THR - WILL THE TWILIGHT MOVIE EXCEED THE HYPE?
THEHOLLYWOODREPORTER.COM has a very interesting article about the ability of Twilight to turn into a huge blockbuster for Summit. Initially, little attention was paid when the making of Twilight was announced. But once Catherine Hardwicke was signed on to direct, a cult like following started growing. As the actors were picked out, fans became vocal about their opinions on Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen) and Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan). Summit was surprised at the reaction but they quickly realized how to use it to their advantage. THR explains Summit’s strategy below:
Summit is careful not to overplay expectations for the film. Yet the hype ramped up after the company moved swiftly to snag the Nov. 21 pre-Thanksgiving release date when “Harry Potter” was pushed to 2009. Now, some boxoffice analysts are predicting the $37 million-budgeted film (according to Summit; some peg its cost at $40 million-$50 million) could earn back close to its budget during its opening weekend alone. There are reasons why that might be tricky.Unlike “Potter” or “The Da Vinci Code” — two other literary sensations that became film franchises — “Twilight” is not a mega-best-seller. And the teen demographic that devours the novels can be especially fickle when it comes to its film choices.
They go on to say:
Summit’s challenge is to use the film’s raised profile to expand its appeal beyond the very audience responsible for bolstering expectations. As one rival studio marketing exec puts it, “If they just get teenage girls, they’re dead.”Recognizing this, Summit has come up with some savvy ideas. Summut has been marketing to an online group called Twilight Moms.
The studio is planning an aggressive television rollout during shows that 12- to 24-year-olds are likely to watch, and it has undertaken a broad MySpace campaign that it says has yielded millions of hits.
The ultimate goal, of course, is to reach not just girls and adult women but also boys, who for decades have been willing to embrace metaphors for their own adolescence via superhero movies. To this end, Summit has generated trailers (including footage shown at Comic-Con) stressing the action scenes.
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One of Summit’s strategies has been to play up the action scenes so that boys/men will also want to see the movie. Do you think Summit has done a good job of making Twilight the movie appealing to all age ranges? If so, why? If not, why?
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No, I think Twilight will remain a chick flick/book. I can picture guys bringing their significant others on a date to the movie but will they enjoy watching their girlfriends and wives drool over the gorgeous eye candy….probablly not. The action sequenses, yeah, more then likley the guys would appreciate it but I dont expect alot of men to think it’s cool. On the other hand, it’s the same issues we face as Potter fans of the books versus the movie. Warner Brothers leaves so much out of the screen adaptations that the fans of the books feel very disenchanted. I plead with all of you who are the original fans of the Twilight series, DO NOT go into the theaters expecting the book, chapter by chapter. Situations will change to fit a more action packed plot. Tiny details that mean the world to us as fans might not make it to the screen. The actors will potray the characters never in the same way we envisioned them. Expectations do not equal a happy movie experince. Im not trying to be a let down, just optimistiacally cautious. Im going to love it no matter what, Rob could be wearing a potato sack and Id be grinning through the whole movie like an idiot. But just be warned. Summit has to sell this as an action/love story.
kerri, I agree w/you about the expectations thing. I mean, Ive hated all the harry potter movies except the first two (even if Rob was awesome in the fourth movie, the rest of the movie sucked), b/c they just started leaving SO many things out and really taking away from the story I loved so much, and I often end up hating movie adaptations of books I love. Therefore, Im going at this movie w/a completely different attitude- knowing/expecting that there will be some pretty significant changes, but that I will love it anyway- that way, I will not be disappointed if they change a lot and will only be VERY pleasantly surprised if they do stick closer to the book than I imagined. And like you, the way I feel about this movie is that I will love it no matter what, even if “Rob could be wearing a potato sack.” So my advice to others as well is: expect lots of changes, and it will be impossible to be disappointed after the movie.
I DISAGREE WITH BOTH OF YOU….
I KNOW THE MOVIE IS GOING TO BLOW OUT ANY BOX OFFICE RECORD YOU CAN THINK OF. NOT FOR ANY OTHER REASON THAT TWILIGHT FANS ARE LOYAL AND (MRS. MEYERS SAID) PASSIONATE! THEY HAVE AN AMAZING CAST AND GREAT DIRECTOR A BRILLIANT SCREEN WRITER AND THE MOST TALENT NOVELIST KNOW.
THIS IS GOING TO BE A HUGE HIT! AS FAR AS THE POTTER MOVIE ARE CONCERNED I DID IN FACT ENJOY THOSE TOO! IF YOU WERE ANYTHING LIKE ME YOU COULDNT WAIT TO SEE YOUR FAV BOOKS COME TO THE BIG SCREEN TO SEE YOU ACTUAL IMAGINATION PLACED ON A MOVIE SCREEN… THATS WHAT THIS MOVIE IS FOR SOOO MANY OTHER PEOPLE AND NOT JUST GIRLS, WOMEN, MEN, PARENT, GRANDPARENTS.. I BELIEVE IN THIS MOVIE AND ALL OF THE PEOPLE WHO WORKED VERY HARD TO BRING IT TO US!