Avengers: Infinity War To Get MCU's Biggest Promotional Campaign
Avengers: Infinity War is poised to take over the intergalactic box office, and Marvel is ready to guarantee its dominance with the biggest marketing campaign for any of their superhero flicks to date. According to Deadline, the movie is set to get a massive promotional push costing upwards of $150 million. For comparison, Marvel recently devoted $140 million to promoting Spider-Man: Homecoming and $80 million to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
Marvel is set to team up with companies like Coca-Cola, Quicken Loans, and Infiniti for TV spots inspired by (and even featuring) some of the movie's characters and themes. (The Coca-Cola partnership is reportedly estimated at $40 million alone.) The partnerships, which will also include in-store promotions and interactive digital campaigns, are set to premiere within the next couple of weeks and continue airing past the movie's late April release date.
"Some of these partners are new to the family and some have been friends of the studio for years," said Mindy Hamilton, Marvel's Senior Vice President of Global Partnerships and Marketing. "What they all share, though, is a commitment to innovate in their industries and excel at the way they craft their stories. We couldn't be more excited about collaborating with them in preparation for this historic release."
Other companies getting in on the action include Ziploc, Go-GURT, Yoplait, Synchrony Bank, American Airlines, Duracelle, Unilever, Quaker, Chevron, and Samsung. The United Kingdom's OnePlus is also set to launch an Infinity War edition of their Qualcomm Snapdragon smart phone, while Chris Hemsworth, who plays Thor, and Scarlett Johansson, who plays Black Widow, are joining for a PSA for the charity Stand Up To Cancer.
"This movie is a celebration that we've been building toward for the past 10 years," Hamilton continued. "We feel fortunate to have partnered with brands who share that excitement, and it's been an incredibly rewarding experience to see their creative visions come to life."
That massive marketing campaign should pay off well for Marvel, with Infinity War already tracking for a likely record breaking $200 million opening. The movie broke Fandango's record for one-day sales in just six hours when tickets were made available in March, and the first trailer also had a record 230 million views in its first 24 hours across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media channels.
Avengers: Infinity War will unite dozens of the MCU's many superheroes, including Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man, Mark Ruffalo's the Hulk, and Chris Evans' Captain America, to fight against Thanos' (Josh Brolin) quest to conquer the universe. Other superheroes confirmed to appear in the film include Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland), Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), T'Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), and Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch).
Also featured in the film are Bucky Barnes/the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Vision (Paul Bettany), Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olson), Wong (Benedict Wong), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Groot (Vin Diesel), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Drax (Dave Bautista), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), James Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle), Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie), and Shuri (Letitia Wright). Tom Hiddleston, who plays Loki, and Benicio del Toro, who plays the Collector, are also set to appear, while Peter Dinklage has an undisclosed role.
Captain America: Civil War helmers Anthony and Joe Russo direct the film and its untitled sequel, both of which are based off scripts from Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Avengers: Infinity War has an April 27, 2018 release date, while the untitled fourth Avengers movie has a May 3, 2019 release date.