Snakes on The Net Fail to Put Butts in the Seats

Lev13than writes "An article in The Globe & Mail discusses the disappointing performance of Snakes on a Plane. Despite extensive Internet hype and unprecedented audience involvement in the movie's development, it barely slithered into first place with a meager $13.8M weekend box office. 'The Internet stuff was just fun that people were having with it, but I don't think that necessarily meant that those people wanted to see the movie... those who had made that decision based their decision more on the traditional marketing than on all this Internet buzz.' Was all of the hype about blogger power just that — hype?"

One more possibility

There is one major possibility that everybody is forgetting.

That is, that this movie could have quite possibly ended dead last without the Internet hype. I think the only reason they made anything at all was because of the hype.

Exactly

This movie debut - 10 years ago = Complete and utter bust. The money it made was due to the Internet and very little else. If anything it was a wakeup call to Hollywood in how much money can be made by "marketing" to the appropriate audience (although of course with SoaP it was mostly accidental ;)

Re:Exactly

>This movie debut - 10 years ago = Complete and utter bust.

Naww. There was considerable non-blog based hype. The wacky trailers, word of mouth, etc. I think this movie would have done just as well without the so called internet hype. There's a great deal of over-estimation of the number and influence levels of 'internet people.' Seriously. If all the net-based hype refelected reality then:

Bill Gates would be serving his fourth year in prison.
John Kerry would be president.
Richard Stallman would be on television.
Churches would fold up because of lack of interest.
Anime would be everywhere.
Star Trek would have its own cable channel. Or two.

etc. The net isn't reality. Now Hollywood knows this.

Re:Exactly

Horses and dogs would trust humans a LOT less

Re:Exactly

That's Slashdot, not the internet.

Re:Exactly

The difference in this case is that without all the internet hype, the traditional marketing wouldn't have been so wacky. It would have been more plain vanilla marketing hype for a cheesy action movie.

Samuel L. Jackson saw this from the beginning - the name made a big difference to the hype surrounding the movie. The name attracted attention, along with SLJ himself, and the internet hype built out of that. From there came the wacky trailers, etc.

I definitely think this movie would have been a bust without the internet hype, because everyone I talked to in line at the "Audience Participation Advance Screening" I went to (at the Rio Theatre in Vancouver) was there because of the internet hype.

How many cheesy action movies that come out these days have people dressing up on opening night and bringing props (rubber AND real snakes, toy planes)?

Dream on man... without the internet, max $5mil gross opening weekend for that POS* film.

*POS, but I immensely enjoyed it!

Re:Exactly

Bill Gates would be serving his fourth year in prison.
The legal sysetm tried hard but garbage trucks full of money trump the internet

John Kerry would be president.
Many geeks hate all politicians equally.

Richard Stallman would be on television.
Give it time. It will happen.

Churches would fold up because of lack of interest.
My Level 41 Paladin disagrees with you.

Anime would be everywhere.
Give it time. There's a heck of a lot more of it then there was.

Star Trek would have its own cable channel. Or two.
And leave out SG-1 and Farscape? It's more likely we'll get a Sci-Fi channel. OH WAIT WE HAVE THAT!

Re:Exactly

Funny. I didn't see any of the commercials. I just kinda skipped over them.

I knew about the film from Overcompensating.

Re:Exactly

There's a great deal of over-estimation of the number and influence levels of 'internet people.' Seriously. If all the net-based hype refelected reality then: Bill Gates would be serving his fourth year in prison. John Kerry would be president. Richard Stallman would be on television. Churches would fold up because of lack of interest. Anime would be everywhere. Star Trek would have its own cable channel. Or two. etc. The net isn't reality. Now Hollywood knows this.

We are ten years past the time when "Internet Person" could be defined by the interests and obsessions of the Geek.

Re:One more possibility

This thing made over $15 million, recouping just over half of its $30 million budget in one weekend. I think New Line was expecting the hype to make this the highest grossing film of all time or something, and are therefore disappointed that they "only" got $15 million.

There are 2 reasons this film was not a total flop:
1.) Internet hype
2.) Samuel L. Jackson.

