It looks like on BC's Lower Mainland at least, the movie theatres want geeks to come and spend money on films and popcorn and the like, just as long as the films aren't about geeks themselves. It's pissed me off to no end that in the entire Metro Vancouver region this weekend, not one cinema is devoting a single screen to "Fanboys". Not one!
Now, to be fair, with the amount of incessant tinkering and revising that's been done to this little flick, and with all the delays, it does, admittedly, have a reasonable potential for suckage. And yes, I've read one review so far (the film seems to be strangely absent from reviews in big media here, as though they've all turned their backs on it because it's openly nerdy and thus not cool enough to warrant their "Bride Wars"-obsessed critiques). But to not have at least one multiplex show it on one screen? Come on!
I mean, there are still theatres showing "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (a couple of months after its embarrassing debut) and anyone (like me) who made the mistake of seeing that one knows the only thing it's standing in is a pile of shit as deep as Keannu Reeves' inability to act. Never mind the other crappy new flicks that are fresh out and getting plenty of screen time. Don't the theatre chains know that while they're getting mediocre turnouts for the low-quality mainstream stuff, they'd probably get good turnouts for "Fanboys" even if it isn't that good (and I'm not saying whether it is or isn't 'cause I haven't seen it yet and likely won't for a while at this rate) because they'd probably get a ton of geeks turning out to watch it out of curiousity at how it portrays geek culture. Never mind the flood they'd get if the film's any good. In an age where movie theatres are kicked hard in the bottom line by video stores, sales of DVD's for home viewing, and internet downloads, they can't afford not to diversify and bring in any flick that might attract paying customers, especially fanboys, who tend to come out to flicks like this in flocks and spend lots of money on junk food and video games in the lobby while they're waiting. Way to cultivate a profitable market, Cineplex!
babbling relentlessly about science fiction, fantasy, and all points in between
1 comment:
Actually, the fault lies with the distributors (the Weinsteins, I think?) and not the cinema chains in cases like this. They've chosen to only release it on a couple dozen screens in a handful of major US cities. They've clearly decided that they don't want to spend the money on printing a wide release and major marketing.
If we're lucky, they're just rolling it out in a more old-fashioned way, hoping that word-of-mouth will build interest and get it on more and more screens. So if it performs well, expect to see it on Vancouver screens sometime in March. If it doesn't, we'll be waiting for the DVD.
Post a Comment