Movies That Create Too Much “Hype”

Frozen

Take the example of Disney’s latest blockbuster – Frozen. I remember reading the initial critic review stating that this movie would be a good watch and although it is not what you would expect from a Disney production house which was on top of its game with Tangled, it still has a nice story and heartfelt songs. The out of nowhere an announcement started doing rounds in the social media market declaring Frozen as the best animation film that you would ever come across. Some enthusiasts even started marketing Frozen as a cult movie before it was released. The result – Frozen broke most box office records established by the previous gems from the Disney production house.

When I finally decided to see Frozen I had very high hopes for it, all of which came dashing down in the first 30 minutes. I just satthrough this rather un-inspiring movie and hoped for a miracle to happen in the next scene – “Nothing happened!!” Thereafter, I started reading movie reviews to understand what I was missing and came to the realization that Frozen was not as good as Tangled but was just over hyped. This movie resulted in a dip of my respect for the otherwise spectacular Disney production house and also left thousands of fans dubious on watching the next release.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Let’s talk about what happened to “The Hobbit: An unexpected Journey”, I could tell from the trailers that this movie had some glaring anomalies for anyone who has read the novel. Still this movie did reasonably well in America and parts of Europe, some even declared this as a true prelude to the Lord of the rings trilogy. “Hype” can do wonders for your revenue line but it may also break the audience’s trust in movie reviews and other marketing channels. I am not watching the next movie of The Hobbit series and so are thousands of disgruntled fans around the world.

Skyfall

Think about “Skyfall” which was notoriously reviewed as the best Bond movie ever and ironically leaves you wanting for so much more. Despite the fact that this movie was a major deviation from the otherwise slick Bond series it was still over-hyped resulting in additional movie goers piling up outside the theatres only to come out disappointed. What do you think will happen to the next Bond movie – I do not expect it to do well at all despite having a great script and cast.

Avatar

Talking about the best marketed movie of our time “Avatar”. This movie was hailed as phenomenal success even before it was released and no one paid heed to critics who clearly called out this movie as technical masterpiece but lagging in many areas of script. The result – Avatar was the most profitable movie ever made and yet did not shine at the Academy awards. Worst yet, multiple hate sites for Avatar have almost ruled out the possibility to creating a successor to this movie.

One of the biggest downfalls of generating too much hype about a movie is the fact that the movie almost always fails the fans. You go in expecting an out of world experience and come out disappointed after watching a rather good film. Who is to be blamed here? The unnecessary hype and the resultant over expectation.

American Hustle

Take the example of “American Hustle”. Was this movie good? No, it was in-fact very good but still failed to satisfy a large section of the audience although it did have a successful run at the Oscars. The reason was the excessive buzz generated before the movie was released and the audience going in after reading a bunch of superfluous reviews and obviously leaving the theatres rather disappointed in-spite of watching a great movie.

Hangover 3

I cannot think of a better example of what excessive Hype can do to a movie than what happened to “Hangover 3”. Based on the trailers and other forms of media marketing, I was so thrilled to see this movie that I stood in line to buy tickets. For some reason I was not ready to count on Fandango! This was not a horrible movie but was a huge let down for the fans of this series who went in expecting to see the best Hangover yet. This movie clearly was a victim of fancy gift wrapping over a mediocre product.

Man Of Steel

None of the movies of the Superman franchise has done as bad as the “Man of Steel”. What was so flawed about this movie – It had a solid story line, great acting by the entire cast and awe-inspiring action sequences. What more could one expect out of a Superman movie – As it turn out the fans were expecting a lot more based on the hype generated by the movie’s trailers and over the top critic reviews. Never before has a production house has spent so much money only to see their movie literally being fed to the dogs.

District 9

On the other hand let us talk about what the lack of unrealistic expectations can do for a movie. If you consider “District 9” the answer would be “Wonders”. This movie literally cameout of nowhere and swept the viewers off their feet. Never before have I seen such a riveting account of alien intelligence, emotions and the resulting conflict. The fact that there were little to no expectations from this movie facilitated an open and accepting mind for the audience. The result – District 9 has attained a cult status and would always be recalled as a path breaking feature film.

As mentioned in the starting “hype” is a good thing but can be a double edged sword which if yielded incorrectly can literally murder a movie.