Peter Bart, Give Me a Job...
Just posting to report that today's Variety basically said the exact same thing I said yesterday regarding "Snakes On a Plane." A few excerpts, if you will:
Pic's perf points up that what's important to the Internet crowd is not necessarily of interest to the general population.
Unlike with most movies, the hype did not come from the studio. The antithesis of the "Blair Witch Project" experience, the fate of "Snakes" suggests that Internet "marketing" guarantees nothing.
The self-perpetuating hoopla has overshadowed both the film and its B.O. results. "Snakes" slithered to $15.3 million domestically over the frame, adding another $2.6 million overseas, mostly from the U.K.
And here are a few more quotes:
Most say the whirlwind of hype became its own story, overshadowing how the film itself was truly tracking.
"The hype is the phenomenon, not the fact that the film didn't open (as big)," said one genre film vet. "There was a total disconnect between the media hype and the tracking. I'd take $15 million on a B-horror movie any day. That's in line with 'Saw.' The only thing you can control is your spending."
A studio distribution chief added: "It's always dangerous to extrapolate hard data from Internet buzz, which is very freeform. The ultimate question over the last three weeks was whether there was a big discrepancy between PR hype and actual interest."
And finally, the article ends with what was essentially the entire thesis of my entry yesterday -- although far more focussed that my between-class blatherings -- "And the final lesson may be that there is marketing for a film, and there are online chats about a film; they're not the same thing."
I'm only posting this because A) I'm a smartass and have issues crave self-affirmation related to my "intelligence" on a given issue B) I was reading through this week's EW in my first class and came across an article, written a few days before SOAP opened, basically already saying it would be a huge hit...whoops and C) I'm a smartass with self-affirmation issues.
Alright, I'm off to another class. w00t...except not.
Out.