Marketing Strategies / Strategic Marketing Case Study

The Making of ‘The Da Vinci Code’: The Recipe for Blockbuster?

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Abstract:
In 2006, The Da Vinci Code registered itself among those rare genre of films whose popularity have been found to be on par with the novels from which they have been adapted. By May 2006, The Da Vinci Code, a historical fiction written by Dan Brown, had achieved an all-time international best-seller status with 60.5 million print editions. The extensive research that went behind writing the book resulted in an absorbing concoction of fact and fiction. The book’s sensational theme that Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalene and had sired a bloodline that still exists has been instrumental in its grabbing global readership across faiths. It is opined that the innovative promotional efforts by the publisher and the author have also been a major driving force behind the novel’s phenomenal success.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To understand the factors that create a blockbuster out of a fictional novel
• To analyse the basic elements that contributed to the global success of The Da Vinci Code
• To debate whether controversies and criticisms are the perennial add-ons for any blockbuster novel or a movie based on it.

Keywords : The Da Vinci Code; Dan Brown; Opus Dei;Industry Analysis Case Study; Hollywood Blockbusters; Leonardo Da Vinci; Oscars; Ben-Hur; Google; The Vatican; Mary Magdalene Robert Langdon; The Vitruvian Man; The Last Supper; Louvre; Sony Pictures

Contents:

• Hollywood's Blockbusters: The Niche Genre
• The Making of 'The Da Vinci Code': The Recipe for Blockbuster?