For a snapshot of what movie marketers think it now takes to get the public’s attention — even for a sequel to a popular movie — consider the astounding stunt that Paramount Pictures has planned for “Gladiator II.”
On Monday at 9 p.m. Eastern, Paramount will debut a final 60-second trailer for the film on more than 4,000 television networks, digital platforms, local stations, Spanish-language outlets and radio stations simultaneously.
Based on average audience totals for a Monday evening, the trailer could reach roughly 300 million potential customers, according to Marc Weinstock, Paramount’s president of worldwide marketing and distribution. “We aimed to create a big moment to match the scope and grandeur of Ridley Scott’s epic film,” Mr. Weinstock said.
The promotional tactic is known as a roadblock, and marketers have used them for decades. But the number of channels is typically much smaller. In what was described by Variety magazine in 2009 as the largest roadblock ever, Sony Pictures Entertainment simultaneously aired ads for the disaster movie “2012” on 450 television networks.
Mr. Weinstock would not say how much Paramount is spending on Monday’s stunt. According to a “Gladiator II” producer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid conflict with the studio, the airtime was relatively inexpensive to purchase — about $2 million in total, with a spot during “Monday Night Football” as the most expensive. Wavemaker, a media agency, helped Paramount coordinate the effort.
Marketing a movie used to require little more than buying ads on NBC on a Thursday night when millions tuned in to watch shows like “ER” and “Friends.” With the intense fracturing of the media landscape, however, studios have been forced to conjure up ever more provocative ways to grab attention. A single premiere? How quaint. Paramount staged “Gladiator II” red carpets in Australia, Japan, Ireland, France, Denmark and Britain in recent weeks. On Monday, a premiere in Los Angeles will involve the construction of a faux coliseum on Hollywood Boulevard.
In total, Paramount has easily spent $100 million to market “Gladiator II,” which arrives in theaters in the United States and Canada on Thursday night. The movie, starring Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington and Connie Nielsen, cost more than $200 million to make. Reviews so far have been solid, although some critics have complained that the sequel falls short of the first film, which won the Oscar for best picture in 2001.
Paramount is under pressure to deliver a blockbuster. Although it recently found medium-size hits in “A Quiet Place: Day One” and “Smile 2,” Paramount ranks a distant last among Hollywood’s major studios in terms of domestic box office market share for the year. And “Gladiator II” has major competition, arriving in theaters at the same time as Universal’s heavily marketed “Wicked.”
Every movie studio is also fighting a downturn in moviegoing. Streaming services, TikTok and video games have siphoned away audiences. Higher ticket prices have also dented demand. Year-to-date, the North American box office is down about 11 percent from last year — and 25 percent compared with before the pandemic.
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