Disney Buying an Undisclosed Number of Super Bowl LIII Ads
The Super Bowl is typically a huge event for entertainment companies (aside from Warner Bros., who typically abstain from promoting movies at the event), and Disney are the first of many in the movie industry to put cash down for TV spots to air during the 53rd iteration of the big game.
According to Adage, Disney is currently the only entertainment company (aside from the National Football League themselves) that has put money down for advertising “an undisclosed number of spots for the game”; since Super Bowl ads are far from cheap, it’s likely that Disney are going to advertise a ton of their big movies this year. The most likely candidates are Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, and Aladdin, given that Marvel traditionally has a presence at the big game and that Aladdin needs to ramp up its ad presence with a proper Genie reveal (since the first look showed what Will Smith’s character looked like before being overdone with CGI, since the character will have a signature blue glow).
Beyond that is anyone’s guess. The other two live-action adaptations (Dumbo and The Lion King) seem like likely candidates as well, even though Dumbo probably wouldn’t benefit much from Super Bowl exposure and The Lion King, while a better fit, is much further away. Fans are hopeful for a short teaser for Star Wars Episode IX‘s full title and a glimpse of the story ahead, but given that the movie is set to release at the end of the year, and that production on the film has not yet wrapped, this is not likely to happen.
Obviously, Disney is not going to be the only non-NFL entertainment company to pay up to get promotion on one of the year’s most-watched sporting events; other film companies, such as Universal, 20th Century Fox, and Sony Pictures, all have major movies this year that would get a kick out of the eyes of millions of Americans. And in all likelihood, Netflix will as well; given that the next season of Stranger Things is arriving closer to the big game than the previous season did, a first teaser would be a smart move. We’ll be sure to keep you covered on the latest updates with Super Bowl movie and television ads here at Movie News Net.
Super Bowl LIII will be held on February 3, 2019.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
