1. You are the marketing manager of
a new movie hitting theatres soon
Once you have watched the clip decide…
 The target audience for the film
Who would be most likely to watch it? Why?
 Then brainstorm a plan for how you would market this film.
Think about…
Media platforms, campaigns, clever ways to get the audience
hooked, think big!

2. Case Study

3. The Fifth Estate
 Loosely based on true events
 The film's screenplay was based in-part on two books
 Co-produced by DreamWorks Pictures and Participant
Media
 Directed by Bill Condon (Dreamgirls, Kinsey)
 Cost $28m (£17.1m) to make (not including marketing
costs)
 Released in the United States on October 18, 2013
by Disney's Touchstone Pictures label

4. Dramatic Plot Summary
The story begins as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and
his colleague Daniel Domscheit-Berg team up to become
underground watchdogs of the privileged and powerful.
They create a platform that allows whistle-blowers to
anonymously leak data, shining a light on dark government
secrets and corporate crimes.
Soon, they are breaking more hard news than the world's
most legendary media organizations combined.
But when Assange and Berg gain access to the biggest
trove of confidential intelligence documents in U.S.
history, we are asked a defining question of our time: what
are the costs of keeping secrets in a free society-and what
are the costs of exposing them?

5. How to make revenue…
 One technique filmmakers use to „guarantee‟ revenue is to
employ elite Hollywood actors.
 The Fifth Estate has plenty of A-star talent, especially
Benedict Cumberbatch who has a large passionate fan
following…

6. Benedict Cumberbatch
Star Trek Into Darkness
Daniel Bruhl
Inglourious Basterds
Laura Linney
Frasier/The Truman Show
David Thewlis
Harry Potter Series
Peter Capaldi
Doctor Who/World War Z

7. How to make revenue…
 Another technique in guaranteeing strong box office returns
is promoting your film appropriately to your audience.
 The Fifth Estate was marketed in two ways (Trailer and
Poster)

8. Official Movie
Poster

9. Other posters

11. Questions
What do you learn about the film from
these posters?
Are they successful at marketing The Fifth
Estate?
Why/Why not?

12. Theatrical Trailer

13. Global vs. Local Setting
Although the film uses mostly British and American actors, and it is
made and distributed by an American conglomerate, The Fifth
Estate is based on true global locations making it more universal…

14. Themes
 The role of journalism in international affairs
 Media ethics in a changing world
 Free press (Fourth Estate) being transparent
 The balance between privacy and transparency
 Media literacy

15. Other films…
…in a similar vein have prospered at the box office in recent
years.
Also…
Hollywood agency WME is
said to be offering a film
about Edward Snowden,
who exposed the US
National Security Agency's
programme of surveillance
of its own citizens

16. Another way to make revenue..
 Larger institutions have the means of distributing and
marketing on a much larger scale due largely to one thing…
MONEY
 The Fifth Estate is a Disney Film, and was initially distributed
by Touchstone (one of Disney‟s asset companies). The
following Disney-distributed films occurred large sums at the
box office in recent years…

17. Gross: $3,255,008
Gross: $182,207,973Gross: $623,357,910
Gross: $415,004,880
Gross: $83,151,846
Gross: $79,884,879

18. Target Audience
Think back to when you were discussing what you thought the
target audience was for this film…
 Young tech-savvy people (possibly more male) 18-35y/o?
 Interested in current events and journalism
 Fans of Assange and Wikileaks?

19. Wikileaks weighs in…
 WikiLeaks leaked the movie's script along with a detailed
manifesto explicating all the perceived errors in the film
 Then Wikileaks Twitter feed posted a link to all of The Walt
Disney Company‟s major shareholders.
 Assange told the Hollywood Foreign Press during a Skype
conversation that the movie was going to fail because
audiences would “rather have a "combative underdog" to
root for than see an anti-WikiLeaks movie”
 Some have said WikiLeaks "sabotaged" The Fifth
Estate by releasing its own documentary, called
Mediastan, for free download.
 Assange directly pleaded with star Benedict Cumberbatch
not to play him in the movie before production began.

20. Critical Reception
Do you think that The Fifth Estate‟s largely adult audience rely on movie reviews
more so than an audience of say, teenagers?

21. IMDB Rating (as of 23/03/14)
Rotten Tomatoes Rating
(as of 23/03/14)

22. Public Reception
At the box office, the movie was consumed by…
 54 percent male
 90 percent over the age of 25
The latter number is troubling, as it indicates that more young
people, typically more digitally savvy, weren't interested.
Disney said most of The Fifth Estate’s revenue came from the
big cities; the film didn‟t begin to connect with Heartland and
small-town audiences.

23. Other possible thoughts…
 This was an overcrowded weekend, with at least six high
profile premieres, not to mention the continuing box office
machine Gravity.
 Was it wise for Disney-DreamWorks to try to release the film
as a blockbuster thriller rather than a smaller, intellectual
movie?
 Maybe moviegoers just don't care about Assange or
Wikileaks?
“Insiders close to the film say Americans, particularly those
living in conservative states, have no interest in Assange or
WikiLeaks,"

24. Other possible thoughts
 The film‟s disappointing premiere at the Toronto International
Film Festival failed to create the kind of buzz necessary for a
movie hoping to win over educated and discerning
moviegoers
 That summer Edward Snowden was all over news media.
Snowden leaked the National Security Agency surveillance
program, which bypassed WikiLeaks in favor of traditional
media outlets. This perhaps also robbed Assange of much of
his Most Dangerous Man on the Internet mojo.

25. Your task…
 WHY was The Fifth Estate a flop at the Box Office?!
 Create your argument using some of the evidence above, but
mostly your reasoning in order to choose good evidence.
 Brainstorm an essay plan which details your argument
 HOMEWORK – create your essay using the brainstorm plan