The difference between Snakes on a Plane and The Blair Witch Project
The disappointing opening of
Snakes on a Plane was an excuse for fearful Hollywood executives to declare the internet, and blogs in particular, as unable to open a film. Some claimed the power of blogs is overvalued and used the Snakes numbers as proof.
Variety took the opportunity to compare Snakes to The Blair Witch Project and point out the "perils" of internet marketing.
But there is one important difference between
BWP and
SoaP, and all these bullshit pronouncements about the "failure" of the blogosphere to open a movie only obscures the real lesson Hollywood needs to learn.
It's hard to see past the massive
Blair Witch backlash, but when BWP was released it was met with a
chorus of favorable reviews. People were anticipating BWP before it came out and loved the movie
after they saw it.
Once people saw
SoaP, word of mouth about the film spread faster than the hype that fueled its anticipation. Whatever desire I had to see
SoaP was quickly eliminated by the
chorus of reviews that could be summed up with the words "it was all right."
The deafening buzz over
Snakes on a Plane proves the power of the internet to generate heat. The disappointing opening of
Snakes proves that you still need to make a good movie.
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