When it comes to movies, 2015 was no doubt a big year. We’ve already seen a number of blockbusters produce over a billion dollars in box office revenue worldwide, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens is likely to join the club with ease when it releases this Friday.

With that, let’s take a look back at some of the biggest and most effective movie marketing campaigns for the year.

Mad Max: Fury Road

Ever since the debut of its initial trailer last year at San Diego Comic-Con, Mad Max: Fury Road built up an incredible amount of steam in terms of social buzz. The high-octane action film, starring Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy, got even more popular with each new trailer release, featuring a heavy amount of explosive action and stylish direction that only series creator George Miller could deliver.

With over $9 million spent in advertising across a number of networks (including during the NBA playoffs and on MTV and Comedy Central), the buzz simply kept building. Even though the film released against the likes of Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron in May, it held its own, grossing $375 million worldwide and assuring that we haven’t seen the last of the Road Warrior. On top of that, the Golden Globe nominations announced last week as well as rumors that the film could see a re-release in black-and-white form next year have buzz building for Max all over again.

Minions

“King Bobbbbbbb!” Considering the success of the first two Despicable Me films (2013’s film nearly cleared a billion dollars in box office growth), it was just a matter of time before Universal Pictures gave the gibberish-speaking Minions their own film. What no one expected, however, was the immense marketing blitz that came with it.

Universal partnered with many companies to promote the delightful little Minions, including Amazon, Electronic Arts (with its mobile game Minions Paradise) and other companies that, in turn, would create “Minion mania” for the studio, leading up to the prequel’s summer release.

It’s a release that paid off, as the film handily crossed the $1.1 billion dollar mark worldwide, affirming Universal’s place in the computer animation field (alongside the studio team at Illumination Entertainment). The film should also do quite well on the home video front, backed by a multi-million dollar television advertising campaign. 

This all bodes well for the minions’ eventual return to the big-screen in 2017, when Despicable Me 3 is set to hit theaters.

Jurassic World

Considering we haven’t seen a new Jurassic film from Universal Pictures in over a decade (with the last one, Jurassic Park III, being an overall disappointment), the studio was wondering if it could jump-start it again with Jurassic World, from director Colin Trevorrow.

The film, featuring actor Chris Pratt and a lot of angry dinosaurs, got a huge promotional push from the company, including a massive amount of TV advertising and a number of partnerships with brands including Mercedes-Benz and Hilton Hotels. That gave it just the traction it needed to get big box-office records, including the top opening weekend of all time, making $208 million and eventually leading to a $1.6 billion haul worldwide.

It proved that the series still had legs, and that fans still had plenty of excitement in seeing dinosaurs hit the big screen. Of course, having the star power of Pratt didn’t hurt either, especially when it came to behind-the-scenes vignettes for the film, which drove up its social media as well.

Jurassic World also managed to score big on the home video front behind a lucrative campaign, selling three million copies in its first week on DVD and Blu-Ray as well. That bodes well for eventual sequels, which could start coming our way as soon as 2018.

The Avengers: Age of Ultron

Marvel Studios’ films have done quite well in the past, and considering that 2012’s The Avengers was the biggest moneymaker in the bunch (with $1.5 billion worldwide), the movie studio spared no expense in promoting the forthcoming Age of Ultron like crazy.

After a teaser trailer debuted in late 2014 (featuring a strong voiceover by actor James Spader), buzz began to build for the film, with many Marvel fans speculating what new additions we could see, including glimpses of newcomers like Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.

Eventually, the buzz built to a fever pitch, with more trailer reveals and a number of marketing deals, including a tie-in with Gillette, which introduced The Hulk Razor an item that sold reasonably well in the shaving market. Toys also came out before the film’s release, opting fans to pick up everything Captain America and Iron Man-related.

The film was a modest success, grossing over $450 million in the U.S. and $1.4 billion worldwide, despite the fact that it didn’t quite reach the original’s gross. No matter, as home video sales for the film have been steady, indicating that Marvel is still all systems go with everything Avengers. Not only that, but the company’s off-shoot film Ant-Man fared rather well, grossing over $450 million worldwide and creating another niche character that we’ll see on the big-screen again in 2018.

As for Marvel’s continuing success into 2016, it’s likely to keep going. Last month, the first trailer for Captain America: Civil War made its debut, and racked up a record 61 million views in its first 24 hours. Needless to say, it’ll be a big hit when it arrives in May 2016.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

When it comes to the biggest promotional campaign of the year for a film, nothing comes close to Star Wars. The Force Awakens is taking part in a huge program that includes a number of partners, ranging from Subway to Cover Girl to Duracell. Not only that, but promotional tie-ins for products have gone through the roof, with a number of toys, high-tech goodies (like the Sphero BB-8 droid) and video games (such as Star Wars: Battlefront) being offered to the public and selling quickly.

Social media buzz has been immense for the sequel, with new trailers getting millions of views within a matter of hours, and mentions of both the new film and older films using the #StarWars hashtag, amongst other special ones being offered via Twitter.

It’s too soon to tell what the film’s box office will look like, as it doesn’t arrive in theaters until Friday. However, reports indicate that it should no doubt clear the billion dollar mark within a matter of days, as the film has already generated $50 million in early ticket sales. Plus, considering the tremendous push Disney is putting behind the film, it should have no trouble keeping interest into the Christmas season and through early 2016.

This should bode well for the future of the franchise as well, as other films, like the forthcoming Rogue One spin-off due for release in late 2016 and Episode VIII coming in 2017, should fare just as well in terms of promotional push and success. For now, though, everything’s coming up Force Awakens and for good reason.