Does the internet create too high expectations of films?

[TheDeceased]

I've found with a lot of films that you hear about them WAY before they ever start being made due to rumours on the internet and info on what directors have in production, or slated for the next couple of years, etc. - that sometimes I have anticipated a film for so long, when it finally comes out I find it to be really dissapointing. It doesn't live up to years of expectations. I don't remember this happening very often before the net.

I'd prefer to learn about films closer to their release as sometimes the prolonged anticipation is too much for me. I don't like being presented with things that I cannot have. Depending on how much the film appeals to me, it borders on being torturous.

 

[alasdairm]

i think individuals have to take some responsibility for their enjoyment of a movie. sure, movie company trailers and previews obviously try to portray the coming feature in the best possible light but if my expectations are that a movie will be incredible and it's not, they're my expectations and i'm to blame in part (the extent of which is debatable) for my own disappointment.

alasdair

 

[TheDeceased]

I'm not talking about trailers/previews misrepresenting films.

Trailers are generally released a couple of months before the film is released...

Take imdb.com for example. If you want to look up a filmography of one of your favourite directors to find out which of his or her films you haven't seen, at the top of the page there are films in development, films slated for two, three, four years from now, films in pre-production, filming, post-production, etc.

 

[EA-1475]

Dude, I remember the media build-up leading up to the 1989 Batman movie. I was hearing about Batman for a year leading up to its release. The two months leading up to release had Batman on MTV non-stop, at Taco Bell, commercial, magazines, EVERYWHERE.

Naturally, the internet adds one more element to the equation. But movie hype was certainly not born with the internet. Fanzines, gosspi columns, and whatnot served many of the same purposes for hype that internet message boards does now.

Read up on the media blitz surrounding the making of Gone With The Wind, especially the search for the perfect Scarlet O'Hara. The 1925 silent version of Ben Hur was reported on for years as it was being made. It's nothing new.

 

[TheDeceased]

Without the internet I don't generally hear about films until I read reviews or see the trailers prior to their release... but then again maybe that's because I don't watch television or read magazines or newspapers. Perhaps you're right.

 

[Max Power]

With the exponential rise of viral marketing, the hype for a film most certainly increases beyond what it would have been, say, 20 years ago.

There's a ton of money that goes into advertising/marketing a film. The more people that hear about it, the more people will go to watch it. Thus, you are prbly going to be inundated with way too many previews and chatter about the film.

My advice would be to just ignore all the unwanted attention. Don't get your hopes up. You can learn about the film at your own pace by looking at the right places if you want to. If you see something online about it before that time, don't read it.

 

[AmorRoark]

Brad Pitt is going to be in The Odyssey coming out in 2012! It's going to be awesome!!!!

Like that?

 

[Max Power]

^ reported for trolling.

 

[L2R]

actually, i've been consistantly checking darkhorizons for this exact kind of info for probably even longer than i've been on bluelight. it doesn't bother my anticipation anywhere near as much as the trailers and other adverts (most of which i generally try to avoid).

there have been so many projects I've been excited about which have either changed or fallen through that I simply don't get excited any more. i read it just as an interest.

 

[alasdairm]

Take imdb.com for example. If you want to look up a filmography of one of your favourite directors to find out which of his or her films you haven't seen, at the top of the page there are films in development, films slated for two, three, four years from now, films in pre-production, filming, post-production, etc.

arguments about whether anything is truly objective aside, imdb is just objectively reporting industry facts. it's the nature of the business that many movie projects have a very long lead time. also, inevitably, some of those projects won't make it onto the big screen.

as maxpowers says, you're completely in control of this problem as you can choose either not to read this information in the first place or, if you do - perhaps accidentally - by recalibrating your own expectations.

alasdair

 

[Belisarius]

I think the Internet has had very little effect on the box office. Yes, there are online trailers teasers and cable sneak-peeks out the wazoo, but when you get down to it, nothing much has changed: Highly-touted films still occasionally flop. Dark horses still sometimes hit it big. Critically-acclaimed films drop out of sight in a week, and movies every journalist thinks is shit can still make millions. What makes or breaks any film's success will always be a measure of talent, audience, marketing skill regardless of media channel, and not a little luck.

 

[Wyld 4 X]

I think it depends on if you are locked in to sites like Rotten Tomatoes or that one d-bag's site in Texas (can't even remember the idiot's name). I generally do not let others' opinion affect whether I have expectations of a film or not.