Indie films these days are making head way with social media. Indie films, which often go deeper down in the long tail, are less frequently picked up by major producers and distributors due to their tendency to avoid the risks. Without the backing of these producers and distributors, these films usually get only a small audience, or at worst, do not even get made.
However, with social media, more and more films down the long tail are gathering audiences’ attention and meeting with increasing success. “Paranormal Activity” is a horror film made with a budget of $15000 – and grossed $80million in box offices. The reason? A well executed social media campaign which used twitter and facebook to go viral.
Other independent movies such as Batman: Dead End and The Hunt for Gollum also used social media, such as the director’s blog and twitter to get the word around. These are movies deeper down the long tail which found their niche audiences thanks to social media tools.
Hollywood blockbusters, on the other hand, are suffering from the power of social media. Why is the measure of a blockbuster film’s success typically based on its sales during the opening weekend, and not the entire length of time whereby it was screened?
A possible reason I can think of is because words about the film start to get around their first screenings, and on social media, news can get viral. People are making decisions whether to watch a movie based on the reviews on the peers’ twitter, blog and Facebook posts. For example, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is number 1 at US box office this weekend, grossing an impressive sum of $19,011,188 (that’s more than what Inception grossed!) but the critics gave it a B- rating. My guess is that sales will slow down as word of mouth about the movie gets around. Personally, I have been told by a friend that the movie is not worth my 8 bucks and I should just wait to stream it online.
Studios are spending 90% of their advertising dollars to maximizing profit during the opening weekend. While these marketing strategies are effective in the short-run – pre-planned release dates, scheduled showtimes, a-list casts, and bombarding the theatres with their movie posters – when the hype dies out, the movie will not hold up in the face reviews on social media. (And another question is raised here – is profit generated even enough to cover the advertising dollars spend sometimes?)
That said, I think, while social media does make the picture look a lot brighter for now, it will not level the playing field just yet. The Indie films will still have to struggle, having no budget for advertising and completely dependent on their loyal fans and good reviews, while Hollywood blockbusters, with their big budgets, employ special effects and new technologies to mask their weakness. Bad plot and bad acting? No one cares, we’re all looking at the special effects.
