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Two new articles have prompted me to take another look at Twilight and what appears to be an online acceptance that this film will be a giant hit no matter what.
Last night I started a huge rant article, but trashed it as it was going nowhere. I was to be based on the online reactions to the Entertainment Weekly cover featuring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart as Edward and Bella from the Twilight film. The very first comment over at the Twilight-obsessed MTV Movie Blog reads as such:
EWWWWWWWWWWW Edward looks like a ZOMBIE. The stylists and photographer obviously had no idea who the characters are.Some people get a little more to the point, "The people who worked on the photo shoot and the people who edited it should be fired."AND THEY SHOULD HAVE STEPPED AWAY FROM THE PHOTOSHOP!
Horrible! I thought the photo was a fake at first. I can’t believe EW is actually printing this crap.
And wow he likes like a hairy powdered donut.
And Bella? Uh, when did she turn into LA FEMME FATALE?
This goes on for eight pages of what are now 371 comments as of this article. One of them comes down hard on Stewart saying, "The actress looks very vacant in it. Like there’s nothing going on behind the eyes. The actress herself is rather plain so they’ve worked over time on this to make her look pretty." Damn, that's gotta make Kristen feel good, I am sure the commenter named "alison" must be a real knock out and brimming with personality, at least based on her comment I would think so.
The Los Angeles Times blog picked up the rants and raves and now the New York Magazine Blog has done the same. The "Times" article doesn't give any opinion and just states the facts, but NY Mag ends their post saying, "This thing is going to stampede across your holiday season."
Is it? Or is it going to be a low rumble?
The last time online fervor for a new book series adapted for the big screen that was not Harry Potter related was Eragon a $100 million budgeted movie based on the books by Christopher Paolini. The film managed only 75% of its budget and was considered a failure despite racking up an additional $174 million overseas. The sequels haven't been discussed since.
Personally I don't see much of a difference between "Eragon" fans and "Twilight" fans, they both seem to be just as involved in their books, "Twilight" fans just seem to be a little louder. You can't post an article on the subject and mention anything negative or they will be on you before you hit "Publish". Online news sources have become hip to this fact and you will see Twilight related articles all over the place any time anything new comes out related to the film (I have done it). The move translates to page views, even if you have to rile a few feathers in the process.
However, I am not here to rile anyone up. I just think journalists are getting ahead of themselves crowning this thing as an achievement already.
Based on the trailer and the fact that Summit Films is making this little feature on the cheap ($25-30 million budget) it tells me they are placing a lot of faith in the core fan base, which is chomping at the bit to see this world brought to life. It's too early to tell exactly how this film is tracking outside of the rabid fans, but I am sure Summit has a good idea of how to handle it.
Safe bet would assume that if Summit sees that just fans of the books are excited for it they will give it a slow roll out in just a few theaters. Try and make sure the shows are sold out with people that are going to love it regardless as their obsession with the day walking vampire is realized on screen. Word of mouth can build and just as Christmas hits they can expand into a wide release and hope to gain audiences over the holiday week. The other scenario, of course, would be that the next trailer looks like an actual studio made film and brings more folks into this world and actually energizes people that have not read the books 100 times and Summit can just give it a traditional 2,500+ theater release, make their opening weekend money and see what happens from there. If reviews and word-of-mouth are good it will continue forward. If not, it will fizzle and die.
Fizzle and die or massive success, either way considering this first film is being made for so cheap it won't take much for them to be able to go forward with a sequel, something that has already been mentioned. It's the benefit of making movies for cheap that already have a built in fan base and you know Twilight is going to do well on DVD and Summit is destined to come out of this a winner. The question is how wide will the margin be?
I have read "Twilight" and it is an entertaining book. Personally I think they may have gone the wrong route. Considering the massive amount of fans the series has and the success of supernatural television series this film would have been a huge hit as an hour-long television drama. It really is nothing more than "Dawson's Creek" with vampires. They could have run the show for nine long seasons on The WB and then made the move to the big screen with a $100 million movie that would take the world by storm as it would have more than just the book loving fans, but also the illiterate couch potatoes as well. Talk about a winning combination.
All in all, I am not ready to dub this film the "Imminent Pop-Culture Takeover" as NY Mag has seen fit to do. My opinion would probably be drastically different had the first trailer been any good, but since it looked television cheap I can only go with what I have seen.
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The draw for me was two-fold. First, the whole "love story" is very interesting - and not for the reasons it may seem. The whole "romeo and juliet" thing doesn't really work here as well as the very true and believable nature of their relationship. I actually WANT them to be together. It's fun to see them enjoying each other in this overpowering, non-sexual way. It's hard to not get lost in the same emotions they are feeling. Second, this vision of a "vampire" is really fascinating. We are all very used to the "The Lost Boys" and "Interview with a Vampire" type of vampire, the more civilized, refined version than what was created in Dracula. Here in Twilight, these vampires are complicated. They both draw our sympathy and encourage a slight bit of terror. It's also exciting to see what causes them to cross the line.
I am a little bummed about how bad the teaser trailer looks. And i'm not looking forward to the first hour of the movie...it will be apocolyptically boring. However, as will be obvious as the movie gets going, the story is much deeper than what it first seemed. I can see this very easily becoming a popular series - if not only for the existing fans keeping it going.
In all, no, I don't think this film will have a mass appeal right out of the gates, but I am very anxious to see what kind of steam it picks up when it eventually hits DVD.
