Paramount is putting the finishing touches on the publicity campaign for Tomb Raider, starring Angelina Jolie as the buxom heroine Lara Croft.  The film debuts on June 15th, and Paramount is hoping that its $35 million ollar promotional campaign will expand interest in Lara Croft far beyond devotees of the Tomb Raider computer/video games and the comic series from Image.  Paramount's primary partners in this endeavor are Pepsi and the Pepsi-owned Taco Bell, but following in the footsteps of the James Bond films, Tomb Raider is also going to get promotional mileage from objects used in the film, namely Ericcson phones and Land Rover vehicles. Interestingly enough, Tomb Raider will be Pepsi's only major film promotion of the summer.  With the economy slowing, advertising dollars are tight and not every so-called Hollywood 'blockbuster' is going to have a major partnered advertising push.  When deciding whether or not to invest your dollars in licensed products from a particular movie, you might want to consider whether or not the major advertisers are willing to invest their money and brands in promoting the film.

 

With a series of trading cards from Inkworks, action figures from Playmates and comics from Image, Tomb Raider should provide retailers with some quality movie-licensed merchandise.  Paramount is excited about its first Tomb Raider film and rumors are already flying about a possible sequel.  Although sequels generally don't move as much merchandise as the first film in the series (yes Austin Powers is an exception), they do bring the property back into the public consciousness and provide the retailer with a little bit of a safety net for what is one of the most difficult buying decisions in retailing--purchasing movie-licensed goods.