Ok, so tonight I’m finally getting to see Cloverfield at a special screening at Paramount. I’m hoping it’ll be solid… as a matter of fact I’m expecting it to be solid. Anytime you tell me “there’s a movie about a giant monster wrecking a city”, you’ll get my attention, because like the 6 year old child that I am, those movies appeal to me.
However… what I’m not so sure of… is how well this film will do at the box office. Let’s face it, as I mentioned before, the marketing campaign for this film was lackluster at best and did nothing for me in terms of building my excitement for the film. Some will say to me: “BUT JOHN, EVERYONE IS BUZZING ABOUT THIS MOVIE. IT’LL MAKE TONS OF MONEY”. To which I must reply: “No they’re not. The INTERNET movie community is buzzing, but I haven’t heard anyone else yacking about it at all”.
It leaves me wondering if we’re going to see another “Snakes on a Plane” or “Grindhouse” situation, where EVERYONE in the online movie community talks and buzzes about it, but it failed to appeal to the broader audience. And while it’s great to get the online community in the theaters… it’s not enough on its own. You have to also have broader appeal, and I’m not convinced Cloverfield accomplished that at all.
Cloverfield will make money. After all, it’s reported that they only spent about $30 million to make it, so I can’t imagine it won’t at least turn a profit (even Snakes eventually turned up a bit of profit because it was so cheap to make), but will this film be a legitimate $100 million dollar hit? I honestly don’t know due to the fact that it feels so much like the “Snakes” and “Grindhouse” situations.
As for the movie itself, watch for my review later tonight/early tomorrow.
