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[Bobby Roberts]

Bobby I want your input on an interesting bit of movie history I think gets over looked. I think it was the first true meeting of the internet and the film industry.

Oh yeah, I was there. What's up

edit: Oh, I thought you meant you wanted to know what happened at the meeting. It was like 30 of us. I was in charge of snacks. I brought like, a bunch of 2-liter sodas and two really big boxes of Chicken in a Biskit.

They didn't last very long.

 

[gutter_trash]

a movie doesn't have to be a box office hit for me to like.

I liked it then, I would have liked it today if release now.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Anyway, serious answer to last page's question: Yeah, I think Snakes on a Plane was really the first time meme bullshit and internet reaction/anticipation changed the course of a movie. Josh Friedman's blog about it was just so straight-faced about how fucking stupid everything was, people definitely got caught up in it.

I remember the sound files leaking of Jackson delivering the "motherfucking snakes" line that the internet basically wrote for him months prior, and it being kind of a big deal. We were running censored versions of the shit on our radio show at the time.

The midnight screening we hosted was fucking nuts. Some assholes brought like, a backpack of rubber snakes and started throwing them at the screen as the snakes would attack. My favorite part of that movie is still the carefully drawn full color illustration the little kid makes with a single black ballpoint pen while seated on an airplane full of deadly snakes.

Movie fell off a fucking cliff by Sunday, if I remember right.

 

[Staccat0]

Movies have kinda mostly just gotten worse so I can't figure out what people want.

That movie is a gem though.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

Snakes crashed and burned opening day. The best part was the Sam Jackson robot caller you could use to call people and tell them about the film.

 

[farisr]

Sure they did. People just didn't respond. There's really no other way to sell that movie that isn't blatantly misrepresentative of what you're going to get, at which point the bait 'n' switch complaints would have soured any reception of the film after opening weekend.

They sold it as best they could while honestly trying to share exactly what it was. The trailers/commercials were well made. Universal put in good work.

I don't know, I'd say if a movie's trailers didn't attract people to the theaters, and it's word of mouth after its home release that gets those same people to give it a chance (and end up loving it). I'd say the marketing was, by definition, not perfect/as good as it could in that case. Perhaps the trailers maybe packed too much in, became too much of an overload for people, or there could have been different styles of trailers out there covering different aspects of the movie rather than every trailer trying to cover all the bases for the movie.

As I've said, I personally know plenty of people that have no interest in gaming, or have very little pop culture knowledge, from various backgrounds that ended up enjoying the movie after they watched it. They absolutely weren't interested in it from the trailers, but after hearing me shower praises on the movie, gave it a shot.

The trailers/marketing did their job in appealing to the demographic that I belong to. Didn't do their jobs to attract the other widely varying demographics that did respond well to the actual movie once they watched it at home.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

I don't know, I'd say if a movie's trailers didn't attract people to the theaters, and it's word of mouth after its home release that gets those same people to give it a chance (and end up loving it). I'd say the marketing was, by definition, not perfect/as good as it could in that case

The trailers/marketing did their job in appealing to the demographic that I belong to. Didn't do their jobs to attract the other widely varying demographics that did respond well to the actual movie once they watched it at home.

And I'm saying I don't know what any marketing could have done to attract those demographics without misrepresenting the movie to the point those demographics get in and feel they got swindled by what the movie actually is.

Like, I have no clue how you manage that. It's a niche movie. "Non-gamers" liking the movie when they finally sit down to watch it doesn't really say to me "they should have sold it better to non-gamers," it says more that people with no real awareness of what it was catching it cold are more inclined to like it because they don't have a chance to develop preconcieved notions about what it "should be" before they're immersed in it.

Which is pretty much the opposite of what a marketing campaign is supposed to do.

 

[border]

There's not a lot to me that suggests some kind of weird videogame nerd fanservice movie would be more successful today. By the same token, Mallrats would probably tank too.

Michael Cera simply cannot carry a film to commercial success. Studios took the wrong lesson from Superbad and let him headline a bunch of films, nearly all of which tanked. He is the Jason Biggs of the millenial generation.

 

[jackal27]

Basically. It would probably do the same. Maybe if it wasn't released in the summer.

I personally think it would have done much better in different season as well. It'd be a perfect early summer or late spring movie.

 

[B33]

I love all of Edgar Wright's work and Scott Pilgrim is no exception.

