THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: LION, WITCH & WARDROBE
USA Today (5/2/05)
Disney, along with other studios, has often courted the so-called faith community when the appropriate movie comes along, including such religious-themed comedies as Sister Act or uplifting sports dramas like The Rookie. But since the advent of box-office sensation The Passion, such wooing has become a science. For that reason, Disney and Walden have hired Motive Marketing, the company that oversaw The Passion's outreach program.
New York Post (11/28/05)
Disney hired the marketing firm credited with getting churchgoers to see The Passion of the Christ to help give its big Christmas movie, The Chronicles of Narnia, a biblical box-office boost.
USA Today (12/2/05)
Motive Marketing, which promoted The Passion of the Christ to a $370.6 million box office take last year, sold Wardrobe directly to churches. That spadework almost certainly ensures a big opening weekend.
Salon.com (12/7/05)
In a marketing campaign built on the lessons of The Passion of the Christ, Narnia has also been skillfully sold to the Christian audience, much of it orchestrated by Motive Entertainment.
“Narnia Beats King Kong!”
- MonstersandCritics.com
“Narnia Roars into #1 at the Box Office”
- Movieweb.com
“Narnia Roars to #1 on DVD Sales Charts”
- Hollywood Reporter
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
MSNBC (10/6/03)
Mel Gibson’s The Passion isn’t an easy sell. …no major studio wants to touch it. “Even if it makes money, it’s not going to be Titanic,” says studio exec.
The New Yorker (9/15/03)
Gibson has half-jokingly remarked that The Passion may be a career-killer for him. If it is not, if it somehow manages to succeed, it will be in no small measure owing to Paul Lauer's efforts.
Yahoo News (2/5/04)
Gibson Film Gets Huge Marketing Effort: The groundswell is stunning considering the once-dismal expectations for the film.
Newsday (2/9/04)
…Lauer declined to discuss this campaign in detail. "There's a certain proprietary element to it," he said. "We have spent a great deal of time creating a new system that sidesteps the normal Hollywood approach to marketing a film."
Daily Variety (2/9/04)
The movie that couldn’t find a distributor a year ago is now poised to become this year’s first surprise hit. “It’s one of the most talked about films since the first Star Wars prequel,” said Exhibitor Relations prez Paul Dergarabedian.
Washington Post (2/17/04)
…Most talked-about movie event in America, in large part because of a marketing strategy... One Hollywood executive at a major studio described it as "a brilliant marketing campaign."
Los Angeles Times (2/24/04)
Combining the built-in audience of the Bible and the marketing genius of The Blair Witch Project, the arrival of The Passion of the Christ feels like a milestone in modern culture.
Advertising Age (3/22/04)
The Passion of the Christ has stunned even the believers. It's defied all the practiced way of doing things. It has become a textbook study in both high-profile and below-the-radar marketing. They’ve turned every liability into an asset.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (4/7/04)
Call it the "Passion effect." Suddenly, faith and values are hip. Paul Lauer, who marketed The Passion, says: "The phenomenon is real. It's been on the horizon for years."
“Passion KA – CHING: Devout auds drive stunning $20 million bow.”
- Daily Variety
"We have never experienced this level of interest in group sales."
- Regal Theaters VP Dick Westerling in Variety
“The film succeeded through Gibson's brilliant marketing strategy.”
- Associated Press
“The Passion is rewriting box-office history."
Paul Dergarabedian of Exhibitor Relations, in Associated Press
Grossed $612 million in worldwide box office
#1 R-rated film in history
#1 independently distributed film in history
#1 non-English film ever released in the United States
#1 February release in history
#1 5-day per screen average of $41,295
- boxofficemojo.com
THE POLAR EXPRESS
MSN.com (12/22/04)
Is The Polar Express an evangelical film? You'd certainly think so, considering the expansive campaign that Lauer unfurled in the Christian media this fall.
