Paramount and Universal will be among the movie studios promoting their upcoming projects during this year's Super Bowl broadcast. While the NFL championship game is one of the biggest events for sports fans, the telecast has something for everyone - including film buffs. Due to the high ratings the Super Bowl sees annually, it's become tradition for the coveted commercial breaks to include spots for some of the year's most anticipated tentpoles. With a guaranteed large audience glued to their screens, it's an ideal opportunity to debut new footage.
Super Bowl LII takes place February 4, so there's still some time before the general public knows who will be advertising during the big game. However, this is something planned well in advance, and some of Hollywood's most prominent studios are in the midst of preparing key rollouts as they look to raise awareness for their upcoming blockbusters. As cinephiles await confirmation as to which specific titles will be promoted, it's been revealed Universal and Paramount will be taking part in the festivities.
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This news comes courtesy of Variety, who mention the two companies also bought ad time for last year's Super Bowl. It's no surprise Universal will be featured in some capacity, since NBC is televising the game. Both Universal and NBC are under the NBCUniversal umbrella, and there are few things corporations like more than synergy between platforms. Recent examples of this strategy include Disney unveiling the full trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi on ESPN's (fellow Disney company) Monday Night Football and the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom teaser debuting on NBC's Thursday Night Football.
Neither studio was able to reveal which films will get Super Bowl spots, but it's easy to theorize based on the schedule. In the case of Paramount, they have the likes of the third Cloverfield movie (April 20) and Mission: Impossible 6 (July 27) coming soon. Their Transformers spinoff, Bumblebee, is another possibility, though that one does not reach theaters until December, so there's no rush to start marketing now. In addition to June's Fallen Kingdom, Universal has Pacific Rim Uprising on the docket for March. These are the films that seem most plausible, since historically the Super Bowl is used as a platform for genre pictures with mainstream appeal. Smaller works like A Quiet Place and Blockers theoretically could get a commercial, but studios are more likely to pay the exorbitant cost for a spot (in excess of $5 million) for a would-be blockbuster.
It'll be interesting to see what other studios join the party, as Universal and Paramount are the only two known to be locked in as of this writing. Fox has New Mutants, Deadpool 2, and Alita: Battle Angel as projects that could be ripe for a spot, while Disney's got A Wrinkle in Time and Avengers Infinity War among their biggest releases in the early part of 2018. With rumors persisting a Solo: A Star Wars Story preview is forthcoming, Lucasfilm could raise awareness for their spinoff exponentially with Super Bowl ad time. The picture should become clearer in a matter of weeks.
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Source: Variety