Early internet buzz failed to predict movie box office success

Evidence

Marketers took notice of the viral content’s similarity to the concept of buzz. So when news leaked in 2005 of a B-movie called Snakes on a Plane, starring Samuel L. Jackson, internet posters began joking that the actor should deliver the line: “I have had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!” The line wasn’t in the script, but the studio, eager to harness the buzz, reshot scenes in spring 2006 to include it. This back-and-forth between fans and filmmakers seemed to herald a new Hollywood, one where studios could pre-guarantee success by catering directly to online audiences. An entire book, Snakes on a Plane: The Guide to the Internet Ssssssensation, hit shelves before the film’s release. Yet the movie was a box office disappointment. The addition of Jackson’s foul-mouthed line, along with other salacious elements, bumped the film’s rating to an R, which limited its audience. As one industry analyst noted, “Internet interest in a movie doesn’t necessarily translate to good box office.” The extremely online had yet to prove themselves as tastemakers. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 191

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the death-of-the-sellout and tastemaker thread — early internet virality did not yet translate into commercial cultural power, an early data point against the omnivore-monoculture endpoint.
• SEED: Angle: the Snakes on a Plane episode as the moment the film industry first over-trusted online chatter — a case study in when audiences-as-tastemakers were premature.