Let The Rumpus Begin

Moose passed along to me an article in an online trade magazine called AdAge.  I'd post it if it didn't require a subscription.  The fact is, unless you're weird enough to want to read marketing mumbo for shits and giggles or you are in the industry and already blessed with access, you'll just have to take my word for the sentiments expressed therein.  

The crux of the article is the perspective marketing tactics being deliberated by the studio that funded Where The Wild Things Are.  This is apparently the biggest dilemma in the big budget movie studio world of LA LA Land right now, at least according to the article.  I'd like to start with a quote: 

[The studio] may simply have lost control of the creators. Mr. Jonze, the director of quirky, sophisticated adult films such as "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation," was hardly a "safe" choice for a kids' movie. The "Wild Things" script comes from the Gen X literary icon Dave Eggers, author of "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius." Neither man screams "Bambi." 

If you're trying to market this very big budget movie, I suppose the tone and its overriding themes potentially make your job either easier or more difficult, but I found myself immensely annoyed by the illumination of the fact that business people decide what movies get made, and with whom they can market them to in mind.  I don't like to confront this aspect of showbiz any more than I have to.   

So it appears the studio may have botched this one, unless artistic integrity trumps the almighty dollar.... and it obviously doesn't.  Currently at the heart of the debate, did the studio unwittingly set itself up to lose money by spending so much of it funding a film lacking in mass appeal that will not easily translate to McDonald's happy meals?  If Spike Jonze and Eggers both don’t scream “Bambi”, well, then perhaps you look elsewhere for your creative talent.  I'm sure if they had, this movie could have easily been one that didn’t get my attention beyond, “oh, they made Where The Wild Things Are into a movie”, but one that did warrant a marketing blitz akin to the Harry Potter franchise. 

At this point, I think they should put their marketing eggs in the hoards-of-people-in-their mid-20’s-to-mid-30’s-are-going-to-want-to-see-this-movie basket.   And I only mention with certainty the demographic I'm reasonably familiar with.  This is a book was actually written in 1963.   So we're talking about a lot of people who loved this book as children, a book that captured the imagination with dark playfulness and childish simplicity.   Well, they've all grown up and out of children’s books and their big screen counterparts.  And many of us don't have children, let alone kids old enough to take to movies.  This seems so obvious to me. Everyone I know already wants to see this movie and they've only released the trailer.

Thank god for people like Jonze and Eggers.  I don’t think any studio ever has control over guys like this, which is why it's so great that they're out there and continually manage to get work.  I'd like to think some big swinging dick movie exec ultimately signed off on this because the prospect of this material in Jonze' and Eggers' hands got them excited, and not just because they thought they'd end up with a merchandizing extravaganza by following some blockbuster formula.  

While I suppose it goes without saying because it hasn't been released yet, I haven't seen this thing...  So I'm not exactly sure why this movie and this innocuous article spurned this rant.  Especially when I haven't written anything in ages and the entire world's going to shit.