According to a President from a renowned production house, “People will be twittering during the opening credits -- and leaving when they don't like them.” This basically means that via Twitter people are able to hear a number of opinions from which they can decide whether or not they want to see the film. If they decide they do, well, the film has one more viewer. If not, then because of Twitter, the number of viewers has instantly dropped. The idea of a film doing well at the box office now has Twitter to help it decide its fate.
People will be twittering during the opening credits -- and leaving when they don't like them.
As a case study, Bruno, which released in 2009 found its box office collections decrease by a whole 39% over a weekend. Many analysts believe that this has a lot to do with the fact that tweeters were unhappy with the film and tweeted nonstop throughout the film. However, according to Movietickets.com, they Twitter has no effect on how a film will do at the box office. “We may be putting too much weight onto the Twitter Effect. But you can see Twitter's benefits as a communications tool that spreads the word about a film, and the negatives have yet to be proven,” they claim. Their ideology may be slightly biased vis-à-vis refusing to accept that Twitter does move faster than word of mouth or reviews from critics.
We may be putting too much weight onto the Twitter Effect.
On the flip side, there are some analysts who believe that Twitter is just what the doctor ordered. “I think Twitter can't be stopped…Now you have to see it as an addition to the campaign of any movie,” he said. “People want real-time news and suddenly a studio can give it to them in a first-person way. The blogs have to go to our feeds for the latest trailers and reports,” adds another analyst. His theory seems far more plausible especially since marketing teams for films now realize the influence of Twitter towards bringing in audiences to watch films. Whether it’s the initial buzz surrounding the film which a lot of the time the actors of the film usually tend to tweet about or post the release of the film, Twitter definitely has become the voice of every moviegoer in the world.
I think Twitter can't be stopped
There are of course skeptics who believe that Social Media has absolutely zero to do with how a film fairs at the box office. “A bad film is a bad film…People say Twitter causes a movie to bomb. I say a bad film causes people to trash it on Twitter,” claims yet another skeptic. While this does make sense, it does prevent people from wasting X amount of dollars at the cinema for a film which is clearly not worth watching or at least consensus says so via Twitter.
People say Twitter causes a movie to bomb.
Most believe this is just the beginning for Twitter and Hollywood. Their association is yet to grow and only get bigger. “The blue bird” and its impact on the foreign film industry, according to most has only just started. “Twitter hasn’t reached its boiling point yet…it’s going to grow and get more influential,” claims one of Hollywood’s biggest experts.
How does Twitter affect your movie-going-habits?
4 comments:
Well I hope people aren't Tweeting during movies! But, I do see how tweets can influence people's decisions to go see a film. I tend to read film blogs and other film reviews/critics when making a decision on what film to see. Though now I may start paying attention to film tweets out of curiosity. I have to say when I saw your title I thought you were going to write about celebrity tweeters : )
Great blog, Champa! I agree with Suzzanna. Tweeting during a movie is highly rude. If you need to play with your phone that bad, why not just save yourself the $20 and rent the movie at home. I also haven't looked to Twitter to influence what movies I see. I have a ritual every Thursday where I read my favorite film blogs and reviews by my favorite critics. I'd love to read more research on an actual movie bombing at the box office due to bad "reviews" on Twitter. I wonder if Twitter is also responsible for sinking Jennifer Anniston's career. She might want to look into that.
I don’t think that Twitter has stopped me from seeing a movie because of others bad reviews. I have read reviews that people Tweet about a new movie and seen the statuses they set on Facebook, but they have never changed my mind on wanting to go out and watch it. I probably respond this way because I let only the movie trailers influence my interest in seeing them. Also, I make a decision about seeing a movie based on the description of the film’s plot and the interest it sparks in me to go watch it. Most of the movies that I want to watch get good reviews. At the same time, however, I think that everyone has different tastes in what they consider is a good movie. There are many movies that are about the same thing. Yet it is the way producers make the movie that determines if it is a good movie and if it will get great reviews. If it’s a bad movie that they make, then the movie will get a disappointing review and people are not going to want to watch it. Therefore, Twitter could affect the choice one makes about watching a movie. The response just depends on the person’s interests. Now I am going to pay more attention to what people write about films and respond after I watch it myself.
the only reason i got a twitter to start with was to see what it was, then the only reason i even looked at my twitter for the better part of a year (before this class) was to see what Eli Roth was doing. he still (besides this class) if the only reason i would ever go on twitter. he makes it interesting so i totally get that hollywood twitter. i think most people use it like i do, except with their own celebrity stalk. haha
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