Prince Eric wrote:OK, and you know what other people are registering in their minds when they see the Ratatouille how exactly? Like you pointed out, all of this is just speculation on your interpretation of the teaser.
I know, because most people are ignorant. I don't mean that in a cruel or nasty way, but they just don't care enough. While there are a percentage of people who do like to follow the film industry, the vast majority don't. Just like some people have a keen interest in a sport and take the time to study its schedule and stats, people with a passing interest in the sport don't. They just concern themselves with the bigger picture, they just care about the upcoming week's or month's schedule and plan their activities around that if there is a particular game they want to see, either by attending the game or watching it on TV. Some people even just come in, switch the TV on and are content to see whatever game is playing in its regular weekly slot.
Movies are the same, what entices the average viewer with a brief one minute teaser is quickly forgotten or pushed aside. Trust me. Only a few will have noted Ratatouille's release date, and even less will remember it. In a month's time you'll be lucky if a quarter remember it was coming out in 2007.
Oh, and just another thing, the purpose of a teaser IS to "get the word out." It's not supposed to tell the audience anything about the movie. Then it wouldn't be a teaser - that's marketing 101 and I'm not getting into that here.
But is it a good idea to get the word out 13 months before you can actually "purchase" something? If I was going to make a new candy bar, would you say it would be a good idea to show teasers on TV 13 months before I knew the candy bar would be in stores?
Major consumer goods, costing thousands of dollars have been launched without 13 months of mainstream pre-publicity. New cars have. Granted, they do get considerable trade publicity before their launch, but the public sees none of this (unless they have a particular interest in cars and actively seek information – just like people who have an active interest in movies can seek information in Variety or on IMDB.Com). It’s the same for the next DVD format… a lot more money is likely to be lost by either Time-Warner or Sony if one of their formats is dramatically eclipsed by the other, but even though both HD-DVD and Blu Ray are in the process of being launched* the mainstream pre-publicity for those has been, once again, limited to a couple of months or so pre-launch.
You know, a two or three months ago I was in a shop and a woman was having an argument with the sales assistant behind the counter. She was adamant Steve Martin's Pink Panther was available on DVD. When told it was still playing at the cinema, she said that "it came out months ago and should be on DVD now, and she saw an advert in a magazine saying it was". Now, I'm pretty sure The Pink Panther wasn't promoted 13 months before it's release, but the first trailers may have come out just before Christmas over here. But it doesn't matter. She probably remembered seeing the trailer and assumed, as one does when something is advertised, it was available/showing at that time. The trailer may have said coming soon at the start and or end, but maybe she forgot that. The "word was out", but it lacked context.
You may dismiss her as being an atypical, rather stupid member of the public, but if you've ever had a job that involves dealing with the public you'll seen discover that on the whole, the public is stupid. They don't read things. They don't pay attention to stuff.
Also, looking at the top 10 films for 2005, 2004 and 2003 most managed without having to resort to teasers months and months in advance.
Luke wrote:If they have an interest in Pixar and/or Disney and a drive to look up things on the Internet, then they probably know about it. But I'm willing to bet there is an enormous number of families and children who love what Pixar does and don't know a thing about Ratatouille until now. Plus, keep in mind that this is the first time that Pixar has said anything officially about the movie (save for the mention at the Disney investors conference call - which I'm sure has a listenership far below Pixar's fanbase).
But how is a child knowing a movie is coming out going to help? A year is a life-time for a child, and I'm pretty sure famlies don't plan their cinema trips months in advance. I'm not against publicity are a more appropriate time, but trailing a film NOW when it's now available for 13 months is just going to result in children pestering their parents.
* Yes, I know technically Blu Ray hasn't launched yet, as such, but it's only weeks away.
) but there were NO laughs from this teaser what-so-ever. Definetely not a good sign.