"Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World"

The millions of copies of the graphic novels sold pretty much ensured it, I think.

 

The movie does have a message, with quite delineated character development, presented in a unique way. From talking with friends, however, I know that some people can't get past the surface of what appears to be simply ADD-inspired randomness for the sake only of effect.

John K.

 

Even if they did sell that well, Hollywood should've learned its lesson by the time this came out that playing to the geeks doesn't translate into profits. Not all the geeks will buy in, and the general public doesn't cotton to this kind of narrowly stylized, affected storytelling.

 

I'm always fascinated by the planned blockbusters that wind up bombing. This is one of them; another was Rocketeer (which I actually thought was a movie that had some good moments), then there was the Shadow movie with Alec Baldwin, and very recently we had the comic book movie Green Lantern, which Warner Bros. was certain would inspire a whole series. Even Kickass way underperformed according to what they expected, as did Snakes on a Plane, a movie that online fans helped shape and change before it was released.

It's very interesting to analyze why and how these films failed, and whether they could've been saved by going in another direction. But it always boils down to the script.

 

I'm glad it wasn't a hit. . .because I like the script and wouldn't change it.

This is a fun movie, full of color and sound and I agree with Ken: this film certainly deserves a place it in the upper half of my all time ten best films featuring psychically powered vegan bass players list.

 

Just saw it. The director must have a real connection with the way kids think when confronted with humiliation.

I'm sure a lot of kids loved it. If I were 12 I would have loved it.

 

About half way through I was able to get into the groove of what the movie was trying to do and at the end liked it well enough, although I still think it was over-affected. It's the sort of movie Baz Luhrmann might've made if he was 20 years younger.

Also: this sort of movie makes me wonder where all the money goes in moviemaking. How the hell does $90 million get spent on a movie like this? Surely the effects weren't that expensive at this date. I suspect if principal photography had been shot in Eastern Europe it'd've cost maybe 1/4 as much.

I dunno; I suspect a lot of its target (pre)teen audience would think it was "kind of gay".

 

Millions? Really? I'm not even sure stuff like "300" or "Dark Knight Returns" sold millions, much less something as semi-obscure as "Pilgrim"...

 

The target audience was probably more the people who recognize Edgar Wright's name and were already fans of 'Spaced', Shaun' and 'Hot Fuzz.' I don't recall any promotion aimed at the preteen set, and all the positive reviews I recall reading were trying harder to sell the film like it was the next 'Synecdoche, New York' or 'Eraserhead'; the one movie the avant-intelligentsia would appreciate for breaking all the rules.

If the studio was hoping that the Justin Bieber set would flock to it, they really should have come up with a better marketing campaign.

 

My son and all his teenage friends liked this movie all 16 and 17 years old...

 

Not so much "the Justin Bieber set" - who would be more attuned to Twilight and more "girly" stuff - but to the extent I remember any ads, they certainly seemed targeted to the "hip teenage" set, and maybe some of the Harry Potter audience. You may be right though, which then raises the question of what the studios were thinking by budgeting $90 million (well, $60 million after taking advantage of various tax breaks and incentives - thanks, Wikipedia!) to a film targeting the hip-cognoscenti who would care about a mid-level comedy director like Wright.

It will be interesting to see whether the movie will have any cult traction in 5-10 years, in any event. Will it be Myra Brekenridge, or Showgirls?

 

If you ask me, the film itself seemed to be aimed at the 20-30 year old set who grew up in the 80/90s around Street Fighter and Sonic The Hedgehog. The internet marketing seemed to reflect this, with the 8-bit styled flash thingies. Oh, and the hipsters too I guess.

To be honest, I don't even remember seeing any commercials on TV for it. :|

 

A quote from creator Bryan Lee O'Malley:

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/07/14/bryan-lee-omalley-manga/

Can't really back it up, but that's what I saw. It's apparently cumulative per volume, so divide one million by six...still impressive for something, as you say, semi-obscure.

 

That's how I remember the marketing too. And I'm not sure how they captured me, more than twice that age group and one who has never really played video or computer games. But I think it was Schwimmer and the bass player aspect that got me initially interested. I think it's a fun and exciting fun.

 

Most of the marketing I saw gave off an awkward "Napoleon Dynamite + Michael Cera" vibe. I didn't realize it was so connected to geek/video game culture until I saw it in the theater. I ended up loving it. Yeah there's a lot of ADD visuals, which I normally detest. But they were inventive and combined with just enough fun, action, and plot to set the film apart from the pack. I'd easily put it with my favorites of 2010.

 

I love the soundtrack. Does anyone have any information on the Canadian bands featured?

(I also loved the movie. I'm 47 and not a gamer.)