Sometimes great art isn’t appreciated for years after it is created. SOAP is like this, I believe.

Thought I might direct you to the “All Your Snakes” video, if you had not yet seen it.

Just click on the link to my website (even though it is not mine).

Cheersssssss,
T.

SoaP is something where you either GET IT or you DONT and everyone who was not directly aware of the online fandom did not get it… it’s true; this has revealed the limitations of the net as a mass medium, but it will ALSO reveal the internet’s true power as a creator and sustainer of otherwise diffuse subcultures and cults.

SOAP will be our generation’s RHPS and will be making money from the devoted few for years. I just hope Samuel L has rights to the long terms residuals, the way the RHPS actors DON’T.

Kinda OT–

Place: Kennedy Space Center, Port Canaveral, FL
Time: About 11:30am
Date: Sept. 2, 2006
Event: Standing in a “theater”, about to watch a re-creation of the NASA control room when Apollo 11 took off (or whatever rocket it was)

The room goes black.

Me: Snakes!
Total stranger-lady next to me: Snakes on a Plane!

Three people laugh–me, total-stranger lady, and my kid.

I had to share that–the universal appeal of “SoaP” that brings total strangers together. Gotta love it. ;-)

I think the whole cult angle is a valid one and but to answer the question of profitability, you would really have to ask how big was the marketing budget in the first place? Obviously the blogosphere financially aided the film by providing free publicity.

That being said, the less-than-expected ticket sales can’t be blamed on bloggers in any way. If anything, its a failure by New Line to combine traditional publicity (i.e. reviews) with the hype and fantastic buzz sites like Snakesonablog.com created.

Marketing is about pull-through and ultimately, though counter-culture audiences LOVED the film, that fact is that it didn’t have mainstream success.

Was the blogosphere successful with SoaP?
YES - Because it created a buzz and fandom with hard-to-connect-with audiences.

Was SoaP a successful with the blogosphere?
NO - Because it didn’t have an effective audience pull-through to actually see the movie

Best,
Jared
20-Something Marketing
Marketing | Business | Life
http://20somethingmarketing.com

Another thing with the advertising of the film is that I barely saw any trailers on TV before the launch, and there were no posters at any of the train stations or bus stops I passed. Then after it had been released there were no ads on TV again until this week. Now word of mouth on the internet (because blogosphere may be the worst word in the history of the universe) is one thing, but you still need the other forms of traditional advertising to help it out.

SOAP is up to $45 million total gross (Domestic and worldwide) and it hasn;t even opened yet in many countries. Using the 2.5x formula to make a profit, SOAP has to gross around 85 million.
It looks like it will make it, especially once the DVD hits

For those who don’t want to see a plane full of snakes, no amount of blog buzz will make them interested. They heard about it thanks to the fan buzz, but it’s not their thing.

For those of us who DO want to see a plane full of snakes, I think we were ALL aware of it and most of us went to see it. I also suspect a lot of us will be buying the DVD, the better to see snakes on planes whenever we please. I think the blog/online phenomenon greatly fed our desire to go see this movie and make it a cultural event.

Me, I’m intending to watch the DVD on a laptop during one of the flights I’ll be taking this fall, so I can enjoy–wait for it–

Snakes on a Plane on a plane.

Amen to that brother!

Who says this film is a failure? It’s generated over 50 million worldwide and will probably make more when it goes to DVD. I think it’s a question of how you look at it. I really don’t think this movie would have made anywhere near that much money without the blogs and the internet.