• A Flick by Any Other Name…

    Posted on April 20th, 2006 by and currently 3 commenting.

    The movie Snakes on a Plane starring Samuel L Jackson isn’t coming out for months, but you have probably already heard a lot about it. Normally, movie pre-release “news” would be the result of the studio marketers or the tabloids touting celebrity romance, but the story here is about the extensive audience anticipation of the movie. The title alone has created a flurry of activity:

    • 41 spoof trailers and interviews posted on YouTube
    • 120 user-generated Snakes on a Plane (SoaP) designs that you can order as T-shirts or your favoite CafePress items (they’re even running sponsored search to support it)
    • A dedicated site www.snakesonablog.com – the originator of which has been invited to the premiere

    And in a shocking example of Hollywood listening to its audience, a line of dialogue requested by the fans was added into the final cut of the film.

    What’s so exciting about this? This audience has drawn their inspiration from nothing more than the name of the film – a name that clearly identifies what the film is about and its tone. During production, the studio wanted to change the title to “Pacific Flight 121″. Sam Jackson and others stopped this as they thought the new title would misrepresent the film as something loftier than it is: an over the top action/horror flick about snakes on a plane. Can you imagine throngs of fans creating their own “Pacific Flight 121″ fansites before seeing a frame of the film?

    Adopting a name that clearly represents who you are and what you stand for will help you and your natural audience find each other and start a dialogue.

    Speaking of names, I’m Virginia Miracle and I’m new here. I look forward to starting the conversation with you.

  • http://www.orangeyeti.com/ Evan

    I have to admit, the first time I saw the trailer I thought it was a joke. Then when I realized it wasn’t, I was slightly shocked. Then when I saw Samuel Jackson’s interview I got on board, so to speak.

    The “natural audience” simply finds the absurdity of the plot and the title easy targets for ridicule. A lot of the internet technocrats out there find/found “Snakes on a Plane” even more ripe for mocking because it implies a lack of respect for the audience, that Americans are idiots and that Hollywood can just crank out a film devoid of any nutritive value and we’ll just gobble it up anyway. Samuel L. Jackson got the joke from the beginning and saved the day (and maybe his cred.) by insisting that the title acknowledge how ridiculous the movie is. If they were seriously considering the loftier title (pardon the pun) of “Pacific Flight 121″ I’m inclined to think the producers DON’T actually respect the audience. Too bad “Anaconda” didn’t switch titles too–”Snakes in a River” just isn’t wacky enough though.

    Also, we musn’t forget the SoaP cultism over at YTMND:

    * http://originalsoap.ytmnd.com/ (Indiana Jones)

    * http://soapthemelogo.ytmnd.com/ (fan-created theme song!)

    * http://medievalsoap.ytmnd.com/ (medieval tapestry)

    * http://mrtonaplane.ytmnd.com/ (Mr. T)

    * http://soapcomic.ytmnd.com/ (nsfw – lang.)

  • Gammo

    Nice to have you… VeeDub on a plane.

  • http://www.ird-dc.org Kate

    It’s all true. I have never seen my friends so excited about a movie. These are folks who probably go to about one movie a year, and last year it was Capote…this year, I’m pretty sure it will have to be Snakes on a Plane.

    It raises so many questions good for blogs, and thus good for viral marketing…for example, an online poll – who will be the first to be killed by the snakes?
    a.) a stewardess
    b.) a baggage handler
    c.) the herpetologist too blinded by his love of the snakes to see the danger they represent by bringing them on the plane

    The possibilities are endless.