Lego Movie Video Game.

vertical integration media definition: when the production company has the ownership of the means of production, distribution and exhibition of the film by the same company, because of this they receive all of the profit.

Simultaneous releases.

spiderman 1, 2 and 3 all had video-games.

Madagascar 1 and 2 both had video-games.

Tron Evolution released a video-game.

Companies often release tie-in video-games alongside their movies to advertise each other, if someone who plays games comes across and enjoys the game they may watch the movie and vice versa. This contains intertextuality too.

There are 4 main reasons why companies do this:

To maximise profit by releasing two products.

Familiarity of one product may advertise the second.

The game promotes the film, the film promotes the game.

The game allows the player to control the action and be part of the story

Blumler and Katz: Reasons for Consumption of the Media.

Diversion - Using the media to escape the boredom of everyday life.
Personal Relationships - The media forms relationships between people who share the same interests.
Personal Identity - Using the media to find out more about themselves and what they enjoy.
Surveillance - Using the media to find information.

Related to the game:

Diversion - The lego movie game and movie both distract from the boredom of average life with action.

Personal Relationships - They build relationships with people who enjoy the games and movie.

Personal identity - They help young people understand what they like.

How is the Lego Movie video game used to promote the movie to the target audience?

The lego movie video game is used to promote the movie to the target audience through intertextuality. video games are designed for children, especially Lego games, so the target audience for the movie and the game is children, the children who initially see and play the game are likely to enjoy it, this will attract them to watch the movie. The children will also talk about the movie/game to their friends which links to Blumler and Katz' theory of personal relationships. The secondary target audience is parents and young adults. Dick Hedbige's theory of "youth as fun" links with this as the young adults and children want to have fun and so play the video game which links to the movie. The teenagers who link to Blumler and Katz' theory of diversion where they play the video game to get some excitement from the boredom of their own lives.