#151
Posted: 6/4/05 at 12:18pm
The trailer needs to sell the movie to the largest audience possible. The problem with RENT is not that it is good or bad or whatever but 80% of people would see the trailer and automatically dismiss it out of hand as a musical and they have not want to see it.
The trailer doesn't market itself well enough to grab as large a share as possible of the audience to go and at lest give the movie a try (something "Chicago" did real well). The trailer is really only going to appeal to those musical junkies who must likely going to see it to begin with (maybe it will attract a few individual fans of some of the more mainstream actors like Rosario and Jesse), but for the most part it will only attract those who like musicals, and know about the movie already.
But it is a musical and the majority of the movie going public already knows that it is. There's no going around that, so why even try to hide that fact? Is there something wrong with musicals that you feel it should be marketed as anything but a musical?
And the problem is that crowd of people while very loyal and show be rewarded will not be enough to make the movie a 'hit'. RENT needs to attract a wider audience, and this trailer really doesn't do that.
As far as your view on the trailer not marketing itself well enough "to grab as large a share as possible of the audience to go and at lest give the movie a try"... I have to disagree. The movie was basically a teaser. It used the show's most instantly recognizable song "Seasons of Love" to frame a collection of scenes from the movie to convey an overall feeling of the piece. I would however love to read your suggestions on just what steps you feel Revolution Studios should take to market this film to that ever elusive "large share".
Now we are lucky that we seem to be in a promising market at the moment for movie-musicals but it only takes one bad movie to kill of the franchise again. RENT was always going to be a tough cell since its cross-over appeal was never as big as "Chicago", "Phantom of the Opera" or "The Producers" to begin with.
I disagree. More studios are taking there chances because they now see a market for the musical genre. The disappointing performance of "The Phantom of the Opera" at the box office didn't deter the studios from green-lighting "RENT", "THE PRODUCERS" or "DREAMGIRLS". In the long run a movie will succeed if it's well made and is well recieved by the movie going public regardless if it's a musical or not.
I want to see more musicals appear on the silver screen, but we need to market the current crop coming to a theatre near you soon well enough to actually suceed and thus convince the studios to greenlight more down the line. And you cannot market a movie if the trailer puts off way to many people (and sadly the vast majority of people would dismiss it out of hand for being a musical and not give it a chance IF they are not conviced otherwise it would be worth seeing - "Chicago" did this, "Phantom" even though a much bigger brand name then "Chicago" didn't really do this (even though the trailers I thought where impressive) - and thus lead to a mediocre box office return.
This is only a teaser trailer, the first in what I'm sure will be many trailers and ads created in the promotion of this film. The movie should not be judged on the strength of just this one trailer. I don't get your justification of "this trailer putting off too many people". As far as I know I haven't read anything negative about this trailer or of this trailer putting off anybody, with the exception of you not liking it.
I think "The Producers" proberly can succeed in marketing itself the same way "Chicago" did and suceed, but I feel this trailer really really hurt "RENT" even if us fanboys and girls liked it.
How has this trailer "hurt" RENT? The movie hasn't officially finished filming. It hasn't opened yet so how in the world has this one trailer hurt the film? You have every right not to like the trailer. I'm not disputing that. But your other arguments don't hold water. Sorry.
The trailer doesn't market itself well enough to grab as large a share as possible of the audience to go and at lest give the movie a try (something "Chicago" did real well). The trailer is really only going to appeal to those musical junkies who must likely going to see it to begin with (maybe it will attract a few individual fans of some of the more mainstream actors like Rosario and Jesse), but for the most part it will only attract those who like musicals, and know about the movie already.
But it is a musical and the majority of the movie going public already knows that it is. There's no going around that, so why even try to hide that fact? Is there something wrong with musicals that you feel it should be marketed as anything but a musical?
And the problem is that crowd of people while very loyal and show be rewarded will not be enough to make the movie a 'hit'. RENT needs to attract a wider audience, and this trailer really doesn't do that.
As far as your view on the trailer not marketing itself well enough "to grab as large a share as possible of the audience to go and at lest give the movie a try"... I have to disagree. The movie was basically a teaser. It used the show's most instantly recognizable song "Seasons of Love" to frame a collection of scenes from the movie to convey an overall feeling of the piece. I would however love to read your suggestions on just what steps you feel Revolution Studios should take to market this film to that ever elusive "large share".
Now we are lucky that we seem to be in a promising market at the moment for movie-musicals but it only takes one bad movie to kill of the franchise again. RENT was always going to be a tough cell since its cross-over appeal was never as big as "Chicago", "Phantom of the Opera" or "The Producers" to begin with.
I disagree. More studios are taking there chances because they now see a market for the musical genre. The disappointing performance of "The Phantom of the Opera" at the box office didn't deter the studios from green-lighting "RENT", "THE PRODUCERS" or "DREAMGIRLS". In the long run a movie will succeed if it's well made and is well recieved by the movie going public regardless if it's a musical or not.
I want to see more musicals appear on the silver screen, but we need to market the current crop coming to a theatre near you soon well enough to actually suceed and thus convince the studios to greenlight more down the line. And you cannot market a movie if the trailer puts off way to many people (and sadly the vast majority of people would dismiss it out of hand for being a musical and not give it a chance IF they are not conviced otherwise it would be worth seeing - "Chicago" did this, "Phantom" even though a much bigger brand name then "Chicago" didn't really do this (even though the trailers I thought where impressive) - and thus lead to a mediocre box office return.
This is only a teaser trailer, the first in what I'm sure will be many trailers and ads created in the promotion of this film. The movie should not be judged on the strength of just this one trailer. I don't get your justification of "this trailer putting off too many people". As far as I know I haven't read anything negative about this trailer or of this trailer putting off anybody, with the exception of you not liking it.
I think "The Producers" proberly can succeed in marketing itself the same way "Chicago" did and suceed, but I feel this trailer really really hurt "RENT" even if us fanboys and girls liked it.
How has this trailer "hurt" RENT? The movie hasn't officially finished filming. It hasn't opened yet so how in the world has this one trailer hurt the film? You have every right not to like the trailer. I'm not disputing that. But your other arguments don't hold water. Sorry.
Updated On: 6/4/05 at 12:18 PM
