MPAA says text messaging to blame for poor ticket sales
08-19-03 | 04:30 PM
#1
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MPAA says text messaging to blame for poor ticket sales
http://news.independent.co.uk/digita...p?story=434778
In Hollywood, 2003 is rapidly becoming known as the year of the failed blockbuster, and the industry now thinks it knows why.
No, the executives are not blaming such bombs as The Hulk, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle or Gigli on poor quality, lack of originality, or general failure to entertain. There's absolutely nothing new about that.
The problem, they say, is teenagers who instant message their friends with their verdict on new films - sometimes while they are still in the cinema watching - and so scuppering carefully crafted marketing campaigns designed to lure audiences out to a big movie on its opening weekend.
"In the old days, there used to be a term, 'buying your gross,' " Rick Sands, chief operating officer at Miramax, told the Los Angeles Times. "You could buy your gross for the weekend and overcome bad word of mouth, because it took time to filter out into the general audience."
But those days are over, because the technology of hand-held text-message devices has drastically cut down the time it takes for movie-goers to tell their friends that a heavily promoted summer action movie is a waste of time and money.
Five years ago, when summer movies were arguably just as bad as they are now, the average audience drop-off between a film's opening weekend and its second weekend was 40 per cent. This summer, it has been 51 per cent. In some cases, the drop-off has started between the film's opening on a Friday night and the main screenings on Saturday. The upshot: unsuccessful films disappearing from cinemas so fast that there is no time for second opinions.
A 56 per cent drop over the first week of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was not what the studio moguls had expected. As Arnold Schwarzenegger himself might say, hasta la vista, baby.
No, the executives are not blaming such bombs as The Hulk, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle or Gigli on poor quality, lack of originality, or general failure to entertain. There's absolutely nothing new about that.
The problem, they say, is teenagers who instant message their friends with their verdict on new films - sometimes while they are still in the cinema watching - and so scuppering carefully crafted marketing campaigns designed to lure audiences out to a big movie on its opening weekend.
"In the old days, there used to be a term, 'buying your gross,' " Rick Sands, chief operating officer at Miramax, told the Los Angeles Times. "You could buy your gross for the weekend and overcome bad word of mouth, because it took time to filter out into the general audience."
But those days are over, because the technology of hand-held text-message devices has drastically cut down the time it takes for movie-goers to tell their friends that a heavily promoted summer action movie is a waste of time and money.
Five years ago, when summer movies were arguably just as bad as they are now, the average audience drop-off between a film's opening weekend and its second weekend was 40 per cent. This summer, it has been 51 per cent. In some cases, the drop-off has started between the film's opening on a Friday night and the main screenings on Saturday. The upshot: unsuccessful films disappearing from cinemas so fast that there is no time for second opinions.
A 56 per cent drop over the first week of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was not what the studio moguls had expected. As Arnold Schwarzenegger himself might say, hasta la vista, baby.
08-19-03 | 05:38 PM
#5
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Yeah, but they blamed the internet last year, they need a new scapegoat.
08-19-03 | 05:39 PM
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From: MA
"Five years ago, when summer movies were arguably just as bad as they are now
Summer movies from 5 years ago... All I have to say is that Armageddon is part of the Criterion Collection. If you are not familar with the collection here is an exerpt from their website, "The Criterion Collection, a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films, is dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements. Criterion began with a mission to pull the treasures of world cinema out of the film vaults and put them in the hands of collectors. All of the films published under the Criterion banner represent cinema at its finest. In our seventeen years, we've seen a lot of things change, but one thing has remained constant: our commitment to publishing the defining moments of cinema in the world's best digital editions.
Summer movies from 5 years ago... All I have to say is that Armageddon is part of the Criterion Collection. If you are not familar with the collection here is an exerpt from their website, "The Criterion Collection, a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films, is dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements. Criterion began with a mission to pull the treasures of world cinema out of the film vaults and put them in the hands of collectors. All of the films published under the Criterion banner represent cinema at its finest. In our seventeen years, we've seen a lot of things change, but one thing has remained constant: our commitment to publishing the defining moments of cinema in the world's best digital editions.