(Jul. 11, 2008 - 4:14:07 PM)
I think that is the key right there. On some level I think Summit may have actually underestimated the excitement the fanbase has for the film and the series. I know it is Summit's business model to make films for low production budgets, but they may have to reconsider for the sequel.
Of course, I am basing this solely on the teaser trailer and there may be plenty they didn't reveal yet so perhaps it is too early to tell.
I agree with you on your comments on the book though, it is quite engaging.
(Jul. 11, 2008 - 4:21:57 PM)
(Jul. 11, 2008 - 5:01:11 PM)
(Jul. 11, 2008 - 6:07:18 PM)
Twilight by Steph Meyer is seroiusly an amazing book! it's not just entertaining
it's heartwarming, imaginitive and much much more
This article actually ticked me off
so much! Eragon? i've never heard of the book before
seriously dude who do u think you are?????
twilight is not being blown out of proportion!
look at harry potter
people went all crazy over harry potter!
look how that turned out!
and how about the cronicles of narnia?
weird woodland animals got insane
or the sisterhood of the traveling pants?
pants got down w/ it
y cant vampires get loud and big??? seriously
do you have something like against vampires
to think that they're being blown out of
proportion
(Jul. 11, 2008 - 10:03:07 PM)
(Jul. 11, 2008 - 11:41:10 PM)
Next, to my main point.
Perhaps because most adults have not heard of The Twilight Saga, you may think the film adaptation of Twilight will be a “low rumble”. It is with good reason that some are thinking it will be a major success. There are many, many, more fans of this series than of “Eragon” and look how much it made with some fans boycotting it due to the lack of staying true to the story.
Secondly, please do NOT judge the movie by its teaser (hint word, teaser) trailer! That trailer was simply to tease fans, not the mainstream. It was made just a few weeks shy of the ending of the filming. It wasn’t even shown in theaters except for a very select few. Please tell me of a movie with some stunts that looks good enough to pass as a trailer a few *weeks* after filming. Obviously, there is still editing to be done. (it comes out in -5- months) And, hate to break, Twilight would be absolutely horrendous as a TV show. It deserves a movie. There is simply not enough material to make over 20 episodes without it being boring and/or changing it beyond recognition.
Thirdly, Twilight is no Spiderman in terms of action/stunts. It is very much a thriller, not an action movie. It doesn’t especially need a high budget for it to be just fine. You criticize the lack of “star power” the cast of Twilight has, well, was Daniel Radcliffe anywhere near known when HP1 came out? At all? Emma Watson? Rupert Grint? The answer is a resounding no, but they are now household names. When casts are casted for the sake of talent, then that is where true star power is born.
Fourthly, Twilight is gaining in popularity by light years. It hit the #1 spot of USA Today this week after being out for 5 years with the sequels very close behind.
In conclusion, should Twilight be recognized as a “stampede across your holiday season”? I’m sorry, did you hear that it comes out DECEMBER 12th and it is currently JULY 12th? If you think this is “being blown out of proportion”, be prepared my friend. The fan-craze has just begun.
(Jul. 12, 2008 - 4:33:38 AM)
This article isn't going to change anything though. The people who hate Twilight will still hate it, and the people who are head over heels in love with it will continue to love it.
So no matter how much "hate" articles are written about the movie, there will most definately be a huge turnout, even if the movie is horrid. Everyone's curious and they will go just to determine themselves if they should give this movie the time of day.
I must say that I'm a huge fan of the Twilight series and even if I am disappointed with the movie, I will always be a fan of Stephenie Meyer's work. For those who've never read the series, I recommend you do even if you don't like the movie. As I said earlier, they are differnt.
So in closing, (okay that sounded weird and professional...) I think people should leave the Twilighters - what the refer themselves as - alone. Everyone needs to be passionate about something and if this is what they want it to be about then at least you can't accuse them to be absent of passion.
I find Natasha77 's conclusion...funny because its so true..."If you think this is “being blown out of proportion”, be prepared my friend. The fan-craze has just begun."
Beware haters...there may just be more fans than you realize...
(Jul. 12, 2008 - 11:11:41 AM)
(Jul. 12, 2008 - 11:40:01 AM)
I'm really hyped for the movie but my expectations aren't high. I'm a fan of Catherine's and I've been a fan of Kristen Stewart since I saw 'Speak' four years ago, I didn't really know Rob Pattinson's name, I just knew his face from Harry Potter, but since his casting as Edward I've made it a point to watch some of his other films and found that he is a fairly talented actor, it pisses me off when "fans" reduce these actors to a couple less than flattering pictures. Big effing deal.
Now back to the movie, I don't really expect many people outside of the Twilight fandom to show up for the movie, unless the girls drag their boyfriends/husbands along with them. I was talking to my older brother about it and he said he'd consider watching it on DVD, but that he probably wouldn't go to the theater to see it.
Also, I'm bracing myself for a really negative reaction to the movie from a lot of fans. Many of them seem like they haven't quite grasped the difference between movies and books, we all know it's going to be different and I'm afraid that everyone will have to deal with months of critism on the movie after December 12. Then again, I always have low expectations so that when something turns out better than I originally thought I can be surprised and genuinely happy, and when it's worse I don't have to be disappointed.
I'm hoping for the best, I really am but that doesn't erase the worries that this movie will actually turn into a major flop. I don't think it will, but there's always that chance.
(Jul. 12, 2008 - 2:04:43 PM)