 

[shawnbuddy]

Scott Pilgrim isn't really a comic or movie for all gamers, just a narrow band of hip retro gamers. Being into retro gaming and using retro gaming tropes is just another part of the lifestyle the characters live. When Scott actually gets a current system, a PSP, his spending time playing it is the way they show he's given up on life.

 

[espher]

I'm trying to imagine the moviegoer that was torn that weekend between The Expendables and Scott Pilgrim.

My friends and I saw them both the same day (release day). Expendables on the early show, Scott Pilgrim on the late show.

 

[BronsonLee]

I was in charge of snacks. I brought like, a bunch of 2-liter sodas and two really big boxes of Chicken in a Biskit.

They didn't last very long.

Of course you brought shit snacks, goddamnit Bobby

Anyway, serious answer to last page's question: Yeah, I think Snakes on a Plane was really the first time meme bullshit and internet reaction/anticipation changed the course of a movie. Josh Friedman's blog about it was just so straight-faced about how fucking stupid everything was, people definitely got caught up in it.

I was right in the age bracket for that movie and went to the midnight showing with a bunch of my friends, it was a real hoot, I broke up two fights

There's no way that movie does any better if the Internet didn't pick up on it btw

 

[espher]

The midnight screening we hosted was fucking nuts. Some assholes brought like, a backpack of rubber snakes and started throwing them at the screen as the snakes would attack. My favorite part of that movie is still the carefully drawn full color illustration the little kid makes with a single black ballpoint pen while seated on an airplane full of deadly snakes.

Movie fell off a fucking cliff by Sunday, if I remember right.

Yeah, the midnight showing in my city was absolutely nuts, tons of people had rubber snakes and it was an incredibly rowdy crowd. The movie was incredibly middling but the experience was by far my best in a theatre.

 

[Pilgrimzero]

There's an alternate ending that has Scott and knives

Which missed the point of the film

 

[Falchion]

I had never seen or read Scott Pilgrim until last year and I absolutely loved it. I regret missing out on it until now.

 

[Slayven]

Snakes on a Plane doesn't count?

Snakes crashed and burned opening day. The best part was the Sam Jackson robot caller you could use to call people and tell them about the film.

Yeah that is what i wanted to talk about, that felt like the first real time The internet and hollywood really connected.

 

[bachikarn]

I feel like Michael Cera was a poor choice. He did the awkward stuff well, but don't think he pulled off Scott's other personality traits.

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

Just made me think and hope BC compatibility will one day be in the cards for this on Xbox, awesome game.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Whoa wait a min, wait. Hold up:

Is the elf talking shit about Chicken in a Biskit?

Whaaaat

 

[Sec0nd]

I fucking loved Scott Pilgrim. One of my favorite movies.

In some way I'm kind of happy that it did poorly lol. At least we know they are not going to milk that thing to the ground with unnecessary sequels. Dunno if the source material would allow for that. But I'm sure that if it would've made enough money they would have found a way to do it.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

No, it would not make a billion dollars.

No.

 

[TheUnsunghero26]

One of my favourite movies. Both the movie and the books are a love letter to Toronto. It's so cool to see a Canadian city actually play itself in a film (I say that as someone from the Vancouver area).

I'd take any fight scene from Scott Pilgrim over just about any from a Marvel or DC movie.

 

[Rest]

I mean yeah he's dating a 17 year old but it's explicitly stated that Scott never even kissed her, let alone did anything else with her. It's stated that the furthest he got was "holding hands".

Sure. But all of his excitement about the relationship was that she was underage. When he roped his friend into picking her up from school with him, and his friend was feeling like jerk for tagging along while he creeped on a child, his response was "hey, I know what will make you feel better: pick out one of your own and we can molest kids together!" When the girl told him she was turning 18 and invited him to her birthday party, the very next words out of his mouth were to break up with her. He was only interested in her because she was underaged.

 

[Dishwalla]

Scott is never really excited to be dating Knives at any point though, the only reason he was doing so was his own insecurities after being dumped by Envy. Knives cared way more for Scott than Scott cared for her.

You are stretching things quite a bit if you interpret a jokey convo between Scott and Wallace as Scott being a child molester though.

 

[Rest]

Scott is never really excited to be dating Knives at any point though, the only reason he was doing so was his own insecurities after being dumped by Envy. Knives cared way more for Scott than Scott cared for her.

You are stretching things quite a bit if you interpret a jokey convo between Scott and Wallace as Scott being a child molester though.

