Okay, this is getting ridiculous...
There's an upcoming film called THE WOLVERINE, starring Hugh Jackman. Many of you may already know about this film, and that it's a continuation of the Wolverine saga. Wolverine is of course one of the main characters from the X-MEN films and comics. But most of that is irrelevant to this blog post.
What I'm really up in arms about is what has happened with the marketing of this film in the past week. Typically studios, in anticipation for the release of one of their upcoming films, will release a teaser; a short (typically under 90 seconds) collection of scenes and moments from the film...generally about 6 months before the film is set for release. Teasers usually don't give any of the plot away...they're just to make the public aware of the film's existence and that such and such big movie actor is in it. Then, as the date grows closer, they'll release a full trailer or trailers...those are longer (typically 90 seconds to 2 1/2 minutes) and start to lay out the plot. Personally I feel like trailers give away WAY too much of the plot these days, spoiling important moments that would've been a wonderful surprise while watching the film (and given me my money's worth).
Now just the other day, the director of THE WOLVERINE, James Mangold tweeted a 6 second (yes, 6 SECOND) snippet from the trailer that is supposed to be released this Wednesday. Now I actually don't have a huge problem with this...I think it's cool that filmmakers have a more direct connection with the public through social networking sites, and can drop cool little tid bits from their films. BUT what separates this from harmless promotion is that today, the studio releasing the film, Fox, released a 20 second teaser for the actual trailer coming on Wednesday! Yes, a teaser for a trailer. Not a teaser for the film, but a teaser for the trailer that will advertise said film. Say what?!
So lets' catalog the events. 6 second tweaser for the teaser for the trailer on Monday, 20 second teaser for the trailer on Tuesday, then the full trailer on Wednesday. Now this all took place in the span of 3 days. If Mangold had tweeted his tweaser a few weeks ago, then maybe I wouldn't be scratching my head as much as I am right now.
Studios spend enormous amounts of money advertising their films, because the investment into the production of those films is so high...they have to reach a very large number of people so that they can recoup their investment and make gobs of money beyond that. This is nothing new, and it's completely fair. Personally I think studios spend so much money on films that they feel forced to dumb them down to reach the widest possible audience. Because you cannot offend anyone if you want them to not only buy a ticket to your movie, but tell their friends to do the same, and possibly buy another ticket themselves. So as a result of all this money being spent on these productions means they have to be as bland, safe and inoffensive as possible. This is a bit of a side rant, but it dovetails nicely into my greater point.
Advertisers are already scraping the very bottom of the barrel of content when it comes to promoting their product. Commercials are not only insulting, but very often racist and sexist, not to mention morally bankrupt...and sadly it seems to be the only way to reach the average consumer. People are funny creatures...they like to mimic everyone else around them in order to remain popular and acceptable to their friends and society as a whole. Advertisers know this very well, so they tailor their ads to appeal to the lowest common denominator because those are the easiest people to control and hypnotize into buying their (often horribly inefficient and/or tastefully repugnant) product. They know others will mimic those of the lowest common denominator, even when those people doing the mimicking are of sound mind and possess intelligence...popularity trumps intelligence...people do the stupidest things even though they know they shouldn't, simply because everybody else is doing it. It's this sheep like herd mentality that allows corporations to keep their iron grip on the public's consciousness.
Movie trailers very much fall into this mode of operation. The lowest common denominator makes empty spectacles like the Transformers and The Fast and the Furious films into multi billions dollar success stories. Even the Star Trek series was dead until JJ Abrams came and turned it into just another action series set in space. Star Trek's more intelligent identity was not enough for the lowest common denominator, so they mostly ignored it until it resembled something more akin to Star Wars than Star Trek. I've said this before but Star Trek 2009 was made for people who don't like Star Trek. These action films tend to be fast, furious and eschew anything in the way of logic, well rounded characters, and philosophical and moral resonance. It is the short attention spans that these films have perpetuated that have led to the ridiculous and insulting idea of a 6 second tweaser!!!
And this is where this tweasers for teasers for trailers thing starts to make sense. Big budget Hollywood spectacles are built on hype and anticipation, because Hollywood needs their film to secure the #1 box office spot on opening weekend. This is because films tend to perform worse as they go on, not better. Typically a film that is #3 during opening weekend is not going to ascend to #2 or #1 the following weekend. Blockbusters make their biggest chunk during opening weekend and drop off after that. But, if a big film is actually great, it can defy the odds and actually make more money as time goes on. Films like Avatar, Titanic, E.T., Jurassic Park, Star Wars and Back to the Future are just a few examples...those films were not only well made, but had heart, soul and didn't insult the viewer's intelligence. Since Hollywood tends to churn films out like a factory, they do not allow filmmakers the control necessary to make such solid films like the ones I just mentioned...those are generally made by filmmakers who are well respected and wield the power to keep the studio's meddling at bay.
So studios must now resort to releasing teasers for teasers because the public is becoming even more fickle...the lowest common denominator must be taken even lower...and be treated like impatient children who can't wait a few days for a trailer to come out. There has been a trend in the movie business to assault the public in every facet of their lives, and that is now manifesting in these ridiculous marketing schemes...it really is like something out of a surrealistic comedy. And I'm afraid there really is very little place for it to go...you cannot operate on these insane levels of hype forever...6 second tweasers are about the limit...a 2 or 3 second tweaser would be incomprehensible...so the next step could be an implosion of the movie business. Nothing is too big to fail.
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