All of Us Strangers was finally released in UK cinemas last week after several weeks of high profile advance reviews and content marketing ploys. Searchlight Pictures has been astounded by the results, as within a week, this independent film has raked in $1,319,895 in the United Kingdom. What has contributed to this phenomenal opening weekend for an independent film (despite being backed by its umbrella company Walt Disney Studios)? The marketing campaign has been an essential component in the film’s ultimate opening success, appealing to a much wider market than the typical independent film audience cohort.
Marketing – the underrated talent
The Barbie and Oppenheimer phenomenon last year not only brought back people to theatres, but it also brought film marketing back into the mainstream discussion. Barbie managed to create a dynamic campaign that of course had Warner Brothers backing, but it also had organic backing from brands all around the world that were only too delighted to jump on the Barbie bandwagon. They were desperate to align their brand with Barbie and its synonymous colour pink, providing the studio with the sweetest kind of publicity – the free kind. But as this reviewer stated, while you can’t make a movie out of a manifesto – you can certainly market it. It demonstrated the power of smart marketing tactics in a post-pandemic world. It’s not a new phenomenon that a studio had a huge marketing budget and consumers’ jumped on the bandwagon, it’s more interesting that smaller films have been able to do this too.
What approach did All of Us Strangers take?
Searchlight Pictures announced the All Of Us Strangers project in 2022, with a vague storyline outlined to the press, and an even more vague reference to the principal cast as potentially being romantically involved within the script. This helped to get engines revving in the associated fandoms of both Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, who not only were desperate to see their respective stars in an exciting upcoming film, but whose heads were spinning at the prospect of them being together in said film. The star power was equally important for the initial packaging of the film, as in subsequent press interviews, Andrew Scott has alluded to the fact that once Mescal’s name was attached, this accelerated the development process.
Searchlight Pictures geared up for a January release, and their strategy in hindsight worked so smoothly that audiences can’t even see or admit to the inconsistencies between the product (the film) and the sell (the marketing). The marketing of this product started with the audience – a younger one, primarily appealling to Gen Z’s and Millennials. These audiences are much more familiar compared to older generations with the two main stars from their two breakout mainstream roles of the affectionately named ‘hot priest’ (Andrew Scott in Fleabag) and the emotionally repressed Irishman, Connell (Paul Mescal in Normal People.)
The marketing therefore would focus on short sound bites and engaging content for online digital consumption that would appeal to this audience who habituate primarily on Tik Tok and Instagram. This resulted in multiple brand platforms like BuzzFeed appealing to these audiences via formats such as the two stars asking each other trivial questions in a casual setting (‘What are your dating red flags?’ ‘What is your favourite Irish slang?’ ‘Who is harder to get a hold of on their phone?‘) The two cast members being Irish was also a match made in heaven for the marketeers, as with Irish people less likely to ‘smooth away’ their Irishness when with their own, it added a degree of authenticity for this content that was distributed globally to many different countries. This spoke to the insatiable post-pandemic need of younger audiences to need to know more and more about the film, including intimate details of the principal cast. This content was optimised for short form social media platforms which showed the two men having a laugh in short clips.
Meanwhile, on the press trail many interviewers were keen to get the star’s take on their apparent ‘bromance’ derived from the aforementioned short, humorous clips. They also made sure to point to the status of the stars as serious heart throbs, and how they are now in a romantic film together. There were also interlinking elements for the two that the press picked up on, including of course the fact that the stars had played their infamous characters opposite others in a skit for Irish Comedy Relief, in addition to the convenient fact that Paul Mescal once dressed up as the hot priest for Halloween. In talk shows like The Graham Norton Show and Ireland’s Late Late Show, the two stars appeared jovial together, telling stories and admiring each others talents, feeding into the bromance and solid relationship that many people loved to see. And what about the film itself? It was mentioned briefly in all interviews and was of course given it its due, but it was not at the forefront of the message.
But what about the actual film?
Good question. From an outsider’s perspective, you would think this is a beautiful, intimate gay love story. If you have seen All of Us Strangers, you will know that it is not about a light-hearted bromance, or the breeding ground for a new heart throb character. It is a heartbreaking, deeply disturbing character study of a man going through a distressing time in his life which is instigated after meeting another troubled gay man, while at the same time he is also ruminating on the death of his parents who had passed away over 30 years ago. It brings up deeply emotional feelings of grief, loneliness and death in an arresting, almost metaphysical way. Andrew Scott is also clearly in a leading role here carrying the entire film, with Mescal only in a handful of scenes, but you wouldn’t predict this as both were given equal weighting on the press trail. While Mescal’s weight was elevated, others were diminished – Claire Foy of The Crown fame, and Jamie Bell have multiple roles exceeding Mescal’s handful as the leading characters’ parents, but they were virtually excluded from press interviews altogether so that Searchlight could double down on Mescal and Scott.
You would not not know this is the kind of film it is from the marketing – but the real question is – does it matter? Some would argue not really. Like Barbie being marketed as a good movie, like Mean Girls 2 failing to mention it was a musical, and like All Of Us Strangers being marketed as a light-hearted film, it served its purpose in reaching its target audience and selling tickets. Despite the dark subject matter, the marketing did not reflect this in the slightest and it’s a key example of how Searchlight Pictures successfully marketed a tragic tale via a thirst trap. This reviewer isn’t judging – it targeted its audience and got people back into cinemas.
FILM FOR THOUGHT 