Scott thinks it's funny but Culkin's character didn't, that's not a jokey conversation. And maybe if it had been them picking up an adult student from school, and not surrounded by the things before and after it that show Scott's only there because she's a kid then I might agree that it was an okay joke for him to make, but in the context of the other things that happen in the movie and the things that that character says and does it's not really funny.

And sure, Scott isn't excited about his girlfriend as a person, it's clear that he doesn't really like her. But the one thing he talks positively about more than one time is that he's dating someone who's underaged. He not excited about her, he's excited about the situation of dating a child.

Over and over he shows that he doesn't value the individual he's entered into this scenario with, but values the scenario its self. What else do you call that when the scenario is an adult being romantically involved with a child?

 

[PaulloDEC]

Scott thinks it's funny but Culkin's character didn't, that's not a jokey conversation. And maybe if it had been them picking up an adult student from school, and not surrounded by the things before and after it that show Scott's only there because she's a kid then I might agree that it was an okay joke for him to make, but in the context of the other things that happen in the movie and the things that that character says and does it's not really funny.

And sure, Scott isn't excited about his girlfriend as a person, it's clear that he doesn't really like her. But the one thing he talks positively about more than one time is that he's dating someone who's underaged. He not excited about her, he's excited about the situation of dating a child.

Over and over he shows that he doesn't value the individual he's entered into this scenario with, but values the scenario its self. What else do you call that when the scenario is an adult being romantically involved with a child?

There is absolutely nothing in either the graphic novels or the film that would suggest to a reasonable person that Scott has inappropriate feelings for Knives based on her age. That reading of events is very strange, and to my knowledge, entirely unique to you.

 

[Guess Who]

There is absolutely nothing in either the graphic novels or the film that would suggest to a reasonable person that Scott has inappropriate feelings for Knives based on her age. That reading of events is very strange, and to my knowledge, entirely unique to you.

Also: age of consent in Canada is 16.

 

[siddx]

No, because it isn't a great movie. It's a weird awkward film that mainly appeals to weird awkward people.

 

[Dishwalla]

For reference this is the convo in the graphic novel:

Scott is an extremely flawed person, the major part of the story is him dealing with this, but he wasn't a sex offender. You are seeing things that aren't there.

 

[HammerFace]

There is absolutely nothing in either the graphic novels or the film that would suggest to a reasonable person that Scott has inappropriate feelings for Knives based on her age. That reading of events is very strange, and to my knowledge, entirely unique to you.

Yeah this definitely. Scott in both mediums was just excited to be "moving on". Also I think he was definitely excited at the fact that Knives was like devoted to him so he didn't have to worry about getting hurt again.

Also I think the film could do better, especially since the story is actually complete, and hopefully they could pace their way through the exes better instead of like the majority going to 1-3 and 4-7 getting barely anything.

Oh and also make Scott and Ramona's relationship not look like a 3 day fling. Huge part of the story is that they have a real relationship but their own flaws get in the way and they accept them. That doesn't translate very well at all in this movie.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Also: age of consent in Canada is 16.

For reference this is the convo in the graphic novel:

Scott is an extremely flawed person, the major part of the story is him dealing with this, but he wasn't a sex offender. You are seeing things that aren't there.

I've not rewatched the movie in a while, but certainly in the comics he's unnaturally calm about the entire Knives thing because he has no intention of getting physical with her. When she does eventually kiss him he's horrified and literally runs away.

If you're looking for what Scott sees in his relationship with Knives, it's explained very clearly in the first book:

Envy was complex and difficult to be around. Knives is simple and easy to be around. The end.

 

[BocoDragon]

I feel like Michael Cera was a poor choice. He did the awkward stuff well, but don't think he pulled off Scott's other personality traits.

Yup. I always saw comic Scott as kind of a scrappy shitstarter who just happened to have surprisingly geek tendencies. He's the rock band frontman who can hold his own in a fight... but will tell you way too much about anime and games if you drink with him. I know people like that.

Cera plays him as a socially adorkable dweeb... A pure nerd... which is fine but all of his combat prowess/prolific dateability seems like pure 100% fantasy in that version.

 

[pbayne]

Even with a more bankable star than Cera(and I can't really think of one that would fit the part off the top of my head) the movie still would struggle imo.

Lol hard to believe that only 6 years ago Chris Evans was kind of a B-list schmuk in this and now he's one of the biggest stars going.

 

[Oblivion]

No, it wouldn't, unfortunately.

