Twitter Killed the Movie Star
Glance at this year’s box office Top 5 and there is hardly a well known name, let alone a true movie star. Gone are the days where you shelled out $20MM dollars for a top star and they led you to box office glory. In fact, take a peek at this year’s Top 30 movies and see how many true stars you can name outside of Tom Hanks and perhaps Hugh Jackman. It’s not surprising that star salaries are dropping fast.
So what’s changed? Well, Twitter’s assent to mainstream for one. A movie can be chock filled with superstars but if Twitter is ablaze Friday with negative tweets about the film, a blockbuster can go up in flames in just days. Will Ferrell and Sasha Baron Cohen have seen this first hand this summer. Likewise, films like The Hangover and District 9, which delight audiences, can quickly swell at the box office despite no notable stars. What does this mean for Hollywood? Make good films and audiences will come. Find ways to engage core fans and spread their enthusiasm through social media and that effect can be multiplied quickly.
Hollywood of course is not the only industry effected by a world that now demands instant feedback and so easily enables people to bypass mass media to disseminate and consume information. Brands face the same challenges. No longer can a big budget commercial and widespread brand awareness convert at the register. The product or service must deliver and conversing with communities most vocal and passionate must be a large piece if not the focal point of any marketing campaign.
As we’ve seen throughout history, mass adoption of new technology changes the rules. The rules are now changing fast and no star or brand is immune.
Tags: Consumer 2.0, social media, Twitter
This entry was posted on Monday, August 24th, 2009 at 10:16 am and is filed under Consumer Insight, Entertainment, New Media, social media, Trends, Word of Mouth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 27th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
Maybe it just means that District 9 and The Hangover were good movies and the other films weren’t as popular or of the same mark of quality?
If you make something of high quality, people will support and enjoy it. Conversely, just because a work is unpopular, does not mean it is not of quality or worthy of support.
Twitter isn’t swaying these films successes or failures. It’s just allowing a more rapid report from the audience’s opinions of the films.
Twitter isn’t a jaded critic, whose report can make or break a reputation.
October 15th, 2009 at 10:57 am
Sean, agree completely. What we are saying here is that Twitter enables the movies that people truly enjoy to truly rise to the top and drive audiences to the seats quicker. In the past, a huge movie star and big marketing budget was a lot more influential in determining what movies would succeed at the box office.