"Wire" star will play the god Heimdall in Marvel pic.
Social Networking Making Friday The Only Day That Counts
Twitter, Facebook have changed what 'word-of-mouth' really means.
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Disney released a triptych of posters for this spring's "Alice in Wonderland" on Thursday. The posters give audiences a look at Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter's Red Queen, Anne Hathaway's White Queen, and Mia Wasikowska's Alice. Take a look at the avant-garde art for Tim Burton's upcoming 3D fantasy flick.
“ The potential is there.”
Another movie that appears to have benefitted from this effect was “The Hangover,” the low-budget, star-free comedy that took Warner Bros by surprise on its opening weekend and beyond.
The movie took in an astonishing $45 million its opening weekend, apparently $3 million more than even optimistic tracking projections had predicted. (The word of mouth has continued to be strong, the film has now taken in $210 million domestically.)
Paddison pointed out that “Transformers 2” appears to be an exception to the Twitter effect, since audiences have continued flocking to the movie despite negative word of mouth (and bad reviews too, though it’s been a long time since critics could kill a blockbuster).
Still, Paddison observed that savvy marketing executives can also use social networking to combat negative word of mouth, by planning for it, and diverting attention to other tweetable and text-worthy news.
Say, a super-sexy picture of Megan Fox to accompany the movie’s release? In that case, Paddison said, timing is everything.
“It’s all about Thursday at midnight, you’d want to hit it Friday at daytime, and follow it up late evening. You need to staunch the blood flow Friday nite.”
Among movies that were probably hurt by Twitter’s rapid-fire spread of audience reaction is Sony’s “Year One,” which took in a disappointing $19 million opening weekend, and Universals’ big bust, “Land of the Lost,” which took in $18.8 million in its first weekend.
This weekend, the movie in the spotlight is a prime example of where social networking may have an impact. Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Bruno” is a movie that drives social networking buzz, and its box office may rise or fall as a result.
“Bruno is the great test,” said Adee. “What effect will Twitter have on Bruno? I haven’t seen it, but my guess you’re either gonna love it or hate it.”
Comments
terry Says
Some executives have been mindful of the lightning speed of word of mouth for some time, with moviegoers texting from inside movie theaters to their friends.games
Alan Says
Twitter has been hot these days. Seem like it can use for promotion purpose on anything. The marketers and bloggers have used it to make money online and the politicians use it for their campaign.
josh Says
Great stuff.
http://poweryogapants.com
josh Says
Great increase vertical
Sibbie Says
Nah, it wasn't twitter, Cohen just made the gays cranky.
You can say whatever you want about, say, rednecks in a movie and they'll just shrug and get on with their lives. But upset the gays and they'll demand your lynching.
Scott Says
I think Sacha is the king of making OK movies but making sure that the whole world knows about them. As they say perception is reality and Sacha is the king of perception.
The Bruno movie would have made its millions either way, before anyone worked out that it was actually an ordinary movie purely because of the whirlwind promotion. Sacha will be counting the money while heads are still spinning!
Half his luck I think...
http://idigibuzz.com
Duh Dough Says
Twitter is for twits. I like to stand outside the kino and watch to see if people barf on the sidewalk to know if a movie is bad.
Stuart Hannig Says
I saw it and I think its racist and sexist and degrading to gays. Me and my bf saw it and I was offended at how words like fag were used by cohen.
FilmBuff Says
“If your movie is bad, it's instantaneous. You know it on Friday."
Believe me, the studio execs know a movie is bad long before it opens.
Ivan Says
Bzzt! Wrong. My gf and I saw up because we knew it would be a good movie that had adult humor in it as well as some ageless fun.
Had nothing to do with Twitter.
Matt Says
Just make good movie and make sure people know about them ... it is that simple.
Arthur Marblestone Says
While there is no doubt that social media is making word of mouth much more instantaneous, the examples in this article are somewhat faulty.
If "The Hangover" audiences Friday night are tweeting how great the film is, why was Saturday's gross lower than Friday's? "Land of the Lost " had a stink going into opening weekend-social media or not. Also to say that audiences do not like "Transformers 2" is silly. Young teens and pre-teens obviously love it.
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