But still, if it had to be a commercial failure in order to remain as enjoyable as it was, then I think it's all for the best. I don't re-watch many films very often, even ones that I like, but after I finished watching Scott Pilgrim, I wanted to see it again. That almost never happens, which shows how special the movie is. Just look at how awesome this is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDFi4c2wOBY

Best scene in the movie. Especially love the part at 3:19. So well directed and badass.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Yup. I always saw comic Scott as kind of a scrappy shitstarter who just happened to have surprisingly geek tendencies. He's the rock band frontman who can hold his own in a fight... but will tell you way too much about anime and games if you drink with him. I know people like that.

Cera plays him as a socially adorkable dweeb... A pure nerd... which is fine but all of his combat prowess/prolific dateability seems like pure 100% fantasy in that version.

The idea of Scott as this rockstar stud is kind of a weird one. I seem to recall that the first book plays it up a fair bit, but the Scott we see in the rest of the series doesn't really match. The more we learn about him, the more I'm like "How exactly was this character ever supposed to be a ladykiller?"

It felt a bit like that idea fell out of favour as the story went along to me.

 

[oatmeal]

Love Scott Pilgrim

I was at the first screening like 7-8 months before it released. Wright was there (though I didn't know it at the time since i had no idea what movie I was seeing). Film was rough, VFX no where near final in a lot of scenes...was still brilliant. Had the alt ending back then.

I made a review thread on here and got review on AICN. That was fun.

 

[daviyoung]

It came out at the height of nerd culture and retromania. It did as well as it could.

 

[AxeMan]

I didn't know it was a comic book movie and heard nothing about it until I caught it on TV.

I think the movie stinks. Can't stand it

 

[Harlock]

Would get more attention from tech sites, that now are much more cultural sites. And some people would get offended by something in the movie. Like everything today.

 

[aygomyownroad]

The movie was okay. Big fan of the novels and think the movie should have been longer or at least in two parts as there was many storylines missed that were very interesting.

Especially NV.

 

[shawnbuddy]

Yup. I always saw comic Scott as kind of a scrappy shitstarter who just happened to have surprisingly geek tendencies. He's the rock band frontman who can hold his own in a fight... but will tell you way too much about anime and games if you drink with him. I know people like that.

Cera plays him as a socially adorkable dweeb... A pure nerd... which is fine but all of his combat prowess/prolific dateability seems like pure 100% fantasy in that version.

They specifically say comic Scott never loses a fight, the implication being he gets in them a lot.

The Knives thing is just one of the ways Scott refuses to be a mature, functioning person. He is dating Knives because he knows it can't go anywhere, he doesn't want it to. He wants an adoring fake child girlfriend, not an adult relationship.

 

[stenbumling]

It's almost always incredibly futile to come to any real conclusion with what-if-theories, but I don't think much has changed that would make it more susceptible to commercial success. It would be like a re-roll of the same dice.

Spoiler

I have watched this movie so many times. It's so incredibly rewatchable.

 

[Nightbird]

Sure. But all of his excitement about the relationship was that she was underage. When he roped his friend into picking her up from school with him, and his friend was feeling like jerk for tagging along while he creeped on a child, his response was "hey, I know what will make you feel better: pick out one of your own and we can molest kids together!" When the girl told him she was turning 18 and invited him to her birthday party, the very next words out of his mouth were to break up with her. He was only interested in her because she was underaged.

Oh, so this is why he ended up chasing after Ramona! Because she was underage- wait.

 

[Subpar Scrub]

I loved it, but the second I finished watching it I knew it would be a cult classic sort of deal. Like Hot Rod.

 

[AgentOtaku]

Still think Cera was widely miscast here

No because Cera can't toe the line between being charismatic/likeable and a complete douche like the character he's playing. Maybe if his performance was better or they had cast someone better. It sucks because the rest of the casting for the movie is on point.

this

Though let it be known, I think he's a fine and funny actor. He just shouldn't have been the one leading this film.

 

[Rest]

Oh, so this is why he ended up chasing after Ramona! Because she was underage- wait.

So wanting to date another person who's not underage makes him less of a creep? Alright then let's let all the child molesters who dated or married adults out of prison- wait.

 

[BronsonLee]

Stay free, Rest

 

[Bishop89]

best scene

 

[itwasTuesday]

"Milk & eggs bitch" is easily the best line in the movie. Delivered by the best punisher.

I think the sillyness would be embraced a little more today.