LOTR Star Says D&D Marketing Could Have Spelled Disaster Hayley Williams As part of a mammoth Deadline feature tracing the making of the Lord of The Rings trilogy for its 20th anniversary, Sean Astin has reflected on a disastrous early marketing campaign that treated the movies with a "Dungeons & Dragons thematic approach." According to Astin, it was only after a pseudo-premiere and massive party at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival that the film's marketing shifted tone. As described by many of the stakeholders who were interviewed for the feature, Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy was unique at the time, and consequently many of those working to market, finance, and produce the films had no idea how to handle it. At the time, fantasy movies were generally considered bad box office bets, though Astin relates that early marketing efforts still treated The Lord Of The Rings like a standard fantasy romp. "I remember the initial marketing campaign sort of missed the mark, treated it as kind of a Dungeons & Dragons thematic approach and missed the classical feel," said Sean Astin, who played Samwise Gamgee in the trilogy. "I remember all of us, our hearts were sinking because we're like, 'Oh, no, maybe the studio or the marketing folks are expecting something different than what we think we’ve created.'" Continue Reading at GameSpot https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

As part of a mammoth Deadline feature tracing the making of the Lord of The Rings trilogy for its 20th anniversary, Sean Astin has reflected on a disastrous early marketing campaign that treated the movies with a "Dungeons & Dragons thematic approach." According to Astin, it was only after a pseudo-premiere and massive party at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival that the film's marketing shifted tone.

As described by many of the stakeholders who were interviewed for the feature, Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy was unique at the time, and consequently many of those working to market, finance, and produce the films had no idea how to handle it. At the time, fantasy movies were generally considered bad box office bets, though Astin relates that early marketing efforts still treated The Lord Of The Rings like a standard fantasy romp.

"I remember the initial marketing campaign sort of missed the mark, treated it as kind of a Dungeons & Dragons thematic approach and missed the classical feel," said Sean Astin, who played Samwise Gamgee in the trilogy. "I remember all of us, our hearts were sinking because we're like, 'Oh, no, maybe the studio or the marketing folks are expecting something different than what we think we’ve created.'"

Continue Reading at GameSpot

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