Several nights ago I was watching Dinner For Five and the guests were Roger Corman (who has helped film 360 of the crappiest films committed to celluiod) Bruce “Don’t Call Me Ash” Campbell, Rob Zombie, and of course Jon Favreau. Through the course of the discussion Bruce and Roger began talking about how the movie industry has changed. They noted how in previous years movies were marketed according to region, and they were not released nationwide. If your movie bombed in New York you could rethink your marketing plan, take the movie to Dallas and try again, thereby insuring that you would at least make your money back.
Anyone who follows movies knows that now days if the movie doesn’t kick ass at the box office on it’s opening weekend it is considered a flop.
I’m wondering how much impact the internet is having for the directors who are clever enough to use it. David Duchovny, who has written, directed, and is starring in the new film House of D, has started a blog to promote his movie. Kevin Smith has done the same thing with his site News Askew, with a great deal of success.
There are so many ways the internet allows people to side-step societal, political, and economic norms that I’m curious if this is another avenue, marketing I mean, that will have to be rethought. If so, it will mean that successful directors will almost be forced to enter into a much more intimate relationship with the intended audience. Then, maybe, audiences won’t have to sit through shit like Wild Wild West and wonder what waterhead thought it was a good idea to include a really big spider.