The Samuel L. Jackson point is important because without an actor so popular and easily parodied on the Internet, this movie would never have generated the hype that it did.

This film will be profitable, which is a lot more than they can say about a lot of the movies they make. New Line needs to accept this windfall and quit bitching about it.

Forget "The Line"!

yeah but I already saw the 'motherfuckin snakes on this motherfuckin plane' clip on youtube. I think I will skip the rest of the movie.

That was the single worst part of the movie. Just the way the line was placed in the movie (with him saying it to all the survivors left on the plane) was way too jarring. I think it'd have been much better if he said it to himself while hunting around to fix the ventilation system. That would have made those "motherfuckin'"s fit a lot better. ("I am so (*kill snake*) GODDAMN SICK (*kill snake*) of these MOTHERFUCKIN SNAKES (*kill snake*).. on this STUPID-ASS MOTHERFUCKIN PLANE! (*beat a dead snake*)" - something like that.

The rest of the movie was basically a campy variation of the old "aircraft disaster" genre (yes, lest we forget, it used to be an entire genre - which is why Airplane could lampoon it...) mixed with some thriller movie standards (like the amusing kills, the victims you're meant to hate, the various clumsy attempts to create tension with close-calls before the all-out assault begins, etc...)

Re:One more possibility

> In addition, I think that this movie will probably see a LOT more profits on DVD than in the theater. For example, I'd love to take my wife to see it, but it just isn't an important enough movie to us to bring in the babysitter to watch the kids. We'd much rather wait until it hits DVD, then watch it in the comfort of our own home. It will be just as much fun there, and quite a bit more comfortable.

You're missing the point. Snakes is best viewed in a theater. Preferably a theater full of drunk and rowdy wise-asses who are gleefully MST3King every line they can.

Farkers who saw Snakes on a Plane at one of the opening night parties [pootertf.com] or at other midnight showings over the first weekend got a treat. The real test will be whether the theaters are as rowdy at any late-night showings this weekend. If the movie can draw a cult following for a second weekend, audience participation might snowball and take off.

Like the Rocky Horror Picture Show, seeing "Snakes on a DVD" in the privacy and comfort of your home misses the whole point of the experience, which was audience partici-SAY IT!-pation. Like RHPS, SoaP is a "meh" movie when viewed in the privacy of one's own home. Also like RHPS, SoaP was a hell of a lot of fun when the audience is yelling things like "Red Bull gives your product placement wings!", counting down the last few seconds to snakularity, "First one to scream gets it in the tits!", throwing snakes around the theater at the appropriate moments, yelling "snakes on a cart!" when the beverage cart shows up, appending "Bitch!" to some of Sam's lines, and so on.

Re:One more possibility

SoaP was a hell of a lot of fun when the audience is yelling things like "Red Bull gives your product placement wings!", counting down the last few seconds to snakularity, "First one to scream gets it in the tits!", throwing snakes around the theater at the appropriate moments, yelling "snakes on a cart!" when the beverage cart shows up, appending "Bitch!" to some of Sam's lines, and so on.

The long winter evenings must just fly by.

Re:One more possibility

That's going to be the sequel. Snakes on a Bus.

It'll be short, Chuck Norris will say "I hate snakes" and they'll ALL DIE.

August 16th

I think they could have made more of the 'insensitivity' angle. They should have marketed it with: if you do not go and see Snakes on a Plane, then the terrorists have already won. It would also have helped to bring forward the release date to August 16th, planned date for the liquid explosive attacks on transatlantic jets.

It would be handy if the movie included some suspicious bearded character on the plane who in the end turns out to save it Wesley-Crusher style. I haven't yet seen the film, so for all I know perhaps it does.

Why Mine Wasn't

Years ago there was the viral marketing about The Blair Witch Project. I wondered what all the buzz was about and saw it. To me it was money down the drain. I didn't care for it and became a bit cynical about film pushed this way. Now if someone I knew who had similar tastes and saw a film and liked it, which I used to do, I'd give it a try.

