Welkos, Thilk on red-band trailers
The best quote in L.A. Times reporter Robert Welkos' 10.26 piece about red-band trailers comes from Chicago-based marketing blogger Chris Thilk. Each red-band trailer, Thilk has written, becomes the "equivalent of sneaking a Playboy into junior high homeroom." And the opposite effect kicks in when you try to shoehorn the essential appeal of an R-rated film into a "green" PG-13 trailer. "If you've got an R-rated movie and you're creating a PG-rated trailer," he tells Welkos, "I'm not going to say you're misrepresenting the film, but you're certainly watering it down."
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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on October 27, 2007 at 3:15 PM
comment #1
malibugigolo
says ...
You guys need to find a good weekend happy hour.
Posted by malibugigolo
at October 27, 2007 3:37 PM
comment #2
D.Z.
says ...
On a related note, Digital Bits got a statement from WHV regarding the unrated EWS: "On October 23, 2007, WHV released the Special Edition of Eyes Wide Shut on standard definition DVD, and on HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc, and as part of the 6-Title Stanley Kubrick Collection. It may be that some members of the press were inadvertently informed that the Special Edition release of Eyes Wide Shut included both the rated and unrated versions of the film and/or only the rated version of the film. In addition, some initially shipped product also was inadvertently labeled as containing both the rated and unrated versions of the film. The Special Edition release of Eyes Wide Shut contains only the unrated version of the film. WHV has taken steps to correct any possible misunderstanding in the marketplace by affixing to the packaging stickers stating "This package contains ONLY the Unrated Version of Eyes Wide Shut." and "Not Rated: Includes Unrated Version Only."
Posted by D.Z.
at October 27, 2007 4:30 PM
comment #3
PerfectTommy
says ...
Are newspaper ads "watering it down" if they don't contain nudity, violent images or profanity?
Posted by PerfectTommy
at October 27, 2007 5:23 PM
comment #4
Silverscreenvideos
says ...
If I see an MPAA advisory saying that a film is rated R because of language, violence and sexuality, I can guess what I'm going that if I see a couple of characters in the trailer arguing, that there's going to be some f-bombs in the actual movie, or that a romantic scene could get rather spicy or a violent scene somewhat graphic.
That's not watering down.
However, the current trend in trailers is to try to give people an entire mini-movie in three minutes so that every single plot development is made blatantly obvious, so I guess they fell people need to see a good slashing or two before they get the idea how violent an R-rated film could be.
I wonder how the classic trailer of Jaws would look if it were released today... probably giving away the appearance of the shark during Roy Scheider's chumming scene and lots of footage of Robert Shaw getting chomped on.
Posted by Silverscreenvideos
at October 28, 2007 9:00 AM