Snakes on a You’re Missing the Point
August 24th, 2006
Okay.
I’m Snakes on a Plane-d out. It’s all I’ve heard about and read about for the past two weeks. Yes, I went to see it on opening weekend. And yes, it was awesomely bad (as in I liked it). But this whole thing that’s going on that it only made fifteen plus change million is so not the point. The traditional press is thrilled that it “failed,” because, as Mack pointed out, they had to sit at the kiddie table this time and pout because they had no control.
The point of this whole thing was how it happened. How it survived and made it to the big screen. How the public got behind the steering wheel. (Yes, it was a very small percentage of the public. But it was those with voices who knew how to use them.) How a production company LISTENED and ACTED. And how this is a step in the direction of power being shifted to the public.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
Other posts by Spike.
Rob Stevens says:
About as right as you usually are, Spike. This isn’t about how the movie failed to do $40M at the box office. It’s how a movie that had absolutely no hope of recovering it’s costs managed to become the darling of the media and hit Number 1 at the box office AT ALL.
This movie should have been a collosal failure. Instead, it’s marginally successful. No, it wasn’t a runaway smash, but that’s still looking at the small picture. This movie is destined to become a cult classic. The movie “has legs”, as they say in the biz. For “Snakes”, it’s not about box office, it’s about mindshare, and Snakes has all the motherf’n mindshare it can handle.
August 24th, 2006 at 12:32 pmSpike says:
Well said, Rob…especially that last sentence!
August 24th, 2006 at 12:38 pmRyan says:
And this could also be a perfect example of ‘The Long Tail’ in practice… Its cult-like following may just extend beyond anything normally seen, and therefore will continue to reap the rewards of having embraced the power of the community.
Just a thought.
August 25th, 2006 at 10:34 amSpike says:
And a good one, Ryan. Even though the numbers we’re up to Hollywood’s standards, SoaP is in it for the long haul. Even if it doesn’t make the numbers, we’ll be talking about it for a long time to come. I don’t think that can be said of movies like MI:3…
August 25th, 2006 at 10:42 amRyan says:
Absolutely.
Like Rocky Horror Picture Show. A cult classic released in 1975 that continues to pull in money to this day. In fact, as I check my records, RHPS has grossed over $139M to date since its release, putting it at #166 for all-time grossing movies. (MI:3 is #187, FYI…)
August 25th, 2006 at 12:17 pmMack Collier says:
I’ve noticed 2 things since SoaP opened:
Of the bloggers that said they have seen the movie, all I have read have said that they loved the movie.
Of the bloggers that have been critical of the movie and/or its marketing, NONE of them said they had attended the movie, and most said that it was a ‘bad product’(without seeing it).
I think we can definitely draw some conclusions here.
August 29th, 2006 at 7:28 pmSpike says:
Great point, Mack.
August 30th, 2006 at 6:44 amTom Ehrenfeld says:
Hey Spike–
You left a comment on the Marketing Profs that responded to a piece I wrote and which linked back here. You can check it out at http://www.mpdailyfix.com/2006/08/refractive_heuristics_or_why_s.html#comments
August 30th, 2006 at 12:40 pm