Dive Brief:
- Amazon Prime members have a new benefit to consider: the opportunity to snag tickets to an advance screening of "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle," an upcoming film from Sony Pictures. This marks the first time Amazon has offered to sell tickets in this way, according to Fortune.
- The showings will happen at more than 1,000 U.S. theaters on Dec. 8, almost two weeks before the nationwide release of the movie, Fortune said.The promotion includes an Amazon Prime "blue carpet" at some locations along with Jumanji-themed photo booths and giveaways.
- Amazon didn't release financial details on the deal and Amazon Studios has no affiliation with the film. The company posted a video where the film's stars, Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan, address Prime members about the event:
Dive Insight:
Prime has become a wide-ranging service for what are now estimated to be 90 million U.S. members and a powerful marketing tool for Amazon as a way to draw in customers and keep them within its ecosystem. The $99 annual fee gets Amazon Prime members free two-day shipping on most e-commerce items, access to streaming movies, music and TV shows, and, increasingly, the opportunity to receive special promotions.
The "Jumanji" advance screenings appear to be one of the most considerable to date, giving members across the country the type of early access that's usually reserved for Hollywood and media people. For Amazon, it's yet another way to drive sign-ups for Prime, and the landing page includes a clickable call-to-action button to join the service and attempt to secure tickets.
Sony Pictures, for its part, has another innovative way to market its movie that goes beyond trailers and billboards. The studio earlier this month worked with Facebook and its Oculus division to deploy a virtual reality scavenger hunt based on the movie. The game came as part of a test to introduce more VR content to the social platform's News Feed.