From Detective Pikachu to Sonic the Hedgehog, when did audiences Ok the big brand movie?Orson Welles memorably described his final role, voicing the baddie in 1986 animation The Transformers: The Movie, as “a big toy who attacks a bunch of smaller toys”.
Such dismissiveness would be way out of line in today’s moviescape.
Instead, we have Ryan Reynolds assiduously promoting his new movie Pokémon Detective Pikachu on the talkshow circuit.
He doesn’t take the role too seriously, but he would never dream of describing it as “a small toy who saves a bunch of bigger toys”.Nor would we, it seems.
Audiences used to dismiss movies like this as transparent product placement, purely aimed at children and set on making a fast buck, but in an era of targeted ads and Instagram #paid posts we’re increasingly surrounded by and nonplussed by brand domination.
And in the current climate,
Read full article