Warning: spoilers for Captain America: Civil War follow…
Captain America: Civil War has been released and has already earned nearly $700 million in global box office sales (via Box Office Mojo). Disney and Marvel Studios has enjoyed great success with their expanded cinematic universe, but another thing that the great mouse is known for is marketing. And the mad geniuses demonstrated an almost terrifyingly simple, but brilliant, marketing ploy right in the midst of the central action sequence in Civil War.
Hint: Think Star Wars.
You may recall that during the airport fight scene in Civil War Tom Holland's Spider-Man has a great time wrapping Paul Rudd's Giant Man in his webs to bring him down, all while he references that “really old movie” on an ice planet…Meaning, of course Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
Disney owns both Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm, so it's not surprising to see some #synergy between the two. What's truly remarkable, though, is that the studio — in a very organic way that works within the context of the scene — capitalized on the fact that they now have the use of Spider-Man to HAVE HIM TELL AN ENTIRE NEW GENERATION OF MOVIE GOERS TO GO WATCH THE ORIGINAL STAR WARS FILMS.
I for one welcome our overlords.
In the video above and below, Roth Cornet and Donna Dickens talk about that one moment which demonstrates the full extent of Disney's marketing power and ask: Wait, does The Force Awakens not exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Take a look and chat with us here or on Twitter.
Roth: @RothCornet
Donna: @MildlyAmused