Los Angeles Times (1/6/05)
As The Polar Express cruised into the top 10 movies of the year at the box office, executives at rival studios marveled... Within the industry, the odds against Polar Express succeeding seemed so long that one executive…made a bet that the movie wouldn’t get past $80 million. But Warner Bros. expects it to reach $170 million and possibly more. "We reached out in our group sales effort to schools, religious organizations and corporate groups," said Warner Bros’ head of distribution, Dan Fellman.
“Analysts predicted it would die. Instead, the film has seen its daily take rise.”
- Imdb.com
“Word-of-mouth ...has fueled its fire.”
- Failedsuccess.com
$300 Million worldwide box office
- boxofficemojo.com
ROCKY BALBOA
Access Hollywood (12/30/06)
A sixth Rocky at 60? Everyone said, you're kidding me! It's going to be an embarrassment'. [The box office success] reestablishes him. Don't count him out just yet. Just like Rocky, Stallone's still got some power in his punch.
The Philadelphia Inquirer (12/03/06)
Sylvester Stallone has enlisted [Motive Entertainment’s] Paul Lauer to help spread the word of the sixth in the Rocky series to the faith-and-family market.
StudioBriefing.com (12/22/06)
Rocky Balboa came out swinging on Wednesday, pummeling the competition with a take of $6.4 million in its debut.
"The film exceeded box office expectations.”
- Wikepedia.com
"Rocky Balboa opened in the Number 1 slot.”
- Access Hollywood
“Like its odds-defying character, Rocky Balboa is the biggest surprise of the holiday season.”
- UGO.com
“$146 Million worldwide box office”
- boxofficemojo.com
EXPELLED
Filmstew.com (8/22/07)
So what does a movie marketing company do for an encore after helping spread the word about The Passion of the Christ, The Polar Express and The Chronicles of Narnia? Well, after second-tier efforts for United 93 and Rocky Balboa, Motive Entertainment is returning to its Mel Gibson roots with the Ben Stein documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. If anyone can make this contentious bit of non-fiction fly…it’s Motive Entertainment.
NPR’s Marketplace (4/4/08)
…Ben Stein traveled across the country on a bright red bus for "Expelled, the Road Show." This is mostly the work of Motive Marketing's Paul Lauer. He's the guy who made Passion into a phenomenon by harnessing the power of this country's 160 million Christians. Not the traditional Hollywood way.
Los Angeles Times (4/18/08)
‘Expelled’ May Defy Low Expectations
Expelled faces an uphill fight in an industry that spends an estimated $117 million to produce and market the average big studio film, although as The Passion showed, the faith market can be a surprising force when mobilized. …Premise enlisted Motive Entertainment, the faith-based specialist that helped market The Passion, in a grass-roots effort that is drawing as much fire as the film itself.
Los Angeles Times (4/22/08)
Expelled finished at No. 9 in its opening weekend, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. Expelled... fared better than prerelease tracking had signaled. Its opening was robust for a documentary... With production and marketing budgets in the single-digit millions, Expelled had the widest documentary release ever, the Times reported.
“Expelled Has 'Robust' Opening”
- Los Angeles Times
Expelled opens in the Top 10, and has #5 best per screen average.
- boxofficemojo.com
Expelled is the 12th highest-grossing documentary in U.S. box office history.
- boxofficemojo.com
OTHER FILMS:
Secret Life of Bees
“… Exceeded expectations to score an estimated $11.1M in its first weekend of play. With the fewest theaters of any new wide pic, the PG-13 film averaged a muscular $6,945 from only 1,591 sites. Bees delivered the third biggest opening in company history for Fox Searchlight.”
- Boxofficeguru.com
United 93
“After weeks of industry debate over whether Universal's United 93 would have sufficient commercial appeal, moviegoers finally voted at the box office over the weekend. The film wound up with the highest per-theater average as it opened with $11.5 million in 1,795 theaters.”
- Studiobriefing.com