Years ago I used to read the Detroit Free Press, which had a little grid in the back, which summarised what various critics thought of films. I learned which leaned most often my way and followed their advice. Most often we were in sync. Now I just chance it, mostly on trailers, of indie fliks. Hollywood stuff you usually get all the good bits and the whole plot in trailers.

Upon Scott Kurtz' endorsement I saw Little Miss Sunshine, which is quite the little gem.

Re:Why Mine Wasn't

Years ago there was the viral marketing about The Blair Witch Project. I wondered what all the buzz was about and saw it. To me it was money down the drain. I didn't care for it and became a bit cynical about film pushed this way. Now if someone I knew who had similar tastes and saw a film and liked it, which I used to do, I'd give it a try.

Well I actually liked Blair Witch a lot, it being one of the only horror movies to ever instill real emotions of fear in me (having been lost in the woods before helped me get into the movie though). Yet I'm still cynical of any attempts to do "viral" marketing or anything of the sort. The reason is because a movie is marketed that way, or any other way, and some other exec says "Huh, they used this marketing technique, and their movie was a success. We should use this technique for our movie, and we will also be successfull." Note the lack of any consideration for the quality of the movies. To them, "grassroots" is just a phenomenon to be exploited for their own benefit. So I never trust them.

Now like you say sometimes I do find people whose opinions I trust. In this sense, I think they made a big mistake by not having pre-screenings for the press. If I had heard the reviews before hand -- which basically say that given B-movie expectations, the film exceeds them -- I may have been more likely to see the movie on opening weekend. "Snakes on a Plane" with Samuel Jackson sounds awesome, but am I going to trust those hollywood fuckers with my $8 based on a name and a star? If pre-release internet buzz had been matched with critical acclaim, then maybe that buzz would have turned into ticket sales like they hoped.

But really this article should be titled "Movie producers shocked to discover that Internet still isn't replacement for real world".

Re:I'll save you all the trouble

After 6 months of internet hype, "I'm TIRED of these MOTHERFUCKING SNAKES on this MOTHERFUCKING PLANE!", plain and simple. I'll wait for the DVD, thanks.

Soko

Re:I'll save you all the trouble

apparently there are snake in the Mother F***in Theater [local6.com] as well

Wrong audiance for this topic

Half of the Slashdot crowd will just download the flick and wonder why the producers are so disappointed in the film's performance at the box office.

Then they will post about the virtues of free software... knowing full well that they really mean beer.

Re:Wrong audiance for this topic

Piracy must be the answer! It couldn't possibly have anything to do with the quality of the film...

I wouldn't watch that crap if you paid me.

Re:Wrong audiance for this topic

The Internet + Lower than expected profits = Piracy. Everyone knows that.

-MPAA

Why yes

It only came first. What a disappointment. I'd much rather it had come zeroth, that would have been a much better indication of success.

What...

What, they thought we were serious? *blink*

Hollywood made a serious mistake

all of those bloggers making SoaP jokes? They were laughing at, not with the marketroids and hollywood in general. It was derision, nothing else.

I know that I don't generally shell out cash for things I'm derisive of, that's for sure.

Re:Hollywood made a serious mistake

all of those bloggers making SoaP jokes? They were laughing at, not with the marketroids and hollywood in general. It was derision, nothing else.

Maybe you were laughing *at* them, but I'm sure there were still alot laughing *with* them. The people laughing at them were people who took this movie to seriously. The people who laugh with them realized that they weren't trying to make a Ben Hur Epic Movie of Vast Proportions and instead were making something you could laugh to.

Re:Hollywood made a serious mistake

Bingo! I have to believe 99% of all the people who passed around the "Snakes on a Plane" meme did so out of a "My-God-this-is too-stupid-even-for-Hollywood" mindset. Does it really surprise anyone that such publicity might not result in blockbuster sales?

I know these Hollywood marketing types are trained to believe that there's no such thing as bad publicity, but this is the second article I've read wondering why the Internet buzz didn't translate into 3. Profit! without either even mentioning the fact that all the hype was based on the absurdity of the film's name.

