Casey Moeckel

Studios are struggling. Box office numbers are down. Audiences are harder to reach, harder to move, and harder to bring back into theaters. The reasons are layered: ticket prices, pandemic-era behavior shifts, shorter attention spans, and audiences who are overwhelmed with new media options. They’re more selective, more skeptical—and more sensitive to misalignment between a film’s promise and its payoff.

Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag is a recent example. Cate Blanchett. Michael Fassbender. A sleek, smart, spy thriller with wide appeal and visual flair!

And yet, despite all that, it struggled to connect. Why?

Because the story being told about the film didn’t match the experience of the film. That’s not just a marketing issue. It’s a storytelling issue.

Because marketing is storytelling.

It frames the audience’s expectations. It builds the emotional contract before a single ticket is bought. It’s part of the film’s branding. When the marketing and the movie tell two different stories, even great art can feel like a letdown.

I barely knew this film was coming out. I think I saw maybe 1 or 2 teasers for it? And look – I am THE target audience for Black Bag, so I *should* have seen ads for this thing right & left.

The teasers I DID see sold it as a pretty straightforward action film, not a spy thriller. Worse, they never mentioned Soderberg’s name. The director who gave us such amazing films as Out of Sight, Ocean’s 11, Erin Brockovich, Traffic, Contagion, and Sex, Lies, and Videotape. I didn’t even know Black Bag was a Soderbergh film until a friend told me. I immediately bought a ticket.

Now more than ever, marketing can’t be an afterthought. And it can’t be just a megaphone. It needs to be a creative partner from the beginning—shaping the narrative, not just selling it.

Movies hold a special place in my heart so watching a marketing campaign get it so wrong for great cinema like this is heartbreaking. The film industry can’t afford these types of missteps.

As I mentioned at the top, there are lots of factors affecting cinema attendance & their revenue.

And I admit I’m just as guilty as the next person when it comes to saying “I’ll wait for streaming”. Rising ticket prices, 30+ minutes of commercials, and people who lack cinema etiquette (NEVER take a call during a movie – step outside. NEVER text during a movie. And for God’s sake, turn your ringer off) are my top 3 deterrents when it comes to going to the movies.

I say that as someone who, pre-lockdown, went to the movies at least once a week. (RIP Arclight!)

Because seeing a story up on a screen with others can be a special experience. A collective one. There is a magic to it that is being lost when we all stay home alone and stream.

But if studios want audiences to show up, they need to start by telling them a story worth stepping into.

And go see Black Bag. It’s spectacular!