Synergy of The Grinch (2018)

Illumination - Universal Pictures

1. About the movie

Earliest release is on november 7, 2018. Up for re release in both 2020, 2021, 2022 to capture the profit in holiday seasons. First release in 66 countries, gross worldwide - $526,760,632

• 2020 re release in 7 countries, panning from North America to Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacifics with Australia, grossing to $896,798
• 2021 re release in 6 countries, grossing to $370,834
• 2022 re release in Croatia, Australia and New Zealand, grossing to $13,897,043 worldwide, with 0% from domestic market
• All 3 rerun saw the inclusion of Croatia and Australia, contributing for more than a third of total gross over all years

• Budget: $75 million 
• Gross profit: Gross US & Canada - $271,384,731

                Gross worldwide - $526,760,632

Directed by Scott Mosier and Yarrow Cheney. It received mixed reviews from the lack of the creativity of the movie from critics and stray away from the anti consumerism and cynical take from the original publication, while having incredible voice acting performance and amusing animation.

2. About Illumination and Universal 

 

The movie is produced by Illumination and distributed by Universal Pictures. 

• Illumination is founded by Chris Meledandri in 2007, and co-owned by Chris Meledandri (CEO and credited as producer in various feature) and Universal Pictures
• When founded, Illumination position it within the NBCUniversal (Comcast cologmerate), meaning it would retain creative control and Universal Pictures would distribute the film
• They tend to outsource their movies from Illumination Studio Paris, rather than producing in house. However, they want to keep projects’ budget down to $60 - 80 million, comparing to average budget of Disney’s animation of over $100 million 

• Universal Pictures is and American film production and distribution company, founded in 1912. It’s one of the 5 oldest and most powerful studios of Hollywood. Its studios are located in California and its offices are in New York.
• Universal officially became a Comcast subsidiary in 2011, merging into NBCUniversal. It acquires distribution right to Illumination as stated above, and Dreamworks in 2016 after its deal with 20th Century Fox ended. Other subsidiary and production company in relation is Focus Features, Working Title Films, Carnival Films, Amblin Partners and Perfect World Pictures. 

3. About The Grinch's promotion 

• Music score is composed by Danny Elfman, with direct work from Tyler, the Creator to produce 2 original features: “I Am the Grinch” and “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”. The album consists of 25 tracks ranging in length, and distributed by Columbia Records, which is the record label of Tyler and owned by Sony Music. 

• The Grinch promotion is quite peculiar, as it sponsored multiple NBA athletes and rappers to promote the line. In particular, “Shout-out to ‘The Grinch,’ shout-out Universal, shout-out to my agent,” JaVale McGee told the interviewer. Similarly, there was The Grinch advertisement featuring J.R. Smith gets a phone call from the cartoon character Grinch himself. The main target audience of NBA’s biggest viewership: adults aged 18-34, differs from the main kid viewership in the Grinch animated movie.

• Some other media synergy promotion would consist of PUR Cosmetic Lines with green theme eyeshadow and color changing lip balm, China Glaze Nail Lacquer with similar glittery green and original illustration in the cap. Moreover, as an unrelated featuring appearance in Wonderful pistachios.  

• The only slightly related target age of audience is the IHOP limited edition breakfast set, which is fitting to families and friends. 
• The explanation for that strange outreach of multiple audiences is that the distribution and marketing company wants to blur the line of product awareness to all demographics. As media converge and consumer habits converge, appearing randomly and implanting a strong online presence would help The Grinch to reach more people and push potential consumption of the movie outside just watching the movie. 
• Moreover, as the Grinch is a familiar branch of creative work of all families, it evokes a sense of nostalgia and holiday joy, which automatically secures it of being family favorites in the Christmas screening season. 
• Deadline reports that the budget for promoting the Grinch globally was $80 million, $5 million more than its production budget. 
• In an era of unceasing appetites and fleeting attention spans, perhaps a movie’s best bet is to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks, even if it happens to be at J.R. Smith’s expense. - Miles Surrey for The Ringer.com 
  

4. About Theme Park

• The Grinch has always been quite the attraction of Universal Studios Theme Park in Hollywood annually, with a dedicated decorated plaza named Grinchmas™. It includes a live mascot of the Grinch, his dog Max, other Who characters and participating lighting The christmas tree and meet and greet with Cindy Lou. The event started in 2000 and persists until now, with occasional viral videos of the Grinch interaction online. 

• This theme park is actually modeled by the Grinch Who Stole Christmas (2000), also produced and distributed by Universal Studios, and is trademarked.