April 15, 2008 | by Vic Holtreman 

Iron Man Overload?

iron-man-marketing.jpgI’ve been thinking about this topic for a couple of weeks, but just haven’t gotten around to writing about it until now. One the one hand, that’s too bad because other sites like FirstShowing.net and SpoutBlog.com have beat me to the punch, but on the other, there have been even more videos and images released since I started thinking about this.

What, you may ask, is “this?”

Iron Man marketing overload.

When is the release of more and more images, trailers and video clips for a summer blockbuster too much?

Now before anyone jumps all over me, as far as I’m concerned, no one on any movie news site has been a bigger supporter of this film longer than I have. I was upbeat about this movie from the very first announcement that Jon Favreau was directing it two years ago. I challenge you to go back and find any other movie site that has been behind Iron Man as consistently and for as long as Screen Rant has been. Fortunately it seems that our support of the film has been correct as all indications are that it is going to be awesome.

But at this point even I have to ask, when is enough, enough?


Although there has certainly been no lack of coverage here, I’ve made a conscious decision to start backing off on showing new images and video. I realize that probably a lot of our readers are hungry for every little new scrap of news, image or video related to Iron Man, but I’m thinking “Hey, let’s leave a little something for the actual movie.”

I mean, if the following video doesn’t highlight the hype surrounding the footage that we’ve seen for the film so far, nothing does. If you’re not familiar with “The Onion,” it’s the premiere satirical news site on the web. When they tackle Iron Man, you know things are getting out of hand.

Check it out and tell me there isn’t more than a grain of truth behind it:

Running a movie site, it’s difficult to avoid seeing all the new images and video, but I’m trying like hell to avoid seeing too much more of the film. Now people have said “give me a break, we’ve probably seen a combined total of 6 minutes of the movie.” Granted, I’ll give you that. But on the other hand one of the early reviews that has popped up, while overall praising the film, stated that we’ve already seen parts of all the action sequences in the film. In other words, there are no suprises left comprising of action sequences/battles that we won’t already see coming from having watched all the existing footage.

As far as I’m concerned, the movie is now less than three weeks away, and I don’t need to see another second of footage or new image from the film. As it is I’ve already seen more than enough to make me crazy-excited about Iron Man.

How about you?

Iron Man opens on May 2nd.

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  • Jim Carey
    I just noticed something from the first trailer

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhgzIM-9lfA

    At 1:07, Stark is welding. There are two rectangular windows backlighting the dark room. They struck me as symbolic of Iron Man's eye slits.
  • Jae Senn
    After watching the Onion clip again, I found this..

    http://www.youtube.com/user/IronMonger1

    Some smart ass found this guy too, and actually left a comment!

    The clip from that Onion skit came from here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhgzIM-9lfA
  • KEL
    Guys, I wouldn't count out a Stane suicide just yet. Just cuz it's PG-13 doesn't mean we won't be seeing that stuff.

    JLA: New Frontier (animated DTV) was PG-13 and the very first scene in it was a man committing suicide.

    Green Goblin's death at his own hand (Spider-Man) wasn't exactly kid friendly either.
  • Jae Senn
    Actually, the Iron Man hype has worked pretty well, though for a fan of shellhead I felt that it's getting a bit too much in the days leading up to the opening.

    While I was watching the flight testing clip the other day, my girlfriend actually asked me "If you keep watching these snippets, will you be able to enjoy the movie later? What if these were the main highlights and you end up feeling that the movie is flat because you've seen the key sequences?"

    On the other hand, friends who were looking forward to The Dark Knight and knew nothing about Iron Man when I first told them are now counting the days for the movie's release. It's being released out here on April 30th, a day before a public holiday (May Day) so I guess the turnout at the cinemas are gonna be HUGE.
  • Jae Senn
    I hope it's not marketed for kiddies!!! Come on, they should have learned from Batman Begins. In the previous Batman installments that were royally screwed-over by that Joel Schumacher guy, THOSE were marketed for kiddies. And most of them sucked.

    When DC decided to reboot the Batman franchise, they threw that Schumacher formula out of the window and what did we get? A darker, edgier and more ass-kicking Batman that everyone loved.

