Advanced Hype: Marvel, ‘Mortal Instruments’ and More

Marvel Cinematic UniverseOver the weekend, I saw “Aloha.” This isn’t a discussion of that movie, but one of the fact that ages and ages ago I was excited that Emma Stone (my favorite actress) was attached to star in a Cameron Crowe (a director I generally like) film.

It wasn’t till we were driving to the theater that I realized this was that movie. Because I had been hyped, and then utterly and completely forgotten about it.

This happens to me a lot. When Marvel announced their huge lineup for the next few phases of the cinematic universe, I just groaned. It was so much advanced hype over movies that hadn’t been made or even written. I had Marvel fatigue before I had even seen Captain America: Winter Soldier. (I was a bit behind at the time.) I could already envision the nerd outrage about casting decisions, and the months upon months of speculation about storyline and whether or not they would stick with the comics (and which comics?!) and how the movies would fit into the existing universe.

My all-time favorite YA series, “The Mortal Instruments” is getting a “reboot” after its disastrous film adaptation. The TV show is slated for 2016, and I have been watching the show’s Instagram account like a rabid animal for casting announcements and unhelpful close up shots of set design. I’ve been thrilled with all the casting decisions.  I’m already too excited, and I’ll probably be burned out on it by the time the pilot airs.

And then there are the trailers. Releasing a teaser for the teaser trailer, attaching it to an awards show commercial break, showing 15 seconds here and 15 seconds here, working up to a three minute mega-trailer that merits screenshots and “deep dives” where every frame is analyzed by fangirls and boys to see if they can discern the plot and trajectory of the characters before they even have the international premiere. It’s exhausting! It’s too much! It’s fodder for the short attention spans of The People of The Internet, who – like me – forget about something if it’s not in their face every ten minutes. 

But how do you create a sustainable marketing campaign in a world where an announcement on Twitter has a shelf life of about nine minutes? I propose we all take the surprise method. Zero discussion. No will-they-won’t-they (ahem, Twin Peaks), just “hey look, that show you like is coming back in style.” It shows up on your TV or computer, you watch it, it’s satisfying, you didn’t lose sleep over months of speculation. And then you’re excited at the right time.