The Wackness Teaser Trailer #2 OR Sony Pictures Classics Proves Once Again They Don’t Know How To Market a Good Movie
It must be really hard to cut a good movie trailer, especially for a bad movie. But it always amazes me when great films sometimes have such horrible movie trailers. I’ve now seen Jonathan Levine ‘s The Wackness three times. And since January the film has held strong on the list of my favorite films of 2008. When Sony Pictures Classics purchased the film at Sundance, a lot of the people that loved this film were bummed out. Bloggers were outraged. You see, Sony Pictures Classics is where good movies go to die. The only way they can market a movie is if it wins an award (ie they let the award do the heavy lifting). And the guys at SPC promised that they knew how to handle this film, and two trailers later, I really really really don’t want to say I told you so, but…
The second teaser trailer is a mishmash of good moments from the film, which play well to someone who has seen the movie, but to the unknowing onlooker, it comes off as an urban “Step Up” or Finding Forester. Sure you have some good interaction between Ben Kingsley and Josh Peck, and the moment with Peck playing classic Nintendo, but I challenge anyone who hasn’t heard of this movie to explain to me what this movie is about. Because after seeing this trailer, you really have no idea.
You can watch the trailer below and see for yourself, but I highly recommend you stay away from any of the marketing from this film. I say this because if I had seen either of these teaser trailers, I probably wouldn’t be interested in the slightest. And it’s too bad, because this film is great. It won the audience award at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. People love this film. I love this film. Even critics love this film. But none of that is enough to sell this film to you the audience. I understand that. You want to be sold by the trailer. You probably won’t be sold by this one. Maybe the next one will be better. We can only hope.
Sony Pictures Classics to Buy/Bury The Wackness?!
Please someone tell me this isn’t true. THR is reporting that Sony Pictures Classics has closed a deal for Jonathan Levine’s The Wackness. The deal is said to be in the low seven figures.
The Wackness is one of my favorite films of the festival. The buzz around Park City on shuttles and in lines, is that this is THE film of Sundance 2008. I’ve found it very strange that no studio deal has yet been announced. And while I’m very happy to finally hear that The Wackness has a deal possibly in sight, I’m torn over the mention of the potential buyer. Why? Well because Sony Pictures Classics sucks. Don’t get me wrong, they have some great films in their catalog. But it seems to me that many of these films are buried at the box office with lackluster promotion. If only every mini-major could be more like Fox Searchlight!
Let’s take a look at some of the recent Sony Pictures Classics releases, and how well they faired at the box office:
Youth Without Youth - $196,000: I don’t care how experimental or how badly reviewed this film was, Sony could have slapped ads up touting “Francis Ford Coppola’s First Film in Ten Years” or “From the Director of The Godfather”.
Persepolis - $913,000: Nominated for an academy award, but dumped in to art houses with little to no press and advertising.
My Kid Could Paint That - $229,000: One of the best documentaries of 2007 with huge free marketing appeal (in news shows, newspapers…etc)
Junebug - $2,680,000: Amy Adam’s oscar nominated break-out performance dumped.
Layer Cake - $2,340,000: A lighting quick gangster film with major cult appeal starring announced Bond replacement Daniel Craig.
In fact, the nine films which were released theatrically last year [From January 1st 2007 to December 31st 2007] by Sony Pictures Classics, made a grand total of $6.5 million in the 2007 calendar year. That’s an average of $725,000 per picture. The fact that their highest box office take was The Jane Austen Book Club, which took in $3.5 million, yet cost over $6 million to produce. Compare this to Fox Searchlight, which made almost twice that of the total SPC with The Darjeeling Limited alone, which never played on more than 700 screens. Actually, only one of the eight films that Searchlight released in 2007, made less than the combined sum of Sony Pictures Classic’s 2007 catalog.
I understand that the sex and drugs themes inherent within The Wackness might pose a challenge to market, which explains why The Wackness probably settled with Sony Pictures Classics. But Levine would have had a better chance by selling the film to Fox Searchlight for $1 and taking a back-end deal. At least then maybe the film would have a chance.
I hope that Sony pictures Classics proves me wrong. I hope they market the hell out of this film. The Wackness has huge generational cult classic potential on the level of Zack Braff’s Garden State, which took in $26.8 million in the U.S. One thing is for sure, as much as I dislike Sony Pictures Classics, I will be giving this film an abundance of free marketing.
More from our Friends:
Neil at FSR: “This is probably one of the worst things that could have happened for the film.” “They are a studio that wouldn’t know what to do with a great film even if it came with a set of instructions.”
Alex from FS.net: “Sony Pictures Classics really needs to learn from Fox Searchlight if they’re going to market The Wackness and Baghead correctly, and I wish them the best of luck, because both of these need to be huge hits”
Edward Douglas of CS.net: “It’s a fun movie and could find a big audience, though it’s not the kind of movie Sony Classics usually releases, though it would be a huge turnaround for the company if they’re able to learn something from the Fox Searchlight marketing model”
Josh Tyler from CinemaBlend: “With the right marketing campaign and the right people promoting it, The Wackness could have easily opened in 1000 theaters and made millions. With Sony Pictures Classics behind it, we’ll be lucky if it ever plays anywhere outside of New York or LA, and forget about Oscar consideration.”
Anne Thompson of Variety: “Some folks seem to have an issue with SPC distributing Wackness.”
Peter Martin of Cinematical: “The complaint is that Sony Classics has had a poor track record over the past couple of years and someone like Fox Searchlight would do a better job with marketing a film that critics think needs to be seen.”
Jumper Movie Trailer
I don’t know about you guys but I’m beginning really getting excited for Doug Liman’s Jumper.
Jumper is an epic sci-fi action film starring Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell, Rachel Bilson and Samuel L. Jackson. Set in the future, Jumper is about a race of people called Jumpers who have the ability to teleport, and another ancient race who are out to kill them all (Want to know more about the film? Click here).
I’m not a huge fan of Christensen (when an actor ruins your favorite movies from your childhood, it tends to put a bad taste in your mouth), but the effects look pretty cool, and from the look of it, the mythology behind the story has potential to lead to a great sci-fi film. And you have to love the tagline “Anywhere is possible.” And let’s not forget that Liman has created some really great films in the past including: Go and The Bourne Identity (we’ll try to forget Mr. & Mrs. Smith ever happened).
Check out the trailer thanks to IGN.
Jumper hits theaters on February 15th 2008.
Ray Stevenson to Replace Thomas Jane in The Punisher 2
As you probably know, Thomas Jane pulled out of The Punisher sequel because he didn’t want to be part of a movie that he didn’t believe in. The search began for a Frank Castle replacement, and LatinoReview are now reporting that Ray Stevenson (HBO’s Rome) has been cast in The Punisher 2. The timing of this casting rumor seems to fit. Comic-Con is next week and Marvel were probably prepping a surprise announcement at the Con.
I must admit, I was not a fan of the first film. In fact, a friend and I walked out of the film at just about an hour in. I’ve heard the film gets better in the second half, but I wouldn’t know because I’ve never seen it. It’s too bad too because the recent revamp of The Punisher comic book series is pretty good, and could make a series of great films if done right. Jane was supposedly a big fan of the comic. His walk-out is probably a good indication of the quality of the script. So I don’t expect the sequel to be any better.
And as for Ray Stevenson - I never got into HBO’s Rome despite the recommendation of many people. May-be some of our commentors can speak about his abilities and potential in the role of Frank Castle.