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| Eventful’s Jordan Glazier notes that ‘for the first time, fans help determine a movie’s distribution.’ | Stephen Whalen |
Suddenly, San Diego is snatching a bit of tinsel from Tinseltown.
A San Diego Web-based event promotion site is playing a key role in helping transform a micro-budget horror flick made by an amateur director at his Rancho Penasquitos home into the hit movie of the fall season.
In less than a month’s time, more than 1 million users trekked to Eventful to vote, or “demand,” that the movie, “Paranormal Activity,” be shown in their hometowns, meeting the gauntlet set down by Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles before agreeing to a nationwide release.
“We were thrilled,” said Amy Powell, a Paramount marketing executive. “We said to the fans, ‘If you demand it, we will bring the movie to you.’ And we did.”
The effort radically differs from traditional marketing techniques, including trailers and print ads, in that fans determine distribution of a movie. In fact, more than 300,000 fans alone demanded showings in their cities Oct. 9-11.
The film, directed by Israeli-born Oren Peli using professional actors with a hand-held camera, was scheduled to play in 170 theaters in 46 cities Oct. 16-18.
Online site Rottentomatoes.com gives the film a 90 percent rating, and critic Roger Ebert writes that the story line is “ingenious.” The unknown stars, a young couple, attempt to find out what’s haunting their bedroom by setting up cameras to record the paranormal activity.
Eventful chief executive Jordan Glazier noted that “for the first time, fans help determine a movie’s distribution.”
The process could become integral to movie marketing at a time when Hollywood film studios are cutting back production after a wave of disappointing pictures at the box office.
Glazier and Powell said such avid user participation is an example of the growing influence of so-called Internet-based social media networking in the marketing of movies and other entertainment events.
Tools Create Buzz
Powell said “Paranormal Activity” fans used such social tools as Twitter, Facebook, Spacebook and mobile texting to generate “buzz” with friends after catching midnight showings at a dozen sites, mostly college towns, in the past month. The buzz was what drove users to the Eventful site to demand screenings in their cities, she said.
“Clearly, this is an example of how social media can be used,” Powell said. “It’s a great way for fans to share with other fans their enthusiasm about a movie they like.”
