My 2¢ on why TOMORROWLAND didn't do so well at the box office this weekend.

First off, I'm just gonna come out and say it: I LOVED this movie, think everyone should go see it. (I mean, Ye Gods, it's a Brad Bird film-- what more do you want?!)

So why the low turn out?

The trades are already sounding off, declaring that movie goers "Don't want original stories" and only want existing franchises and sequels.

I think that's going a little too specific. I don't think that people are ONLY going to existing properties (another Mad Max, Pitch Perfect TWO, a Marvel branded super hero movie)...
...it's that people want to KNOW what they're going to see. It's THAT basic.

Yes, a franchise movie has a leg up on other films because movie goers are going back for another taste of something they know they enjoyed the first time.

But in the case of TOMORROWLAND, movie goers were going into close to a blank slate. And I don't mean that it was an original story or a potential NEW franchise. I mean that most people didn't know WHAT in the heck it was. It was a big ol' mystery box. And who's going to shell out $12 a head for that-- when there's a safer bet in the next theater over at the multiplex?

Both Brad Bird & Damon Lindelof worked SO hard at keeping this movie spoiler free, that the marketing didn't really give you a clue to what this movie was about, who the characters were, what the stakes were, and what KIND of adventure/story you'd be getting. Anyone who's followed me on Twitter knows how much I sympathize with that-- as I have been a HUGE advocate for not spoiling ANYTHING about upcoming issues of my own work.

But the flipside is-- you've GOT to give your potential audience SOMETHING. You've gotta tease and tempt their butts into those seats SOMEHOW. Long story short: This weekend wasn't a showdown between SEQUELS and ORIGINAL movies. It was one of the FAMILIAR versus the NEEDLESSLY UNKNOWN.

Not a failure of product. A failure of marketing.

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