Ok, so I haven’t seen Snakes on a Plane. I’ll probably end up renting it on DVD, have a pre-movie-preparatory beer and a shot to make it better, and hit “play”.
The point is that even TONS of pre-release internet buzz doesn’t guarantee killer box office receipts (SOAP has only earned $33MM in the U.S., which was about what it cost to produce). Before the movie came out, movie news sites, blogs and forums were going insane talking about this movie, pumped even higher by the studio re-cutting it from a PG-13 rating to an R (come to think of it, I wonder if that helped kill it at the box office?). Buzz needs to be combined with a movie that’s actually GOOD, but this most basic of concepts is still lost on the suits in Hollywood.
Seth Godin, who runs a marketing blog, brought the issue up here, which I thought was an appropriate subject to touch upon at Screen Rant. 
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3 Comments
Yeah, that’s a good example of how too much hype can be just as bad as too little hype. I have seen Snakes on a Plane, and it delivers exactly what it advertises — a cheesy horror/action movie that features snakes on a plane. If you go in knowing what to expect, you can have fun with it. I have to say, though, that for mindless entertainment, it’s hard to beat Transporter 2.
Brian
I know this is 18 months later, almost, but it should be pointed out that Borat benefitted from the Internet in the beginning, and Cloverfield and Blair Witch owe a lot to JJ Abrams’ web campaign that got the blogs talking.
However, on Friday 1-25-08 (weekend 2), Cloverfield was in a tight race for number 3 and was sitting at 4.
heath
True, it looks like Cloverfield is taking a really big drop this weekend, but it DID divide audiences pretty sharply.
Vic
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