“Super 8”: Not tracking well?
From Vulture:
The summer’s lone original blockbuster, J.J. Abrams’s Super 8, opens on Friday, but the most recent audience tracking data obtained by Vulture suggests that surprisingly few people are interested in seeing it: According to NRG tracking data, slightly less than two out of three (64 percent) respondents surveyed were even aware of J.J. Abrams’s homage to Steven Spielberg. Even more worrisome for its distributor, Paramount Pictures, only slightly more than one in three (36 percent) expressed “definite interest” in seeing the film. By way of comparison, last Friday X-Men: First Class, which opened to $55.1 million this weekend, enjoyed 90 percent total awareness, and about half (49 percent) of those surveyed expressed “definite interest.” Even more alarmingly, Ryan Reynolds’s Green Lantern, which comes out on June 17, already has 86 percent total awareness and 45 percent “definite interest.” Green Lantern is also the first choice of 12 percent of respondents, compared with just 7 percent for Super 8.
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“They could still pull it off, but it would be miraculous at this point,” said one head of research at a rival studio, who added that he was a fan of both Abrams and his movie, and was rooting for both of their successes. Added our spy, “This is what we call ‘purgatory’ tracking. It’s horrific.”
As if Paramount’s money, Abrams’s street cred, or Spielberg’s legacy weren’t enough, there’s still more riding on the rails of Super 8; it is not just a summer monster movie, but a referendum on originality at a time when Hollywood has become loathe to make anything not based on a preexisting comic book, pulp novel, or board game. Kids at home, start pestering mom and dad to take you! Or better yet, smash that piggy bank and fly-pedal your ten-speed over the moon and into the multiplex.
Wow, they’re already talking about the movie as a failure commercially. And if this is the way Hwood chooses to interpret the movie’s performance — “it is not just a summer monster movie, but a referendum on originality” — prepare yourself more sequels, prequels, and remakes.
Super 8 is doing really well on Rotten Tomatoes, currently 81% critics, 92% audience.
Are you going to see Super 8 this weekend?