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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