Back in November The Lovely Bones was on all awards watchers list just due to Peter Jackson previous pedigree. No one had seen it, yet it was based on a best selling book and had awards potential written all over it. Then people starting seeing it and the awards buzz virtually disappeared aside for Stanley Tucci in the supporting actor category.
But one thing that Paramount discovered in screenings is that young women — teen girls, you know the audience for Twilight — really liked the movie.
What happened with The Lovely Bones reminds me of that William Goldman quote- “nobody knows anything” when talking about Hollywood.
“The Lovely Bones” exemplifies how studios sometimes believe they have a firm understanding of what they are selling but are later surprised when moviegoers in focus groups and early screenings weigh in with contrary opinions.
You gotta give Paramount and Peter Jackson credit for getting on the girl wagon. It’s not like they had any choice, it was pretty much that or nothing. They had the elements, a PG-13 film starring a young woman Saoirse Ronan. So instead of just writing the picture off they changed their campaign. They put a trailer for the film on New Moon. They pulled back from the awards focus and waited until after the holidays for a wider released.
This past weekend they released the film on 2800 screens to a gross of over $20 million, way better than expected. 72% of the audience was female and 40% were under 20. That means that young women went to see The Lovely Bones while their guy friends probably went to see Avatar again.
There are two lessons here. One is that you can really make success from failure. I think that Paramount didn’t give up because it was Peter Jackson and they want to be in business with him again. I’m sure filmmakers without Jackson’s stature would never have gotten the same treatment.
Second, don’t underestimate young women and women in general. This film was not a franchise film, it didn’t have a rabid fan base built in and it still did decent numbers. That means that success can be found outside of fandom. Just make a movie that people want to see and then sell it to them. It really makes me want to see it now and before I was indifferent.
Paramount Digs Up Bones’ Audience (LA Times)
Lovely Bones Does About Face (Variety)
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m so tired of Hollywood underestimating the power of female audiences.
What Hollywood calls “chick flicks,” (a really disgusting put down of women) are the very films that put Hollywood on the map,
i.e. character-driven pieces about people who find themselves in
unusual circumstances in everyday life who must rise to the occasion.
This is no mystery… Hollywood, run mostly by old, but still emotionally adolescent men, is really in the business of brutal
violence disguised as entertainment and ingthat there is no audience for anything else. A complete and total crock.
Even the highly praised Avatar is loaded with mind-numbing violence. Mr. Cameron, you could have cut 80% of that and still made your point.
Well, if young girls rescue this film from being a flop, maybe Hollywood will wake up to the buying power of girls and women. Let’s hope!
With the dollars this film is bringing in it won’t get overlooked. Pretty good idea on the part of the studio to go this route. I’d say they recognize the power of girl purchase power.(GPP as my friend Chloe refers to it.
Just a note I went to see this movie last night because I read the book and loved it. Sad to say it’s disappointing. It just didn’t capture the essence of the characters that the book did but so many times, this happens with films adapted from books.
Dear Katie,
Books are books & films are films. They’re different art forms with different tools, rules & conventions. Expecting a film to mimic a book is setting it up for failure.
In the film version of THE LOVELY BONES, Susie is given a work to do, a puzzle she must solve before she can leave “the In Between” & go to heaven. For the sake of those who haven’t seen it yet, I’m going to be oblique, but you can contact me directly if you want to know more.
In the film, when she’s in “the In Between,” Susie must relinquish her “birth family” in order to join her “death family.” When she first arrives in “the In Between,” Susie thinks she’s “a one,” it takes her some time to understand (& accept) that she’s actually one of many.
I’ve seen this film four times now, & each time I see it, it gets better. It’s beautifully constructed. Bravo to Peter Jackson, of course, but please let’s not forget that the screenplay was written by two women: Phillipa Boyens & Fran Walsh.
Happy Weekend to All,
Jan