A Marketing Timeline For (Most) Major Releases

After months of searching, you finally find a movie that fits your target audience, but when you Google the film, all that comes up is the IMDB page. How is your audience supposed to find your showtime in a sea of algorithmic overload? As algorithms continue to crowd out movie advertisements, marketing for upcoming films is falling more on the theater owners than ever. Here are some tips to know where to start.

Most importantly, you will need to find a reliable source for assets. As AI continues to progress, it is becoming harder to distinguish studio-provided assets from AI-generated fan materials. Google, ChatGPT, and social media sites are not reliable sources for trailers, social media ads, one sheets, activity sheets, or any other advertisement. Often, it is against your licensing agreement to advertise the film with anything but studio-provided materials unless you have approval from the marketing team. The best way to find approved studio marketing assets is to sign up for the studio newsletters, join the in-theater marketing webinars, and keep in close communication with the in-theater marketing team. Even smaller studios often have an asset portal and a contact person willing to provide them. If you don’t want to do all that work, Clark Film Buying has all of the studio-provided marketing materials for each film compiled in an easy-to-read, 24/7 accessible format. After you know where to find assets, the next step is learning when to use them.

This is when to start thinking about branded concession orders. Most branded concession companies start taking orders for studio films 8 months in advance, so the theater needs to determine the quantity of popcorn vessels and other branded concessions they would like to order using previous data from comparable films. When theaters order branded concessions, they are often ordering without knowing what the final product looks like because of studio embargoes. The closer to the release date and the more popular the movie is, the more likely they are to sell out.

Trailer programming should always be one of your first forward-facing steps in advertising a film. The timeline for trailers varies greatly, but generally runs from 6 months to one year before release. Your theater should start showing a trailer for an upcoming film as soon as possible without taking vital advertising time away from movies releasing sooner. The more popular the film and the closer to release, the higher the frequency a trailer should be shown in your theater. Trailers should also be tailored to fit the movie showing on screen. Studios provide trailer programming guidelines through their in-theater marketing teams.

Poster designs are usually released between 2 to 4 months before a release, but this doesn’t mean your theater will automatically receive one. The poster will be sent depending on availability and the time the film is booked. Posters are not guaranteed to come to your theater, so having a backup option like a digital poster case or printing one locally is recommended.

This is also when some social media assets will be available. You can start promoting films on social media at this point, but you should use your social media assets sparingly to not create anticipation too early.

The in-theater marketing team will now be releasing menu ideas, drink ideas, and social media marketing guidelines for your theater. Tune into webinars or follow their newsletters to find their advice.

Around one month before a film releases, we usually see tickets go on sale. This varies as well, but this is generally when studios release the bulk of their social media marketing assets. This is also when your full marketing push should start. One month before a release is when audiences will start looking for showtimes, social media algorithms will start pushing celebrity press tours, and studios will start their national marketing push as well. Your theater will need to harness this buzz and start your own local marketing push using social media sites, trailer programming, and community outreach. 

It’s crunch time! At least one week before the release date, showtimes should be up on all ticketing sites and advertising platforms. Giveaways and local events surrounding the film should get a final marketing push in the 2 weeks leading up to the release date to remind people, along with marketing for the film itself. 

After the film is released but still on screen at your theater, sporadically advertise that showtimes are still available without overshadowing ads for newer films. Bookers are usually able to inform your theater that a movie will be final 4 days before the last showing, so advertising a “last chance opportunity” to see the film is a great way to bring a final surge of fans in.

When opening day finally comes, you will be grateful that you spent the time to market this film to your local audience. National marketing from the studios is important, but marketing that also comes from a trusted, local theater can make all the difference in engaging your audience. If you need any marketing resources, please reach out to the knowledgeable staff at Clark Film Buying.