Bob's Take: Movies have to score instantly

I found myself watching the romantic comedy “Holiday” on cable the other day. (Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, why not?) I was struck by something an aging screenwriter, played by Eli Wallach (great character acting), said to Winslet.

To paraphrase, he said that in his day movies had time to catch on with the public, through word of mouth. Now, he bemoaned, if you don’t score a knockout on opening weekend, you’re dead. And he didn’t much like the kind of subject matter that hits big and fast.

Last week Michael Douglas told the Associated Press essentially the same thing: “Everything’s geared on that first weekend because of the marketing costs and everything. It used to be a movie could hang in there and find its legs and keep on going. It’s much more difficult now. It’s hit or miss.”

Now, in the age of instant texting and network mailing lists of hundreds of friends on Twitter or Facebook, things may have gotten even tougher for movies to avoid a quick death.

Case in point: “Brüno,” Sacha Baron Cohen’s politically incorrect comedy in which he plays a gay Austrian fashionista with attitude.

Plenty of fans were eagerly anticipating Cohen’s follow-up to his 2006 hit “Borat” ($128 million domestic), and the movie got off to a strong start. “Brüno’s” first-night sales, on a Friday, were higher than “Borat’s.”

But then an unusual thing happened. Ticket sales fell substantially Saturday and trailed off further Sunday.

The word was out. Moviegoers were giving “Brüno” a thumbs-down, and that word spread farther and faster in this digital age than ever.

It sounds crazy, but now a movie might have to kill not just on the first weekend but on the first night it’s out if it’s going to find those box-office legs Douglas referred to.

Is that a good thing, or a bad thing, for moviemaking? I’m not sure. On one hand, studios can’t count on gliding through opening weekend on the title alone anymore. Big stars are not an automatic sell, either (Johnny Depp, “Public Enemies”; Julia Roberts, “Duplicity”; Denzel Washington and John Travolta, “The Taking of Pelham 123”).

On the other hand, that kind of quick-hit marketing pressure is what leads studios to cling to the familiar. Every movie company today wants a franchise like “Harry Potter,” in which instant recognition virtually guarantees an audience for opening weekend — and a train of sequels.

At the least, studios are looking for a comic-book character or a TV series or a video game or (riskier) a best-selling book — anything widely popular that will make millions plunk their money down right when the thing opens.

They’re very smart about how they get people to do that.

Online movie trailers, interactive Web sites, saturation television advertising — those expensive means are alive but old hat.

According to TheWrap.com, an online site that covers entertainment and media, what’s new and hot today is marketing to smart phones.

For each new tent-pole movie, there is now an app — that’s hip talk for application — you can download to your iPhone. Usually it contains what’s now referred to as an advergame — a video game created specifically for the iPhone that plugs the movie. Some cost a few bucks. Some are free.

If the movie is “Star Trek,” you get to wage phaser battles. If it’s “The Dark Knight,” you can make a picture of yourself look like Heath Ledger’s character, The Joker.

People who play the video games have been known to post results and times on YouTube, challenging others to beat them. The thing feeds itself.

With iPhones you also can get access to posters and other movie paraphernalia. For Harry Potter, for example, the app allows you to insert a picture of yourself into the newspaper Harry reads, the Daily Prophet.

But despite the new forms of hype, “Brüno” may serve as a reminder to moviemakers that the quality of the product matters. No matter how cool and hip, it still has to entertain.

At least, that’s one theory.

“Terminator: Salvation” and “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” got less than glowing reviews in May. Like “Brüno,” they dropped off steeply at the box office after their openings.

But don’t overlook international sales. Action and violence, like music, speak all languages. So far, “Terminator: Salvation” has racked up $123 million domestic, $355 million global. “Wolverine” is at $179 million domestic, $363 million global.

Maybe the iPhone army’s instant Twitter reviews are not worldwide phenomena quite yet.

Contact the writer:

444-1269, bob.fischbach@owh.com