scottpilgrimtrailer2.jpg

You know, we’ve been expecting that this thing will be awesome, and this just confirms it, but seeing it all laid out like that makes us wonder if the moviegoing audience — which has recently shown itself to be pretty reactionary and unadventurous — will really accept a teenaged romantic comedy with lots of fighting. Either the girls will love the romance and the guys will love the fighting…or the girls will hate the fighting and the guys will hate the romance like they usually do. More to the point, can Hollywood successfully MARKET a movie that has crossover appeal?

On the other hand, they are marketing this on Facebook, so maybe that’s the way to go.

1 COMMENT

  1. If movie-going audiences don’t go for this (based on what we’ve seen in the trailers), then movie-going audiences deserve to watch “Facts of Life” reruns for their rest of their lives, and I’m going to go find some other culture to be a part of.

  2. which has recently shown itself to be pretty reactionary and unadventurous

    I don’t know what this means? What movies have come out recently that would allow movie-goers to be more “adventurous”? What movies were they “reactionary” towards? What movies deserved to do better recently that were ignored or flat out hated by the mass market?

    I can’t think of one. The movie studios have been pretty conservative with the movies that they’re putting out these days so there isn’t much of an opportunity for people to be “adventurous” with their movie choices. It’s either “warmed over ‘chick’ movie”, “action movie retread”, “3d animated kids cartoon” or “lowest common denominator BS”. Pixar comes to mind as doing somewhat adventurous stuff (though they’re going back to the well with Toy Story 3 this year – sigh), maybe a few other people. But if people aren’t given the opportunity to be adventurous, what are you going to do?

  3. Okay, so I was planning on “probably” going to see SP this summer. I only really go to the movies a few time a year, except for kids stuff with my daughter, and I’ve seen Iron Man 2 already, so committing to another comic book-related movie kind of blocks out seeing anything else this year.

    The second trailer is AWESOME! Lines that make me chuckle a little in the books made me laugh out loud during the trailer. (Of course, that means I read the SP books with the wrong sense of timing, and should reread them…) I am SO going to see this now! Screw every other movie this year!!!

  4. It’s not so much that audiences are reactionary and unadventurous; it’s the fact that movie studios are run by some of the most uncreative people in existence these days. Take this past weekend for example: three sequels, a ‘prequel’ to one of the most overused tales in cinema, two by-the-numbers romances, and two weak comedies featuring SNL performers. The only film that displayed anything slightly different than the usual moldy cheese was How to Train Your Dragon, and even that is loosely based on its source material.

    Is it any wonder why this past weekend was the lowest box office turnout in years?

  5. This looks…unappealing. It’s like it’s trying to be funny and hip without being funny or hip. Then again, I thought the comics were boring, too.

  6. I know a guy who, pretty much ever since he got his driver’s license, could be found at the cineplex every Friday night (except the first weekend in January, when he’d call me and whine that they never release any new movies that weekend). He’s not entirely indiscriminate; he avoids chick flicks like the plague, and will only see a horror movie if it’s the only major release of the weekend that isn’t a chick flick. But he saw Gigli *and* Battlefield Earth. So he’s not picky.

    I talked to him a few days ago, and he commented that he’s only been to about a dozen movies this year.

  7. @ Jer-
    Recent examples of offbeat movies rejected by unadventurous audiences-
    Kick Ass, Observe & Report, Adventureland, Land Of The Lost, The Informant!, Moon, Big Fan, Funny People, Watchmen, Where The Wild Things Are

    As far as I’m concerned, these all range from good to great. But they didn’t make nearly as much money as Transformers 2. Some didn’t even make back their own budget.

  8. Hmmm, I wonder how much fans of the book are laying down context for these trailers? I look at it and it seems like the movie is going to be a hyper-kinetic mess that is trying to pull in tropes from all over the place (video games in particular I guess).

    I’m just saying as someone who hasn’t read the books, the trailers don’t really recommend the movie all that well. I can’t imagine how they’ll play to the completely non-comic reading masses.

  9. “Recent examples of offbeat movies rejected by unadventurous audiences-
    Kick Ass, Observe & Report, Adventureland, Land Of The Lost, The Informant!, Moon, Big Fan, Funny People, Watchmen, Where The Wild Things Are.”

    How many of those rejected were the victim of poorly-targeted marketing campaigns to begin with? I can see at least two listed here, maybe more.

    And this group also seems to have at least three films that hit #1 at the Box Office, so there seems to be a false perception of ‘success’ at play here.

  10. The published weekly Top 10 charts are just another form of advertising for the film industry. As far as the studios are concerned, success is measured by the reciepts. Plenty of films that opened at #1 still managed to disappoint projections (Superman Returns being one of the more outrageous examples).

    As for the advertising, I can’t say with any degree of certainty that Land Of The Lost would have faired better if it weren’t misleadingly advertised as a kids movie. But I’m fairly certain Observe & Report would not have done any better if it were sold for what it was (a dark comedic homage to Taxi Driver). It came out at the same time as Paul Blart: Mall Cop and that “gem” raked in a huge profit.

    I’m not saying studios don’t share the blame for the wealth of garbage out there. All I’m saying is they are still fulfilling the demands of a mostly unadventurous audience.

  11. “[S]eeing it all laid out like that makes us wonder if the moviegoing audience — which has recently shown itself to be pretty reactionary and unadventurous — will really accept a teenaged romantic comedy with lots of fighting.”

    Another indy comic with the potential for this kind of crossover appeal is Scott McCloud’s ZOT!–although, I think that I would rather see that animated than made into a live-action film. I likewise wonder, though, if it could be marketed successfully.

  12. “I’m not saying studios don’t share the blame for the wealth of garbage out there. All I’m saying is they are still fulfilling the demands of a mostly unadventurous audience.”

    I can’t say that I’d agree, because in movie reality, marketing IS everything.

    The problem with Land of the Lost begins with casting Will Ferrell, because in essence, the property WAS a Saturday morning kids TV show with a bigger budget. Observe and Report was marketed as an ‘outrageous comedy’ along the lines of Judd Apatow films, for better or worse. I would say in both cases, the resulting films failed because they didn’t meet those expectations. Whether they were “unadventurous” is entirely beside the point.

    While it’s true to some extent that the weekly Top Ten Films lists are usually about bragging rights over the dollar amount, the true measure of how well a film impacted with an audience really comes after the first two weeks, and months later, when the films eventually hit DVD and pay-per-view. Hype can only do so much if the product itself can’t possibly back it up. Word-of-mouth is still the best barometer if any film has lasting impact (and the first Star Wars film is a perfect example of this).

  13. I’ve never been interested enough to read the books, but I really want to see this based on the trailers! Funny, fast, weird, quirky, violent.. sign me up.

    As with both Wanted and Kick-Ass, it may just be that series I originally didn’t like or care about may make pretty damn good movies. Now, whether or not anyone ELSE see’s them… that’s a crapshoot.

  14. @Ket-
    True dat.
    It’s also interesting to consider- as someone mentioned before- hhow success is defined these days. By studio standards a successful movie kills across all demographics in two weeks, closes after three, sells out on DVD a few short months later. Films aren’t given time to grow an audience anymore (the happy recent exception being How To Train Your Dragon).
    Scott Pilgrim may very well turn a profit and hit big with a certain number of people. But god knows if it will be considered “successful” enough to inspire more adventurous films.

  15. I don’t think the “Bang” and “Pow” lettering will help bring in the non-comics audience. In fact, I’m part of the comics audience and I didn’t like it!