Mousekingdom Blog

Going to the movies is something I love to do; the atmosphere, the BIG screen, the awesome sound effect… It is all part on the experience that makes seeing a movie in a cinema special. My last Disney movie was Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man’s Chest (I guess that counts for a lot of us). I loved the movie, and also loved the new Walt Disney logo at the beginning of the movie. It makes me want to go to the parks. But isn’t this a missed opportunity? Could they not add, before the movie starts, a nice beautiful advertisement of the Disney Parks? Including information on how and where to book. If they would add this before every movie as an attachment would this not have a very positive effect on the people in the theatres? How many people went to see Pirates but have never been to a Disney park? Many for sure! (I talked to people who liked the movie but never seen the ride it was modeled after) So before the movie start they should show the park and get the people interested for a visit. Show the link even more as they did with the small intro before the movie starts.

I am sure this would bring new people to the park. In the US they could add the Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World, In the Europe release Disneyland Resort Paris could be added, and of course Hong Kong Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Resort could be added on there region releases. (Although I must admit I would love a preview of all parks before the movie). Not only “Pirates” is a missed opportunity, but any Disney pictures should pick this up.

On DVD the possibilities are even bigger. Add a small preview on the disk before the movie and add a special feature of the parks on the disk with all the info they need to visit any of the parks world wide. Also the movies sold to the TV stations could benefit of this. The preview of the park at the beginning of the movie would be reaching many households worldwide.

What is the reason they do not do this I ask myself sometimes? Is it to costly? (I think the return would be bigger then the cost). Or are there any legal issues regarding advertisement before your own productions? Or is it the internal corporate ‘one department charges the other department’ to be able to take advantage of things like this one of the issues? (If the theme park wants to appear before the movie, the park needs to pay the movie department… I will not get to deep into that issue regarding internal charges inside companies, but sometimes this could resolved into loosing other income, this Disney park pre-show being a good example)

Personally I think it is a missed chance. Add the parks before every movie in the cinema and before the movie starts on DVD and you’ll have people that will visit the parks. I don’t think all movie goers will set the link straight away to the park, but this could pursue them to go and see what is beyond the picture they just seen.

I know I make it sound simple but I do understand there are a lot of problems that need to be resolved to do something like this. If not, would they not have done this already?

If not possible before the picture, trigger some advertisement during the picture. Look how they did it in the movie “Cat in the Hat” from Universal.

This is amazing! It’s like a ride at an amusement park!
You mean, like at…Universal Studios.
[Laughing and showing tickets of the park] Cha-ching.

What if some of these where added in Disney Movies;

Cars: “I wanted to try out the Richard Petty Experience at the Disney Speedway before my next race”
Pirates: “There people out there that would pay for a ticket to ride a boat like this in a park”
Buzz from Toy Story: “I could and should be a main attraction at a theme park”
…

Only Goofing around of course (but I guess I should not give up my day job)

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 31st, 2006 at 12:37 pm and is filed under Disney Company, Disney Movies, Disney Theme Parks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.