Film advertising essay

Wreck it Ralph was Disney’s 52^nd animated classic and it was a desired and big film of 2013. The expectations of the film were different dependant on the audience. Children expect a bright, fun and happy animated Disney film but adults and teens could expect different outcomes. Because the film is computer animation it was expected to be a Disney-Pixar by some audiences but Pixar were not part of this film. The expectation of the film was mostly matched to the final film. The trailers advertised a good amount of the film and didn't give too much away. Although, in trailers quite a few well-known game characters were shown and represented as if they were going to be important characters, like Clyde, DR Egg man and Bowser. Also, the DVD cases show various video game characters that appear in the film but they are not main characters like gamer audiences may hope. The UK DVD release has the main characters on the cover[1]. But it also has 5 well-known video game characters that only appear in the film. For example, Sonic, he is in the film as a digital image with only 1 line. But him being on the cover makes it look like he is going to be in it for more than 1 line and a few unnoticeable cameos.

Japanese Poster

Different Wreck it Ralph film posters were released in different countries. The American poster was very simple and had Ralph in the foreground and behind him all well-known video game characters. Only 1 main character is shown, the others were not advertised much; same with the trailers. In American trailers they showed well-known existing characters and Ralph. On the Spanish poster it shows the 2 main characters with the phrase ‘Game Over’ in English with all other text in Spanish. Game over doesn't seem to make sense to the actual film, it just relates to the fact that it is about video games. The best film poster I was able to find was for the Japanese release. This was the most accurate representation of the film. It showed all of the main characters in the Sugar rush world – where most of the story is set. In the top left there are 5 other video game characters to show that there are well- known characters in it, but they aren't important characters.

When the first trailer was released many Expos were being held. At both the Electronic Entertainment Expo and Disney’s D23 Expo a mock arcade game was constructed with a video showing Fix-It Felix game play as the main preview of the film. This drew in a large amount of fans who want to know even more about the film.

Disney held a small amount of test screenings mainly only showing unfinished footage. The Rotoscopers were some of the first people to attend one of these test screenings, they said that they enjoyed the cameos from real video game characters and Ralph’s character driven motivation. They gave the footage 4 stars and an assessment of “Very good”. There was a lot of ‘hype’ about the film at the time of test screenings, it was said that it “does for video games what Toy Story did for toys”[2]. The film did very well at test screenings so nothing really had to be changed before release.

After the first trailer was released on June 6, 2012 Disney released browser-based versions of Sugar rush, Fix-It Felix Jr. and Hero’s Duty[3]. Then a second trailer was released on September 12, 2012. The film was due to be released in February of 2013 in the UK. In the lead up to release Disney took over London’s Brick Lane for a weekend. Here they created a pixel-themed street display; they named it 8-bit Lane. They created life- size pixelated objects such as a dog, taxi cab, trees, post box, pigeons, CCTV cameras and clouds. They also hung a giant poster with pixelated Ralph and the text “loading in cinemas”. After 8-bit Lane was dismantled and interactive website was created where you could explore the street from large photos. There was also a feature where you could click on all the pixel references and try and find them all. [4]

Wreck it Ralph had a large amount of merchandise from figures to stationary. Disney even made giant Ralph-style hands and Fix-It Felix belts and hammers. I personally think that Disney missed out on a massive Merchandising opportunity. They didn't create a proper console-based game. They did release a side-scrolling platform game for the Wii, 3DS and DS but it got negative reviews. It was seen as a story extension, taking place after the events of the film. It was released at the same time as the film’s American release. Characters from the film do appear in other games released afterwards. For example Ralph is in ‘Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed’ as a racer and both Ralph and Vanellope are playable characters in ‘Disney Infinity’.

Rotten Tomatoes reviews show that 86% of critics gave a positive response and 87% of audience liked it. Most critics who gave negative reviews simply pointed out that you could play an actual video game instead. The overall review said “Equally entertaining for both kids and parents old enough to catch the references, Wreck-It-Ralph is a clever, colourful adventure built on familiar themes and joyful nostalgia.”[5] I think this review fits nicely in with Disney’s expectations and targets. IMDB has a rating for 7.8

When the film was released in cinemas there was a 2-3 month gap between America and UK. There was a gap in release because for UK release they wanted it to be shown in Cinemas during school half-term to maximise ticket sales. The US DVD release was in March and the UK release was June. There was a large gap between countries release which is common when a large American film is released.

Wreck it Ralph is full of references. The amount of video games they reference is surprising. There are so many hidden meaning and cameos that most audiences aren't expected to pick up on. There are also a wide range of obvious video game references such as a vast amount of classic game characters; some recognisable, some not so much. There are parts of graffiti that relate to games such as Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft and Street Fighter. Even the original story games relate to real ones; Fix-it-Felix is like Donkey Kong, Hero’s Duty is like Gears of War and Sugar Rush has part of a course that looks like Mario Kart’s Rainbow Road.[6]