The $3-$3.5 million opening for this movie was completely the fault of the marketing department. We went to see the movie and it was actually a good film. However, we had NO IDEA what the film was about until we researched the synopsis. The marketing dept. focused on the stars rather than the story -- which is too bad.
shareTotally agree, this was a charming adventure film about birding not an out and out comedy. DUH Marketing
"If you're laughing, I defy you to be afraid"
Agreed - I don't have TV so the only ads I really saw for this were trailers in front of other movies, and I really had no idea what this movie was supposed to be or be about. I think I saw two trailers - one making it seem to be a comedy about bird watching, and the other (which I saw the most) hardly mentioned anything about birds, so I began to wonder if I'd misunderstood the first trailer.
The trailers hardly explained what the title meant, made it seem like a screwball comedy about a group of three friends trying escape their mundane lives by having the best year of their lives (someone on another topic likened it to looking like 'The Bucket List' which I agree with).
All of this is a shame because it really was a pretty good movie. Nothing spectacular but I enjoyed it and am glad I watched it, though I only watched it because nothing else was on.
I agree. I thought it was a nice little film that was badly marketed. That's not saying it would have been a hit but it would have had a shot of doing at least a little better.
Agree, this was marketed very poorly. I went because I like Steve Martin but I didn't even see an ad for this movie.
shareTo be honest with you, I'd never even heard of this film until I got a synposis saying that it bombed this week.
shareI agree and disgree...
I don't think the marketing should have focused on the birds, because I think that could only hurt it. Even martin said earlier this year when he described it as a "Comedy about birdwatching" he said "sounds funny, right?" sarcastically. Then he went on to say it actually is a good movie, but describing it as a birdwatching movie would turn people away.
However I believe people are right, that the marketing made it seem too "Bucket List"y. I think it was right to concentrate on the stars. However, I think it was the lack of marketing that killed it.
I was looking forward to it for some time, but didn't realize til Friday that it was already being released. It just needed more promotion.
But it was not a good film. It was a mediocre film.
The stars are truthfully the only reason it made any money.
The Big Year - 5/10
Happythankyoumoreplease - 7/10
My wife and I only saw this because the showtimes worked for us. I never saw one ad or trailer, so it was a gamble. We really enjoyed it. Far better than expected. Not the best, but good enough to watch a second time on cable.
But like you mentioned, there was almost NO marketing of this movie in my area.
Recommended for good family entertainment.
Just out of curiosity, if time wasn't an issue, what were you two wanting to see at first?
The Big Year - 5/10
Happythankyoumoreplease - 7/10
i found out about this movie because i happened to be checking what movies are out this week on a website. after only looking at the cast i was immediately interested in seeing this. and then i recommended this to friends and no one even heard of it. if people were aware of this movie, it could've at least been in the top 3.
shareTo "Realygoodname"-
We actually were trying to catch a scary flick. Can't think of the one that was out that week. But we saw the poster in front of the theater and said, "What the heck, something different.....
Totally agree. I was invited to a screening, hadn't heard of the movie, watched the trailer, and almost passed on the screening even though it was free because the trailer made it look like it wasn't about anything (and it called itself a "big" comedy but wasn't very funny).
I went to the screening today anyway and it was pretty good. I get that if you say it's "a movie about bird watching" it doesn't sound all that interesting. But come on, the trailer went out of its way to hide the very subject matter that every single scene in the movie revolves around.
The trailer didn't need to emphasize birds, birds, birds. The beginning of the movie did a great job explaining to us non-birders what a Big Year is. If the trailer had used some of that to give us the premise/setting/goals/conflict, we'd know there was a point to the movie, then it could also give us the "trailer moments" that are in the actual trailer so we'd know it wasn't 90 minutes of actors looking through binoculars.