How sleek trailers, Hugh Jackman and Deadpool rumours helped drive Fox's Logan marketing campaign
20th Century Fox has been widely and heavily promoting ‘Logan’, utilising the star-power of Hugh Jackman and clever trailer launches, hot on the heels of the widely-praised campaign that secured Ryan Reynold’s Deadpool as the top earning R-Rated movie ever made.
Logan's Wolverine
The movie, loosely based on Mark Miller's Old Man Logan graphic novel, serves as the 10th entry in the X-Men franchise and the third standalone Wolverine flick. It is the first to move into R-Rated territory and is tonally different from its predecessors - something the studio was reportedly nervous about early in the campaign.
The studio has been adventurous in its use of trailers to prepare the public for the shift away from the absurd, cataclysmic misdeeds that saw X-Men Apocalypse crumble critically to a more restrained passing-of-the-torch tale reminiscent of old westerns.
Below are all the trailers in the order they were released by Fox on YouTube.
Logan Official Trailer
An exposition heavy trailer, scored by Johnny Cash's 'Hurt'. It prepared fans for an alternative take on the X-Men universe.
Logan Trailer 2
Jarring some with an immediate Pringles product placement, this slot scored with Kaleo's ‘Way Down We Go’ informed viewers they were getting the goriest Wolverine committed to film yet.
It features a courteous nod to the comics, X-23 is seen reading the X-Men, making the Stan Lee powerhouse comics canon in the X-Men cinematic universe.
Super Bowl slot 'Grace'
This 30" $5m investment lifted the lid on Logan, again enforcing the action the movie has to offer.
You Know the Drill
An uncut scene, at one minute long, delivers more insight into the character.
Sunseeker
A stylised black and white slot that shows how Logan's subdued stint as a limo driver comes to an end.
Laura.Mov
A found footage promo, shot poorly, seemingly off a mobile device, shows just how similar X-23 and Logan's origins truly are.
On the poster front, huge media buys showed Logan embracing a new sidekick. Extending the reach of the campaign, Jackman, who has 7.53m followers on Twitter, often shared advertorial content, gaining substantial engagement and media coverage.
Work in progress on the 405. pic.twitter.com/NIuf2ffdoy
— Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) 27 December 2016
Preview. LOGAN. 3.3.17 pic.twitter.com/aMSf4ydCF3 — Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) 14 November 2016
LOGAN pic.twitter.com/IeIvcvFyTE
— Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) 5 October 2016
Further to this, generating buzz around two Fox movies was the following image, sparking wild speculation of a future crossover between Wolverine and Ryan Reynold's Deadpool. Pierce Brosnan was also placed to play X-Men character Cable via this image.
#wolverinebonddeadpool pic.twitter.com/AjOGdXtElX — Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) 17 January 2017
Posters and design played a vital role in the drive, Fox even hired prominent artists to reimagine the Logan poster and IMAX ran and distributed an exclusive poster.
Six award-winning comic book artists have created custom, limited-edition LOGAN homage posters. Get yours today: https://t.co/ydUgILUTT0 pic.twitter.com/gJ48b3g8Ck — 20th Century Fox (@20thcenturyfox) 17 February 2017
On top of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, Instagram's strengths were reflected in the sharing of black and white stills providing more insight into the movie.
And Fox reached out to other brands, its partnership with Manchester United saw the club's all-time leading goal scorer Wayne Rooney promote the movie in an action-packed slot comparing the strength of both 'legends'.
Nobody is born a legend. You fight to become one. #Logan #HisTimeHasCome@20CenturyFoxUK pic.twitter.com/Hc7xp1EzDX — Manchester United (@ManUtd) 15 February 2017
Additionally it touched down with the Hydraulic Press Channel on YouTube, a sponsored video that saw Wolverine's adamantium claws.