Allan Freeman, a advertising govt who pioneered market analysis methods to efficiently launch blockbuster movies together with “Superman,” “Star Wars” and “Rain Man,” died June 7. He was 88.
With his modern market analysis methods, Freeman performed an instrumental half within the launch of Oscar winners together with “Dances With Wolves” and “The Silence of the Lambs,” together with “The Omen,” “The Shining” and “Splash.”
Sid Ganis, former President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, described Freeman as “a pioneer who invented research for movies.”
Freeman began out working in promoting on Madison Avenue, overseeing analysis for companies similar to General Foods and Bristol-Myers. In the early Nineteen Seventies, Bristol-Myers acquired Palomar Pictures, and he used his experience in shopper conduct to launch a consulting enterprise that helped create campaigns for motion pictures together with “Sleuth,” “The Heartbreak Kid,” “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” and “The Stepford Wives.”
Twentieth Century Fox introduced Freeman on as a marketing consultant after which named him VP of Market Research, and he labored on hit Fox movies together with “The Omen,” “Silent Movie,” “Star Wars” and “Julia.”
For “The Omen,” he modified the title from “The Birthmark,” and created a text-only teaser poster that conveyed a way of cinematic high quality. The movie’s director, Richard Donner, credited Freeman’s work and friendship with “saving me from a life of episodic television,” in response to his bio.
Freeman then moved on to Warner Bros., the place he partnered with Andrew Fogelson. Commenting on the loss of life of his colleague and good friend, Fogelson — who served as president of promoting for Warner Bros., Columbia and United Artists, stated, “Allan arrived in the motion picture marketing business at a time when ‘conventional’ marketing hadn’t yet met movies. I met him and found him to be astonishingly bright, business-like… and convinced we could learn a lot from the rest of the business world. While my superiors (let’s call them ‘bosses’) were highly dubious, they stepped aside and let us experiment. In short order his efforts on ‘Superman,’ ‘Oh God,’ and ‘The Goodbye Girl’ were demonstrably and hugely helpful. ‘Dubious’ left the scene, to be replaced by studios calling to see if they could buy into the new system that was being created. When I insisted they be denied, others began entering the space. Today it’s a multi-million-dollar business, in which — in one way or another — everyone participates. And we owe it all to the wit and wisdom of Mr. Freeman.”
At Warner Bros., Freeman re-teamed with Donner on “Superman,” and led campaigns for Clint Eastwood’s “Every Which Way But Loose,” Burt Reynolds’ “Hooper,” “Capricorn One” (beginning an extended collaboration with director Peter Hyams), “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” and Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining.”
After going impartial once more, Freeman marketed movies together with “Inside Moves” (1980) for Donner, “First Blood” (1982), “This is Spinal Tap” (1984) and several other releases for Disney together with “Tron” (1982), “Never Cry Wolf” (1983) and “Splash” (1984).
For John Boorman’s “The Emerald Forest,” the director credited Freeman’s use of intensive phone interviews with a big focus group with serving to refine the movie’s narrative and movement.
Freeman went on to work with Fogelson once more at United Artists, the place he labored on movies together with “The Living Daylights” and “Rain Man.”
His good friend and colleague Martin Lewis, who reported Freeman’s loss of life and labored with him on “Rain Man,” stated, “He was incredibly insightful as to what worked and what didn’t work. There were a few copycats in the industry offering a similar technique. But having devised the paradigm of research-driven creativity nobody did it better than Allan. He inspired his staff and outside consultants to aim higher and be more daring. If you created something good — he praised you. If you went off the rails (as I occasionally did) he reined you in sharply but with dry humor. I learned a lot from Allan. He thought outside-the-box. He was an original.”
He is survived by his spouse Barbara and youngsters Joanne, Richard and Marc.