Have You Bought Into the Hype?
2006-Aug-17 by KYJoe
I better be gettin a good mother****in paycheck
for doin this shitty mother****in movie.
So Snakes on a Plane builds an underground fan base on the net months ahead of its scheduled release whipping cybergeeks into near hysteria who decry the possibility of a title change and make crude home movie trailers that they post on youtube, and Samuel Jackson flashes that slyest of sly grins and exhorts about "mother****in snakes on mother****in planes" and... the film becomes one of the biggest hits of the summer.
Or does it?
Will America, and the rest of the world for that matter, be duped (OK so it's happened before with some elusive WMDs)?
C'mon people! Wake up! The "Snakes" marketing ploy is that they unabashedly admit that they're selling you a B movie. Of course, the title says it all. But why then is that same tongue-in-cheekedness totally absent from the trailers? The trailers show us people being afraid of the snakes- it's a serious situation. It doesn't make sense. If you're making a joke out of your product then follow through by God. Over-the-top bloodcurdling screams, Raiders of the Lost Ark spoofing- I don't know.
But here's the main issue I have with this film: If you serve up mediocrity, even if you admit to the mediocrity and we all have a good little chuckle about it, it's still mediocrity.
Even though I, and probably a good number of others, have figured this out it'll still do about $50 mill at the box office. Because, after all, we enjoy mediocrity, don't we? Or do we?
2006-Aug-17 - Snakes Posted by Anonymous
I agreee. I was told the film was a spoof, but when I saw the trailer, I thought, "it doesn't seem like they're making fun of it". I was a little baffled by what they're trying to tell us about this movie. I don't think it'll do that well. Hopefully. It's almost like they're daring people to come see a horrible movie. It's not like everything Sam Jackson touches is gold.
Permanent Link
2006-Aug-17 - No. It'l open well.
Posted by KYJoe
Maybe not quite at what is being projected, but it will make its money back. Then again it could exceed those projections. It's hard to say. The public often laps up crap. Just look at what "Click" did- over a 100 mill in like 3 weeks.
I see a big dropoff after opening weekend when all the rabid "Snake" fans flood the theaters.
Permanent Link
2006-Aug-17 - Cmon!
Posted by CCervix
Guys, guys, guys. It's not "Snakes on Muther****in Brokback Mountain." for Lord's sake. It is crap but Net Hipsters got involved with said hype (in the name of irony I s'pose?) and the rest is, after this week-end, history.
Besides, who said you can't fall somewhere between a B movie and a Z movie? As for marketing it, alls fair in love and marketing as they say!
CCervix
Permanent Link
2006-Aug-17 - mediocrity
Posted by DBannon
Well, avante garde or genius level work demands too much from us. After working all day, cooking, cleaning, and putting the kids to bed we are often too tired to enjoy art that kicks our ass or knocks our socks off. I mean, how many people can watch Passolini after 9 hours at the cublicle or factory?
DBannon
Permanent Link
2006-Aug-18 - You both have a point
Posted by KYJoe
CCervix and DBannon-
True- "Snakes" is meant as a diversion- it's silly fun summer fare.
I guess my reason for railing is b/c of the involuntary personal backlash I have against things that become cultural phenomenons. It took me years to see "Titanic" and I 've never read "The Davinci Code". This film just picked up so much steam- yeah, the marketing gurus knew what they were doing.