"No, no, this just proves the failure of the Internet as a marketing tool." Hmmm...then again, maybe it's a good thing for them to draw that conclusion, and keep these clueless asshats focused elsewhere.

Did I read that right?

It was the highest grossing movie this weekend, right? First place? What were they hoping for? Zeroth place? I mean really. The 'buzz' was that it was basically a stupid movie with no plot. And it still made it to the top. And they complain? Man, talk about a sore winner.

Re:Did I read that right?

Miami Vice has a broader appeal than SOaP, it had the urban-gang-action thing for it (not that any of these movies are anything but B, no matter the gross), I'm sure there were hot thug-chicks, bad gangsta rap (better than the SOaP credit emo, I'm sure), and all the other things the hoi polloi love.

SOaP, on the other hand, had that bad campy feel, that most people don't like, since they want to take their movies seriously within-genre. Miami Vice was straight action, and advertised as such, while SOaP was... A spoof, of sorts, arguably a survival action flick, it was really just a comedy. Think Evil Dead 2, it looks like a horror movie, but in reality it is pure comedy, without the idiotic Sandler or Farrel jab of making damn sure you know its a comedy at all times ("hey look, this is funny. I pooped myself and ran into a window!"). All the people I know who didn't like it, didn't like it in the capacity that it was a bad action movie, entirely missing the fact that it was really just a spoof of movies like the Poseidon Adventure and Towering Inferno. I think this movie is doomed to be a cult phenomena, and like all cult movies, doomed to semi-obscurity (who watches Rocky Horror, or Evil Dead, or even Eraserhead?)

Yes, it was obscure, but it did make 15m, meaning it wasn't too obscure. Everyone made a buck, everyone got their laugh. No news here, its a happy (and thus uninteresting) ending.

Despite the hype

with all the bombs lately, maybe they are waiting for word of mouth to see if it is ANY GOOD?

It was bad to begin with...

Yeah.. it was the *internet* that cause Snakes on a Plane to Fail..

I assure you that's the angle the producers who are in fear of losing their jobs are pitching right now.

The Theater Experience is Dead

While I'm interested in seeing the film, my wife and I just can't swallow the wretched ticket prices when, for cost of two admissions, we can OWN THE DVD. Not rent, own. And that's not even factoring in gas or babysitting costs.

Add to that the cost of consessions and the sheer rudeness of humanity (talking to your neighbor, talking on your cellphone, text messaging, kicking the back of my chair) I'm just not interested in going to see a film on the big screen.

So, am I going to shell out big bucks to watch commercials, listen to other people's conversations, and then sit through a B-grade flick? Hell no.

Re:The Theater Experience is Dead

The theater experience isn't dead, you're just old. Trust me, I'm old too.

You must not have seen this one

You must not have seen this movie in theatres. It was an incredible experience. The entire audience was into it, and this movie will be lost if you do not see it with a good audience. This is not something that can be duplicated anywhere else. I was in a theatre full of people, ready to see snakes on a motherfucking plane, and bringing that energy with them. Watching this alone on DVD would NOT be the same. At all.

Re:The Theater Experience is Dead

SoaP was worth seeing on opening night at a giant beautiful theater [cinerama.com] specifically for the "sheer rudeness of humanity." It was worth $10 to have 800+ other people laughing and cheering through all of the deliciously awful moments of the movie.

Some of the early reviews compared SoaP to a 2000s-era "Rocky Horror Picture Show" for the level of audience participation involved. If you rented RHPS from Netflix and watched it at home, you wouldn't get the same experience as watching it at a theater full of eclectic movie fans.

well yeah

when you saw a dancing baby, did you want a baby?

when some turkish dude said "i kiss you!" did you want to kiss him?

did watching the hamster dance make you want to buy a hamster?

when cats said all our base are belong to him, did you want to play zerowing?

when star wars kid valiantly fought with canadian air, did you want to buy a light sabre?

did watching jibjab's "this land is our land" change your vote?

no, to all of that

so why would laughing at snakes on a plane make you want to go to the movies?

dumb internet fads are, guess what, nothing but dumb internet fads

they don't translate into anything, excep time wasted at work and school