shirts and the like when you said "merchandise."

[D_Davis]

A few of my Amazon boxes shipped to me in the last week were painted yellow with Minions on the side of them.

This would actually upset me.

When I choose to engage with something that I haven't paid for - network television, terrestrial radio, various web sites, etc. - I expect to see/hear advertisements. It's part of the commercial contract we've all agreed to, or at least begrudgingly accepted.

However, using packaging that is being shipped to me, postage paid by me, containing a product I've already paid for, for advertisement should not happen. Feels like it's just another piece in the BIG DATA puzzle, in which corporations view us as nothing but targets to advertise to, as things with information to buy and sell.

This is one of the reasons why I quit going to the movies. I felt insulted that I was paying good money to see a film, and then they would show commercials for products before the movie started.

[Dukefrukem]

However, using packaging that is being shipped to me, postage paid by me, containing a product I've already paid for, for advertisement should not happen.

That's fine you feel this way, but says who? Says that's the way it's always been so no one should have ever thought of it? I mean, you just used two of the most minor examples of advertising that have so little impact on me that I couldn't comprehend changing my life because they exist. You don't go to movies anymore because they play ads before the movie? Well just show up to the movie 10 minutes after the start time- you can reserve your seats in most theaters now so no need to show up early at all anymore.

That's like me saying I'm never going to a Red Sox game ever again because there's advertisements on the Green Monster.

[D_Davis]

I am just very conscious of how and when I am being advertised to, and incredibly skeptical of marketing in general.

It's also one of the reasons I gave up cable so many years ago. We are bombarded with advertisements, marketing, and BIG DATA mining all the time in public, no need to further subject myself to it at home. With basic cable, I was paying good money to be advertised to. Yuk.

[Dukefrukem]

I dont think there's a person on the planet whos not skeptical of marketing... that doesn't mean to hide from it entirely. Time for you to start ignoring all those Dark Souls III marketing campaigns coming up! Better stop playing games entirely actually. Don't want you to buy something you might like!

[Sycophant]

That doesn't make any sense.

[Dukefrukem]

That doesn't make any sense.

What doesn't?

[Sycophant]

That weird bit at the end where you make some logical leaps and advise him to stop playing games for fear he might like something.

I get that it's supposed to be comic exaggeration, but I don't see what it has to do with anything.

[Dukefrukem]

That weird bit at the end where you make some logical leaps and advise him to stop playing games for fear he might like something.

I get that it's supposed to be comic exaggeration, but I don't see what it has to do with anything.

For months he posted marketing articles and videos on Bloodbourn and Dark Souls stuff in the video game thread... he doesn't ignore those marketing campaigns, but he gets upset when there's marketing against other stuff?

He's a big fan of the Soul games, so I was poking fun that he shouldn't even play games anymore since most games today have tons of marketing built into them. If he saw something he wasn't expecting, say an article for a game he doesn't like, he might just want to stop playing games altogether. (since he stopped watching movies because of ads)

[Philip J. Fry]

My thoughts:
What did I like? The soundtrack is killer, I mean, The Beatles, the Stones, Hendrix, The Who, Donovan... that's fun. There were a few gags that were funny, specially one with Abbey Road, and I think I saw a lady buying a copy of The Velvet Underground & Nico in the movie. Some good physical comedy here and there.

What didn't I like? Most gags didn't really hit. Tons of jokes about being British that I saw from a couple miles away. Thin plot and mediocre villain.

Final thoughts: This is clearly a kids movie, aimed at kids and while it tries to give something to the adults, that doesn't work that often. I'm probably going to forget most of it soon.

[TGM]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4V6rvcLsk8

[Dukefrukem]

This was pretty bad compared to the first two films. The gibberish gets old very quick.