I hope the people who make movie trailers actually go to the theater and watch the audience reaction.
It can be a real eye opener.
Case in point: I went to “Inception” last night — what a wild ride that was — and saw two new trailers before the show: one for “The Town,” one for “Devil.”
“The Town” stars Ben Affleck, Blake Lively, Jon Hamm and Jeremy Renner. Set in Boston, it tells the story of a group of bank robbers, a bank manager they get involved with and the FBI agent who tries to take them down. The trailer said it was from “the director of ‘Gone Baby Gone.’”
“Devil” puts a group of apparently random people in a high-rise elevator and stalls it. Then all hell breaks loose. There are no real name stars in the film; the trailer just touts it as being “from the mind of M. Night Shyamalan.”
Two interesting choices.
The first trailer did not specifically name Affleck as its director. Did they suspect there might be negative connotations? Some holdover from his earlier work in “Gigli” or “Jersey Girls?”
The second — which I think had the audience until this point — elicited groans and laughter when they threw M. Night Shyamalan’s name into the mix. The movie appeared to lose all credibility with those three little words.
So, if anyone is listening — I think a teeny edit to the “Devil” trailer could make a big difference at the box office.
And M. Night — the slogan for “Devil” is “bad things happen for a reason.”
Try to keep that in mind…okay?
Not again
Making movies cost the big bucks, it’s true.
So perhaps we shouldn’t judge producers too harshly when they remake blockbusters from years past to ensure box office success…like The Great Gatsby or Footloose.
This may also explain ‘sequel-itis’…although quality seems to figure less in that equation.
Case in point: New Year’s Eve from director Garry Marshall.
(Sorry; it was that bad.)
I’m not surprised actors are drawn to the sequel; it’s the easiest money they’ll ever make. And Garry Marshall probably just used the Valentine’s Day shooting script and changed the California locations to New York City.
But why do it at all?
Critics skewered the first film, and audience reviews were only slightly warmer. And while Valentine’s Day did break $100 million at the box office, there were a lot of celebrity salaries to pay.
Well, after seeing the trailer, I think I’ve figured it out.
Garry has directed a train wreck of a film…and we all know how hard it is not to look at one of those.
Cha-ching!
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Posted in Celebrities, Commentary, Entertainment, Holiday, Humor, Life, Movies, Relationships, Valentine's Day
Tagged California, celebrities, cliched storylines, cliches, commentary, entertainment, Footloose movie, Garry Marshall, Holiday, Humor, Justin Bieber, life, movie box office, movie classics, movie critics, movie director, movie producers, movie remakes, movie reviews, movie sequels, movie stars, Movies, New Year's Eve movie, New York City, Relationships, The Great Gatsby movie, Times Square, Valentine's Day movie