Snakes on a Plane is the number one movie in the US, and its Google references surpassed 47 million—which does make it a certified hit. I know earlier I had my doubts, especially when the Google references started falling and interest began waning—and we wondered if August 18 would ever come around. But as I wrote last week, the fans did come back, and there were events to promote the film after all. Now it has more internet references than some other number-one hits I had been keeping an eye on.
   Here in New Zealand, the première was given as a fourth-quarter date but I notice that that no longer applies. Snakes premières August 25.
   And what of the movie? The reviews aren’t great, but Samuel L. Jackson is enjoying himself in the publicity machine, including a Rats in a Deli spoof in Rupert Jee’s Hello Deli on The Late Show with David Letterman. The fans are enjoying themselves in this phenomenon, which, with hindsight, will be one of those fads that people a generation from now will wonder what we were on. Like the Moonies, the Pet Rock or Slime.
   What is sad, however, is that old media are quick to criticize the internet, blogs and citizen media. From The New York Times today:

   “Snakes,” which opened for midnight screenings on Thursday, drew a respectable number of fans on Friday, but fell off 18 percent on Saturday and was expected to fall off still more on Sunday, as have other horror films in the past.
   “We see that Internet interest in a movie doesn’t necessarily translate to good box office,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations, a company that tracks the box office. “To some, the marketing was more exciting than the movie. Everyone was talking about the movie. But you have to convert that talk into moviegoing, otherwise it’s just talk.”

   My view: don’t blame the internet. There are many reasons the billings fell off, and one should ask how much New Line spent on promotions. The newspaper says $20 million in addition to fan support. I would argue that it wasn’t that hefty for what is a horror film—hardly mainstream. In fact, because of its genre, the fact Snakes reached number one illustrates the opposite of The New York Times’ conclusion. The bloggers did have a say, and they drove a lot more people to Snakes than we would normally expect—ten to one non-horror fans went along. Posted by Jack Yan, 11:28  permalink

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