    I really hope that Iron Man is a movie with a good flow and is actually matured instead of being a kiddie movie. That would suck royally. Almost one year of CGI effects work for a movie targeted at kids? I hope not.
  • Gary
    PG 13 Or no PG 13,
    this is till being marketed to the kiddies.
    dont count on a stane suicide.
  • LutherStark
    It might be overdose for those of us who search the web for everything IRONMAN, but really the MAJOR portion that go & see the movie are only getting a small dose. It's just another superhero flick too the mass of movie watchers. I'm know I watch everything or read everything on the web that has to do w/ 'ol shellhead(reading the movie novel currently), 'cause I'm a huge fan & have waited for this movie to be made since Empire Strikes Back. In fact I haven't been this excited since opening day of Empire. Bring on ANYTHING IRON MAN!
  • 790
    I woundnt be surprised if Stane kills himself thru another metaphoric way.

    Get my non-spoiler drift..?
  • Jimmy the C
    book = comic books
  • Jimmy the C
    Kel,
    I can't believe you said that about Stane in the comics. And in a thread about being spoiled, no less.

    I don't know it the movie will follow the book (I'll have to avoid this thread in case someone answers and reverse-spoils me.)

    Grrrr.
  • I am typically the type of person that purposely avoids clips and images from upcoming movies that I'm excited about. During the hype for Star Wars Episode II, I wouldn't even watch the trailers! In the theatre, I'd close my eys and hum to myself to block it out. If I was watching TV and a spot came on, I'd change the channel. Needless to say I was totally disappointed with all the Star Wars prequels, and whether or not I watched trailers or clips didn't change that feeling either way. I have high hopes for Iron Man, and I do think I'll exercise some restraint in the coming weeks. But I gotta tell you, when I watched that clip of Tony Stark testing out his boots and gloves, I almost peed my pants. I think if they do much more, it will be overload, but at this point, it feels just about right.
  • Gary
    Nikki finke recently did a collumn saying paramount wants to downplay expectations for the film .
    they are are concerned about all the big predictions for opening weekend
    they are saying they would be happy with$ 45 million dollars.
    Nikki doesnt believe that.
    she says people she talks to says the film will open no lower then 50-60 million.but its intersting that paramount is apparently worried about Iron Man overload too.
  • 790
    This hype kinda reminds me of the campaign that the original Batman film did. (Keaton / Nicolson) -the video game.

    I remember back then it was Batman everything. They had the Batman cups at Taco Bell before the film was even released.
    Anyway the hype payed off and the film was huge.
  • 790
    Yea KEL I saw that book and I did skip to the end.





    Major Spoiler.


    Kinda.



    Well not really.





    IRON MAN. Survives.
  • H.O.M.E.R.
    Vic, i do not think we are overwhelmed with much action. Yes we have seen close to 6 minutes of the film, but what other movie doesnt? Throught history every movies always shows about 5 mins of the footage and most of them rock! LOTR trilogy showed plenty of stuff, but with the good story everyone enjoyed it. I think our oppinions are a little biased just for the fact we know so much about iron man. but we must remember we are a minority to what the movie studios are shooting for. They want to attact the masses to come see it, and witout knowing the story and watching the movie, they will love it. beleive me we will not be dissapointed, since i have already read the novelization and have to say that i am super hyped about this.
    In regards to the game, i dont think it will suck, we gotta compare this to all the previous games, and what better to have IM have his own game, go from ground to air and all around seamlessly destroying stuff, its just a must have. The only thing i beleive will suck about the game is the lenght. Something tells me this will be a game that can be beat in a weekend of straight gaming.
  • KEL
    ....Not to mention my brother bought the novelization of the film and read it, damn near told me everything lol!

    The important thing is, he said it was good.

    .....and the Mandarin IS in it in some form.

    ^Sorry.
  • Oh my GOD...MUST STOP ALL THESE WORDS ON MY SCREEN...MUST SEE MORE IRON MAN CLIPS...PLEASE SHOW US THE NEXT 17 MINUTES BEFORE MY BRAIN IMPLODES...
  • KEL
    And I don't care if the game is crap.

    It's a game about frickin' Iron Man, JUST Iron Man, I'm buying it.
  • KEL
    The Onion vid was ridiculous (IMO) lol.

