Dans quelques semaines, le The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies sera à l’affiche à travers le monde. Pour cette occasion, nous avons exploré les recherches tournant autour des fans de Tolkien, en particulier ceux des films tirés de son œuvre. Il est intéressant de faire un parallèle en ce qui concerne la promotion de la trilogue The Lord of the Rings comparée à celle du Hobbit. Voici ce que révèlent Bertha Chin et Jonathan Gray lors de leur étude en 2002 à propos de Lord of the Rings :
As is the case with many blockbuster films these days, New Line Cinema has usedthe Internet as a marketing tool in promoting the film, with a merchandise store; an official website which released a brief trailer of the film as early as 7 April, 2000; news and ‘spoilers’ from the set in New Zealand during the duration of the filming; and a message board for fans to discuss the highly-anticipated film. In the duration of our research, we observed discussion forums that were formed specifically for the film – the official board (www.lordoftherings.net), the ‘lotr’ and ‘lord_OT_rings_movie’ lists on Yahoo Groups (groups.yahoo.com), and the message board of another website (www.tolkien-movies.com) which moved its forum from Yahoo Groups to Ezboard (www.ezboard.com). (Chin et Gray, 2002, p. 3)
Douze ans plus tard, Charles H. Davis, Carolyn Michelle, Ann Hardy et Craig Hight font état de la promotion du Hobbit lors de leur analyse de l’audience :
Intense publicity and media coverage commenced well before production of the film began, with the pre-release Hobbit audience base receiving a steady stream of tidbits in the form of news and gossip, video blogs fronted by Jackson, posters, trailers, special previews at fan conferences, and interviews. The film benefited from an official Facebook page, blog, YouTube channel, and official website. The Hobbit production diaries and vlogs maintained fan interest until the release of the first trailer at the end of 2011. The marketing campaign accelerated from April 2012, with a preview of the film at ComicCon, a contest to choose the ending of the first trailer, the release of the second trailer, the creation of a Twitter profile, merchandising of the Lego Lord of The Rings and Hobbit sets, the launch of The Hobbit video game, fan events, a viral Air New Zealand safety video featuring actors in Middle-earth garb along with Gollum and Jackson himself, apps, wallpapers and posters, Hobbit-themed meals at the Denny’s restaurant chain, and even a fan-produced Bombur Recipe Book. (Davis, Michelle, Hardy et Hight, 2014, p. 57)
Il est intéressant de noter l’évolution d’Internet et des médias sociaux durant cette période. Internet n’est pas seulement un important outil de promotion, il peut également permettre des études de plus grande envergure. Depuis le 1er décembre, Martin Barker, Matt Hills et Ernest Mathijs coordonnent The Hobbit Research Project, un projet recueillant les avis des personnes ayant vu la trilogie du Hobbit et rassemblant plus de 145 chercheurs de 46 pays. Pour donner votre avis, rendez-vous sur la page suivante : http://worldhobbitproject.org/