08-19-03 | 05:40 PM
#8
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
What the hell? Why do they keep looking for people to blame? If I hear one more make believe reason why a movie bombed Im gonna.........well do nothing but Im sick of it. Also how would this affect Terminator 3? Didnt that movie have really good word of mouth? I certainly enjoyed it.
08-19-03 | 05:45 PM
#9
DVD Talk Legend
I didn't have to get a text message to know that I didn't wanna see gigli. As for Hulk and Charlie's Angels... I would've seen them even if some kid text messaged me saying they sucked donkey balls.
08-19-03 | 06:42 PM
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From: A little bit here and a little bit there.
Text messaging. That's pretty funny.
Poor, poor hollywood. The ever steadfast whore is throwing rocks at others and assigning the blame elsewhere.
Poor, poor hollywood. The ever steadfast whore is throwing rocks at others and assigning the blame elsewhere.
08-19-03 | 06:43 PM
#11
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Yes, the drop-off's are larger week to week on average, but the average opening is probably up too. Assuming the effect of ticket price is mostly negligible in a five years span....isn't is obvious that the only thing that's happening is that people that really want to see a movie are doing it the first week more often than they used too?
08-19-03 | 08:04 PM
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I weap for them, really I do.
I don't honestly understand stories such as these... who in the industry would want to go on the record complaining about not being able to make as much money on crappy movies?
I don't honestly understand stories such as these... who in the industry would want to go on the record complaining about not being able to make as much money on crappy movies?
08-19-03 | 08:08 PM
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What the hell? Why do they keep looking for people to blame? If I hear one more make believe reason why a movie bombed Im gonna.........well do nothing but Im sick of it.
Because there is so much money riding on every Summer blockbuster, every executive and studio must provide some plainly ridiculous justification when their movies fails to live up to expectations or worse flops.
08-19-03 | 09:56 PM
#19
DVD Talk Legend
said before i'll say again
I HATE HOLLYWOOD.
I HATE HOLLYWOOD.
While I agree that Hollywood's finger-pointing and lame excuses are pointless and silly, I still love how people complain incessantly about how "evil and horrific" Hollywood is... on a message board where upon membership is predicated by a love... of movies.
Fascinating. I'm going to join the message boards of The American Conservative and spend my time there spouting Marxist theory.
Last edited by Hokeyboy; 08-19-03 at 10:01 PM.
08-19-03 | 10:04 PM
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From: City of the lakers.. riots.. and drug dealing cops.. los(t) Angel(e)s. ca.
Originally posted by neiname
Summer movies from 5 years ago... All I have to say is that Armageddon is part of the Criterion Collection. If you are not familar with the collection here is an exerpt from their website, "The Criterion Collection, a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films, is dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements. Criterion began with a mission to pull the treasures of world cinema out of the film vaults and put them in the hands of collectors. All of the films published under the Criterion banner represent cinema at its finest. In our seventeen years, we've seen a lot of things change, but one thing has remained constant: our commitment to publishing the defining moments of cinema in the world's best digital editions.
Summer movies from 5 years ago... All I have to say is that Armageddon is part of the Criterion Collection. If you are not familar with the collection here is an exerpt from their website, "The Criterion Collection, a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films, is dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements. Criterion began with a mission to pull the treasures of world cinema out of the film vaults and put them in the hands of collectors. All of the films published under the Criterion banner represent cinema at its finest. In our seventeen years, we've seen a lot of things change, but one thing has remained constant: our commitment to publishing the defining moments of cinema in the world's best digital editions.
yeah, isn't it funny how they could put Armageddon in the same sentence as that criterion collection discription.. ha ha ha, funny stuff. what an awful movie.
08-19-03 | 10:37 PM
#24
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dnt c tmb rdr 2. it sux.
08-19-03 | 11:34 PM
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From: City of the lakers.. riots.. and drug dealing cops.. los(t) Angel(e)s. ca.
No no no, you see what they are REALLY saying is that folks are using IM on their PC to aim each other after downloading the pirated copy and telling each other how much it sucks and how they shouldn't go pay for it.