Word of Mouth

Every movie needs a little buzz.

Movie studios often put a lot of money into publicizing their movies. Commercials on television and previews at movie theaters have long been a traditional way of getting people excited to watch a certain movie. Star Wars changed all of that by advertising in such unconventional ways as on cereal boxes. Stills from Revenge of the Sith can be seen on several products in your local grocery store. However, the best and by far the cheapest, way for a film to get attention is by word of mouth.

The Ring benefitted a few years ago from it. By its commercial it was just another cheap looking, then star lacking, horror film. Yet many people became fans and talked the movie up. I remember the first time I ever heard of Raiders of the Lost Ark. I was in the high school cafeteria and over heard a conversation about an awesome movie starring "that guy from Star Wars." After that, I asked friends about this movie and everyone had either heard about it or seen it. Everyone had something good to say aboutit. I had to see it!

Good word of mouth is just that; someone likes a movie and suggests it to some one else. A friend of mine from work, Jim, has been loaning me DVDs that he thinks I will like. A few months ago he handed me the DVD of Amelie. I had a vague memory of hearing its name on an Academy Award show but otherwise knew nothing about it. He had first watched it due to another friends recomendation. My brother Scott then read my review and heard from a coworker of his, that Amelie was indeed a great movie and thus Scott borrowed his copy and liked it.

And the advent of portable technology has made spreading word of mouth opinions about movies even easier. Text messaging has made it possible to voice your opinion of a movie as you’re watching it in the theater or as early as when you’re walking out into the lobby. The failure of the movie version of The Hulk, which had a whopping opening weekend but then fizzled, has been attributed to just such technologically advanced word of mouth buzz, just as the success of Ringu (the original Japanese version of The Ring) has been. In Japan, where cell phones and personal electronics items are even more prevalent than here in the US, Ringu became a phenomenon partially due to fast spreading word of mouth.

Previews work in that they can generate initial excitement for a movie. My sons and I have visited Batman Begins website several times. We have watched the Fantastic Four preview many times online. Yeah, we are psyched to see those movies. But what if once these movies come out we hate them? I will sit at my computer and give it a lousy review. My sons will go to school and tell all of their friends that it is no good. Word of mouth then works against the movie. If we love the movies, I will give it a glowing review and my sons will brag it up to classmates. Word of mouth is a powerful double edged sword.

I have already had conversations with people about how amazing the previews for Revenge of the Sith look. People are spreading the word before it is even in theaters. What remains to be seen is if the word of mouth will stay positive after it comes out. Will it affect it's success? Probably not initially, but in the long run I am sure Lucas does not want Jar Jar and Ewok type negative feedback.