GOD’S NOT DEAD 2 Trailer
A strange thing’s been happening in American cinemas in recent years, and it’s the most natural by-product of modern marketing that you can get. There’s been a rise in low budget films targeting very narrow demographics, specifically Christian, Hispanic, and African American audiences. Now that everyone can be monitored and categorized thanks to online tracking, these films are able to launch small but effective marketing campaigns that only their targeted demographic sees. That means that even avid film fans like myself now waltz into their local cinemas only to find themselves wondering what the hell Un Gallo Con Muchos Huevos is.
In all seriousness, this is a brilliant strategy, and it’s led to financial success without even bothering to play the films internationally or on more than 1,500 screens nationwide (many wide releases show on an excess of 3,000 screens nationwide). This trend started slowly, but now that major production studios like Sony and Lionsgate have opened labels specifically following this model, their releases have become surprisingly frequent. In the same way cable and streaming services have led to the specialization of television programming, the specialization of theatrical films are gaining a strong foothold in American cinema.
The phenomenon has been going on for so long that we now have a sequel to one of its most successful entries, the upcoming God’s Not Dead 2. Yes, that’s everyone’s favorite teenage witch Melissa Joan Hart as a teacher being persecuted for bringing Jesus into the classroom, and yes, these films can get this cheesy. In their defense, they’re not all this pandering, but the original God’s Not Dead was just as bad as this trailer is, and it grossed over $60 million. That kind of critic-proof (some would say quality-proof) financial results are why these films are proliferating, and it highlights the divide between thoughtful film analysis and the stone cold factors that cause films to get financed.
Maybe now that these movies are becoming more common their audiences will start demanding better quality. They certainly don’t have to wait nearly as long for another one of their films to come out, and if they reject the low-brow pandering of God’s Not Dead 2, it will send a clear message that proliferation demands better products.
God’s Not Dead 2 is directed by Harold Cronk and stars Melissa Joan Hart and Jesse Metcalfe. It will be released in the U.S. on April 1st, 2016 and in the U.K. on April 29th, 2016. For international release dates, click here.
How do you feel about the evolving marketing strategies of films? Does this phenomenon occur outside of the U.S.? Let us know in the comments!
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