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By Bloomberg

Walt Disney Co. is looking to use the Super Bowl, TV’s biggest event, to make “Tomorrowland” the next “Maleficent” or “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

Disney will play a clip from “Tomorrowland,” starring George Clooney and set to debut in theaters May 22, according to the Burbank, California-based studio. It’s one of about 10 trailers from Hollywood airing during NBC’s daylong Super Bowl coverage, where 30-second game-time ads cost $4.5 million.

The audience of 110 million or so viewers promises more awareness for “Tomorrowland” if it can stand out from the blizzard of ads. The film, a new story with a title taken from Disney parks, is part of a strategy to create hits from names and brands Disney already owns, such as the Sleeping Beauty villain “Maleficent” and “Guardians,” which turned Marvel backbenchers into A-listers. With new material, the audience has to be built from scratch.

“‘Tomorrowland’ is a new brand,” said Russell Schwartz, president of Pandemic Marketing Corp., an industry consultant and former studio marketing executive for Relativity Media and New Line Cinema. “It has an intriguing premise which fits with the male-oriented audience of the Super Bowl. ‘Star Wars’ doesn’t need anything.”

Disney declined to make an executive available to discuss its Super Bowl strategy. Disney’s Pixar unit is also releasing new stories this year, “Inside Out” and “The Good Dinosaur.”

Oscar Winner

Directed and co-written by Brad Bird, “Tomorrowland” stars Britt Robertson as a teenage girl bursting with scientific curiosity. She’s joined by a former boy-genius inventor, played by Clooney, and they embark on a mission to unearth the secrets of a place somewhere in time and space, according to a studio summary.

Bird won an Oscar for best animated feature in 2008 for the Pixar feature “Ratatouille,” which he co-wrote and co- directed. He was also nominated for best original screenplay.

NBC Universal, part of Comcast Corp., is charging advertisers a record $4.5 million to advertise during Sunday’s match-up between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks in Arizona. Buyers of multiple spots pay $4.4 million each.

NBC’s sister company, Universal Pictures, Viacom Inc.’s Paramount division and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. also will promote new movies.

Paramount Pair

Paramount said it will join the trailer party with a couple of clips, including one from “Terminator Genisys,” the fifth film in the sci-fi franchise, with Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising his role as a cyborg. That ad will play in the second quarter, according to the studio.

Paramount also will show a clip from “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water” in the half-hour before the kickoff, just before the national anthem. It’s based on characters from Nickelodeon, also part of Viacom.

Universal plans clips from five films coming out this year during the daylong Super Bowl telecast, according to a person with knowledge of the plans who wouldn’t speak publicly. The movies include “Jurassic World,” “Minions,” “Furious 7,” “Ted 2” and “Seventh Son,” set for release on Feb. 6.

The studio isn’t getting a discount, according to NBC.

Lions Gate said it will run a pregame commercial for “Insurgent,” the second film in the “Divergent” series.

In 2014, Disney’s Super Bowl promotions included “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and “Muppets Most Wanted” in which the puppet characters helped promote a Toyota Highlander.

Paramount bought Super Bowl slots to promote “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” while Sony Corp. promoted “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.”

Winning Ad

Among this year’s ads, “Ted 2” is the early winner, according to data from Rentrak Corp. that show the film has received the most mentions on social media.

“That’s not surprising given that Universal released a full-length trailer online, and it is the first piece of material released for the film,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak. “A spot for ‘Insurgent’ debuted on MTV this morning, and that is also generating a sizable conversation.”

The “Terminator” and “Minions” spots have generated a smaller response so far. Disney only released a 10-second clip of “Tomorrowland” ahead of its Super Bowl ad and has seen a minimal increase in response on social media, according to Dergarabedian.

No Promises

A Super Bowl ad doesn’t guarantee a film’s success. “Muppets Most Wanted” generated just $80 million in worldwide tickets sales, a sum that was split with theater owners. Disney spent $50 million making the movie and additional millions promoting it.

Disney promoted Marvel’s “Captain America” last year with a 30-second spot. The April release had $715 million in worldwide ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo.

“The pressure to buy the Super Bowl ad is usually much greater than the value of doing it,” Schwartz said. “The stickiness of theatrical trailers is weaker than advertising from other industries, particularly if the release dates are three or more months later.”