    At first I wasn't worried at all that we'd seen too much of the film, I was like "Yeah! Iron Man! Bring it on!" but after reading some of the reviews where people said that we'd already seen all the action sequences in the footage already released from the film I was rather dissapointed.

    Also what dissapointed me (I know this is trivial) was that some people had made comments that the film was severely lacking a score, and that the fight between Iron Monger and Iron man at the end of the film is about as long as the F4's fight with Dr Doom was at the end of F4. But in the comix, if I recall correctly, Iron Monger (Stane in armor) and Iron Man fought only once, the fight wasn't very long, and Stane committed suicide at the end of the story, so perhaps that's why the final fight in the film isn't very long. Still, that's kinda dissapointing (IMO).

    But if it's as good as the first Spider-Man film I'll be more than pleased.

    I still can't wait to see the film, but I wish they had more action sequences in the film that we hadn't already seen.
  • Kieran
    Vic,

    Good to hear you didn't take offense. I didn't mean to cause any.

    I'm a game-movie sceptic, as I've not played a truely good one yet. I can garuntee it will be fun though, these games normally are. I'm a PS3 owner and i'll probably buy it when it comes out purely for the fun factor. I just dont think it's gonna be anything that we haven't seen before many times (only in Iron Man form, which might make it worth you buying certainly, lol). One of my friends thinks it'll be good, personally i'm yet to be convinced.

    As I say, that doesn't mean it won't be fun. Just not any more than that, lol. Movie looks sweet though, and I'm a huge Robert Downey Jr. fan (kiss kiss bang bang, anyone?)

    K
  • 790
    Vic wait til the game has been out before you invest in a game platform.
    Typically these games are pretty average.
  • Joan
    Not everyone is like us though, on the internet all the time looking up clips and info, so they are just seeing the commercials and such, so while some are feeling overexposed (Mostly of our own doing, but I'm still excitied to see the movie, because I know we haven't seen all the good bits) the general populace is not really feeling that way.

    I'm a huge Lord of the Rings fan (Books and Movies) and I was always looking up pictures and video clips and I never felt like I spoiled the movies for myself.
  • K, I took no offense.

    Do you really think the game won't be great? I was actually thinking of investing in a game platform just because of it...

    Vic
  • Kieran
    Gary, To be honest i didn't mean here specifically. I turned on the telly last night and as soon as i did the trailer was on telly, I flick to sites and most have iron man game or movie news as headliners. I don't want to sit in the cinema and go 'see that, and that, and that' as I have before.

    As you say, it hasn't been a banner year for movies, and this does look like a good movie. Combined with how much is riding on this for Marvel i can understand why, but I'm in the 'lets just wait for it to be released, stop releasing stuff!' camp.

    I still think the game will be crap, despite how good it looks to some!

    K
  • Gary
    Kieran, when you say coverage i hope you mean the clips.
    I dont think vic is over covering the film.
    its the first summer hit of the season.
    It hasent exactly been a banner year for movies.
  • Kieran
    This movie looks cool, and i'll definatly go see it. But I am getting sick to death of all this coverage, there is just too much.

    The onion clip is brilliant, absolutly fantastic.
  • Gary
    I have been avoiding the clips,
    but it does seem like there are a lot of them.
    i have been thinking lately that Iron Man might be this years Batman Begins.
    its expected to open with 100 million instead
    it does 48- 50 million and makes it to 200 million anyway based on excellent word of mouth.
    ( and thats just domestic)
    this movie WILL be a hit,
    But it may happen more gradually then we expect.
  • 790
    Totally with you Vic. I don't need to see any more but at the same time a lot of people "havnt" been crusing the web and have no idea about it other than the poster ad.

    The Onion story is halarious.
    (Looks like someone over at The Onion reads Screen Rant).
    +
    Think about how many trailers will get on the dvd.
    (If your into trailers).
  • Namor, lol, I know EXACTLY what you mean. And much like with sugar, it's taking some self control to keep away from more footage and pics. :-)

    Vic
  • Namor
    OK I spent a full 20 mins on the LG site and I could not be more pumped by seeing better shots of the film. Yes I too want the 3 weeks to zoom by, so I am on the fence we are sort of in overload but it is like suger - I want more...
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