Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Dear John at #1?

This is topic Dear John at #1? in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 02-08-2010, 08:50 AM:

OK, I am not sad or anything that Avatar is no longer #1 at the boxoffice. While I track cumulative grosses out of curiosity, the weekly horserace strikes me as silly where a brand new movie is supposed to "beat" an older movie, as it happens on most weeks.

But this week's news item had taken me by surprise. All the ads for a new movie that I have seen were of Edge of Darkness and From Paris with Love where Travolta had that silly "badass bald" look. I do not recall a single ad for Dear John, unless I just happen to watch shows where the filmmakers did not find it worthwhile to spend money on a DEar John spot. Maybe most of the ads were on Lifetime, MTV, and the Disney channel? Even more curious, as much as I follow entertainment news, I did not even know that this movie existed.

Was this movie just a word of mouth deal among women - teens for Tatum and old soccer moms who wanted to do Channing Tatum? One of the comments in Huff Post was that he heard women on a bus talk excitedly about going to the movie in a big group. Maybe a form of SB weekend counterprogramming?

This movie grossed 32M, which is more than what Edge of Darkness grossed in two weeks and much more than the 8M or so From Paris With Love grossed. One wonders what Travolta's pay was like for that flop.

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 02-08-2010, 10:11 AM:

Well, I am not sure about everyone out there but we had trailers for Dear John playing on all of the Twilight: New Moon prints and there is a huge Nicholas Sparks fan base....Do not underestimate The Last Song, another film based off a Sparks book.

Posted by Joshua Waaland (Member # 287) on 02-08-2010, 10:47 AM:

I saw TV ads for Dear John but only recently. My guess is that most of that gross was yesterday while the Super Bowl was on.

Posted by Hillary Charles (Member # 769) on 02-08-2010, 10:56 AM:

quote: Darryl Spicer
there is a huge Nicholas Sparks fan base....Do not underestimate The Last Song, another film based off a Sparks book.

Two words: "The Notebook"

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-08-2010, 11:13 AM:

Also, never underestimate the women's audience especially on SUper Bowl weekend!

Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 02-08-2010, 01:29 PM:

I rarely watch broadcast TV, so I don't know about the commercials for Dear John. As far as theatrical advertising, I know we've been running trailers for it fairly regularly since at least as far back as mid-October '09 (when it was attached to The Stepfather). We had the one sheet up for a good portion of that time period too.

quote: Joshua Waaland
My guess is that most of that gross was yesterday while the Super Bowl was on.

Actually, according to boxofficemojo, Friday was its highest grossing day of the weekend.

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 02-08-2010, 02:21 PM:

See, I heard of the Notebook and remember the ads for it when it came out. Or even movies like Step Up or whatever dance craze movie came out in recent years even though I had no wish to see them. At least, I remember the ads for them even if I could care less. Hell, at one of my previous jobs, I rmeember some female colleagues talking about going to the first weekend of a stinker like that Autumn movie with Gere and Ryder. I guess my confusion with this movie is not that I could care less about learning more about this movie. But where did they advertise this movie to create so much awareness when a media follower like me didn't even have a clue it was even made or hear any females at work or in the famiy talk about it even once.

From your answers, it seems like the movie was written by the Notebook guy and so it probably had a ready made audience which didn't need widespread advertising and it is possible they probably went for max value placements on certain programs? Which is why a certain segment of the population never heard of it(some of my colleagues(male and female) at work also have no clue about this movie. They just recall the 80s or early 90s sitcom Dear JOhn)?

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 02-08-2010, 03:20 PM:

2 words: Amanda Seyfried.
I've already started getting questions as to when "Chloe" is expected to be released. (NY, LA late March.)

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 02-08-2010, 03:30 PM:

oooh, I know all about CHLOE. That's the one where Seyfried is naked and has a lesbian kiss with Julianne Moore, right?

She was about the only watchable person in Mamma Mia(not to mention, the only one who could really sing an ABBA song without making you cringe).

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 02-08-2010, 05:36 PM:

Yes. That is Chloe. [Smile]

Now that I recall, she was the only reason I bothered to watch the Mamma Mia trailer over and over again...