How to attract an audience - Hero (2002)

Hero (2002) is an epic Chinese martial arts film directed by Zhang Yimou. The film was a huge success in Asia but took two years to reach the Western market. I will be looking at who the audience for the film was and how the film was marketed to attract that audience.

A martial arts fantasy film was a surprising choice from critically acclaimed director Zhang Yimou but perhaps less so after the huge worldwide success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Zhang Yimou part of the so called fifth generation of film makers from China had previously been known for smaller scale art house films (such as Raise the Red Lantern) which had enjoyed only limited theatrical. His earlier work had enjoyed critical success in the West with most grossing around $2,000,000 (successful by foreign language standards.) Hero however went on to break August opening weekend records in the States, somewhat a surprise considering it was a two year old, subtitled, period piece.

The film had already been circulating in America on imported DVDs and the release date had been shuffled several times despite the fact it was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2003 Oscars. Despite this the film went on to break August Opening Weekend records in America. According to studio exit polling the film's audience were 60% male with majority being aged between 20-30. Looking at the film's trailer we can see how Miramax used the power of association to entice filmgoers.

The film belongs to a long tradition of martial arts films known in China as Wu Xia or often in the west as wire-fu due to the extensive use of wire work in the fight scenes. According to Box Office Mojo the top 10 grossing wire-fu movies are -

1. The Matrix Reloaded
2. Mission Impossible 2
3. The Matrix
4. The Matrix Revolutions
5. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
6. Charlie's Angels
7. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
8. Kill Bill Vol.1
9. Kill Bill Vol.2
10. Romeo Must Die

Hero sneaks onto the list at number 11.

The film's US trailer mentions its award winning director and associates itself with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon by way of it's producer. Jet Li star of Romeo Must Die is the only actor mentioned in the trailer. His last five films prior to Hero averaged around $17,000,000 out of the gate and he was the most familiar face in the film to Western audiences. Perhaps most surprising of all is the inclusion of Quentin Tarantino who, we are told at the beginning of the trailer, 'presents' the film. Though not involved in making the film in any way Tarantino was instrumental in helping to bring the film to a wider audience. The trailer for Hero was shown before both Kill Bill 1 & 2 and Miramax's head of worldwide public relations stated that "You couldn't get a better marketing tool for Hero than to attach the trailer to Kill Bill." Thus we see through shrewd advertising the film being connected to 4 out of the top 10 highest grossing Wire-Fu films.

In conclusion I believe a combination of clever marketing, a bankable star, word of mouth and a smattering of critical acclaim managed turned into a recipe for success with Hero grossing $177,394,432 at the worldwide box office.