I do, I do! I guess. Thinking out loud here, but I was wondering how the hell The Bourne Ultimatum, the third in the series, almost last in line as a summer blockbuster release, racked up almost as much as The Simpsons, in fewer theatres, and without the big head start Simpsons fans brought to their movie. (18+ years as a TV show, not to mention the tons of promotions behind it either–everything from finding real Springfields to Kwik-E-Mart takeovers.) Certainly both have their core fans, but considering both had comparable success in their opening weekends, is this a case for just running outdoor and trailers and forgetting all that other stuff, especially if you already have that built-in audience? Their blitz nothwithstanding, I haven’t seen much in the way of heavy promotion for it. Not even a Jason Bourne Happy Meal.
As films go, the franchise follows the exact same predictable template each time out, even more than the Diehard series: Matt Damon forgets shit, does cool spy stuff, has intense bad guy fight sequence, does slick driving, then seeks revenge against his handlers. Maybe it’s the repetition people need: gimmee the same, each time out, with no surprises, and I’ll fork over the cash. To be fair, while this one does follow an established template, it also delivers as well as the first two, if not better. (It’s definitely more non-stop than Live Free or Die Hard 22 and Transformers with some of the best fight sequences in the series.) They also leave it open for, you guessed it, a prequel-sequel: Bourne 4–Bourne Harder perhaps?
Tags: The Bourne Ultimatum, The Simpsons
2 comments:
Actually, the Bourne film received quite a bit of pre-hype, in a form that is becoming more and more common. Specifically, for the past few weeks, cable networks have been playing the first two Bourne movies like crazy. The same thing happened for the latest Die Hard sequel. Seems like rather than put all the promotional dollars into advertising, the studios get us worked up by presenting “previews” in the form of the previous flicks.
Yeah, exactly. Same could be said for Simpsons though. They had how many years of reruns to get he word out. I agree though, the reruns of Bourne help cement the idea of a solid franchise in people’s minds.
Still, it’s definitely easy for them to talk it up like ahead of time, all the while selling ad space to offset the promotional costs. Nice work if you can get it.
;-p
I’d expect to see a huge run-up to the next Indiana Jones flick with wall-to-wall showings on USA, TBS, etc.
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