Fifty Shades Darker

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What’s most surprising is that there doesn’t seem to be anything noticeable in the campaign that hints at recognition of or reaction to the criticism to the first movie. That came under fire for being about as woke as a doormat regarding women, putting them in the place of wanting to be dominated and essentially abused both physically and emotionally if it means someone will love them. So it’s odd to see that the marketing here keeps that going, showing that Anastasia is ready and willing to throw away the good life she’s built up since leaving Christian as soon as he bats his eyes and demands she take off her underwear.

The LEGO Batman Movie

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This is a fun campaign. It just is. We can talk about how one thing or another did or didn’t work, but it just has a spirit about it that keeps up the humor from The LEGO Movie from years ago and focuses is around the character and mythology of Batman. It’s all about selling that sense of humor and making sure everyone who thought the first movie was a good time at the movies turns out for this one as well.

John Wick Chapter 2

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The thing that made the first movie such a hit was that it was fun. It was ridiculous and remarkably low-concept but a fully-committed performance by Reeves in particular helped sell it to a crowd that wanted a mindless escape of a movie. So the campaign here has been wise to hit many of those same notes, presenting this as a continuation of the same, almost a remake more than a sequel. Lionsgate just wants people to come out and so are presenting the least challenging message to the public, a strategy I can’t really argue with.