National / International News

You could say “Man of Steel” had, well, a super weekend. Box office numbers are in, and the latest Superman movie made more than $125 million. That’s thanks in part to some niche marketing. Warner Bros. Studios targeted Christian moviegoers. 

When a studio spends more than $200 million on a movie, it pulls out all the stops. According to Robert Marich, who wrote the book Marketing to Moviegoers, the ad budget for a major film is at least $50 million.

“They’ve got one shot, and they use a lot of money to press the buttons they deem worthy pressing,” he says.

It’s now more and more common to target certain groups, even if their membership base isn’t huge. There are only so many Christian pastors, for instance.

“But if you get them interested and excited, they are influential and kind of a megaphone, getting a broader audience interested,” Marich says.

And that’s what Warner Brothers is banking on. The studio hired someone to prepare notes for sermons, and it cut special trailers and clips for Christian moviegoers.

Marich says this kind of niche marketing is pretty low-risk, and studios have done it before – with “The Blind Side” and “The Book of Eli,” both of which had some measure of success.

Liverpool push ahead with plans to make Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan their major summer signing.

England coach Hope Powell names injured trio Kelly Smith, Casey Stoney and Karen Carney in her Euro 2013 squad.

Police investigating the discovery of the dismembered remains of a woman in Edinburgh release images of four rings she was wearing.

Labour would keep open existing free schools but would not open any more, says Stephen Twigg. He also says all state schools in England should have the independence given to academies.

Miss Utah USA Marissa Powell appeared stumped during the Miss USA beauty pageant. It is the most cringe-inducing moment since Miss Teen South Carolina fumbled an answer in 2007.

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Leaders of some the world's richest countries meet in Northern Ireland today for the annual G8 summit. High on the agenda will be the issue of tax avoidance and a U.S.-EU free trade deal.

Negotiating a vast new economic trade zone -- sounds easy, no? The BBC's diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says just getting to the negotiating table was a struggle.

"This is hugely complex, we've seen disagreements over the French entertainment and film industry and so on. There are a whole range of key economic sectors where there are problems. It's not going to be easy."

Click on the audio player to hear more.

TV watchdog Ofcom launches an investigation into the broadcasting of footage from the scene of the murder of soldier Lee Rigby.

The 114-104 win against the Miami Heat put the San Antonio Spurs one win away from their fifth NBA title.

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The US Open winner: From a plastic golf club to major glory

A charity calls for British Sign Language to count as a modern foreign language at GCSE.

World leaders are gathering in Northern Ireland for a G8 summit and a very small 'tented village' of protesters has been set up.

This is the latest revelation to come from documents leaked by Edward Snowden. They purportedly show that Britain and the United States spied on their allies during G-20 summit meetings in England in 2009.

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Paddy Power wins its appeal over an east London council's refusal to allow it to open a betting shop in East Ham.

Ecuador's foreign minister says its embassy in London will continue to provide political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

A 35-year-old man who went missing from Doncaster with a 14-year-old girl has appeared in court accused of child abduction.

Also: Judy Blume gets her own holiday; Michael Chabon considers the superhero costume; the best books coming out this week.

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A fleet of amphibious vehicles should not be "allowed back in the water at all" after a second sinking this year, the Mayor of Liverpool says.

Nine-time world ladies' champion Reanne Evans goes out to China's Zhu Yinghui in the extra wildcard round of the Wuxi Classic.

Prince Philip leaves hospital, 11 nights after he was admitted for exploratory abdominal surgery.