Studios heavily marketing summer films

LOS ANGELES, April 27 (UPI) -- A number of Hollywood studios are sparing no expense to market those films they expect to be summer blockbusters, studio executives say.

One unidentified studio executive said with 25 potential blockbusters expected to be released this summer, Hollywood executives are spending as much as they can to get an edge on the competition, Variety said.

"You'd better do something good to stand out," the anonymous executive said.

Some reports have estimated worldwide marketing costs for a major 2008 summer film could cost studios as much as $150 million.

Crew Creative Advertising President Damon Wolf told Variety such inflated costs are due in part to new marketing tools such as Web sites, blogs and mobile games.

"More and more creative platforms are available, and more and more studios are utilizing them," said Wolf, whose company is marketing "The Dark Knight" and the upcoming "Sex and the City" film.

"You're dealing with a broad audience," he says. "There's something for everyone. All of those things take money to create, produce and release. That all adds to increased marketing budgets."