In fact, this passionate polarization is exactly what brand owners are looking for. Post-pandemic cinema has not yet found its footing. For every “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, dozens of other films fail to find their audience at the cinema.
Box office revenue is experiencing a faltering recovery, with lower-budget films doing well simply because it is easier to recover costs.
Blockbuster candidates, however, are expensive and require massive returns. Last year, to look at closer examples, bets taken for granted, based on powerful intellectual properties, skidded at the box office. “The Flash”, “Indiana Jones and the Hallow of Destiny” and “Mission: Impossible – Reckoning” saw audiences shrugging their shoulders. In studio math, this scenario is fatal.
This is where the fans come into play. This amorphous mass that, at this time governed by social networks, were convinced of having the power to dictate the direction of their favorite characters in cinema. It’s an illusion, of course, fed by a system that needs to maintain this belief. By being included as part of the game, the fan becomes more likely to pay for the ticket and see the results of their “contribution”.
Fan noise, whether positive or negative, creates a scenario in which a film, as it is still in production, could have its direction changed if the shouting reaches high decibels. By releasing the first image of “Superman”, the studio stimulates applause and also criticism, which often becomes aggressive. It is as if popular approval, in this part of the process, influenced the result.
