Did Twitter Help Inglourious Basterds to Box Office Success?

Posted by Craig Kessler on August 25, 2009 at 8:18 am

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Twitter has been a force to to reckon with for some time now and is like a steam train building momentum with its impact on America.  As a place where those interact and connect with one another, the “What are you doing?” question it ask users to respond to has taken multiple paths in its usage for everyone.  No, I don’t care what you ate for lunch, or the fact that you have more writing to do at work.  But I do want to be informed about great articles that may interest me, some breaking news, and whether or not I should see the brand new movie.

Twitter has led to box office success for the movie Inglourious Basterds.  The viral buzz for Inglourious Basterds was basically all positive over the course of the weekend on Twitter

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steadily continuing late into the weekend.  This real time information helped a lot of users decide to see Basterds.  The movie stayed in the top trends area for Twitter adding to the buzz and allowing more people to notice it to talk about it, sending links to positive reviews as well as their own thoughts in real time.  This added to more conversations, and the whole shabang.  This is Twitter social media marketing to a “T.”

Twitter has been a marketing force for movies lately and I don’t see this stopping any time soon.  It hurt the movie Bruno The Fourth Angel movie download
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because a lot of people in real time were talking negatively about the movie, and Saturday’s number dropped a lot compared to Friday’s when the movie was released.  A lot of that had to do with people talking about how the movie was the same as Borat and just wasn’t that good.

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On the other end, positive Twitter talk helped District 9 out.  Now all critics reviews and our District 9 review were all positive but it still probably had an affect.  What’s made the Basterds affect more obvious regarding Twitter is the face that there were mixed reviews from critics going into the opening release.

How much of an affect did Twitter have?  There is no way to determine the exact dollar figure but it clearly is something that may help or hurt a movie, especially a smaller one.  It’s the type of service that can easily give a cult movie big time status.

I think Hollywood studios are going to directly be marketing through Twitter to generate viral buzz.  There are going to be more movie campaigns directed towards users on Twitter to get the real time talk going hopefully driving links, retweets, and positive comments.  Contests will pick up and already you have a few studios on Twitter showing their faces and interacting and connecting.  This is smart by the studios and will continue to grow, as they Twittercraze and potential buzz grows.  Costing relatively nothing to set up a campaign on Twitter could lead to huge profits.

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Do you think Twitter had a role in helping Inglourious Basterds? Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix video Hell Ride movie

Comments : 9 Comments | Topics : Movie Marketing | Tags : ,

9 Comments

  1. I think it certainly helped. But I think the world also couldn’t wait to see a Pitt/Tarrantino collabo.
    Candice Frederick´s last blog ..District 9 My ComLuv Profile

  2. @Candice I think you are right and that probably had the main affect, but the reviews were split which is where the viral buzz of Twitter comes into play.

  3. Oh yes, the Twitter effect is very real! Great article showing the power of Social Media! :)
    Naomi´s last blog ..Top 20 Fiber Rich Foods My ComLuv Profile

  4. @Naomi Thanks. It’s going to be interesting to see how studios leverage Twitter for future marketing campaigns because of it.

  5. @Candice I’m with you on this one. I think a Tarantino/Pitt film would have sold just as many tickets in a Twitterless world. Smaller, high-concept films like SNAKES ON A PLANE have gained the most from the advent of viral marketing.

  6. @Ron Maybe, maybe not. It’s hard to judge because we can’t put a specific $$ amount to it. And Bruno could have done worse than expected regardless of Twitter. But either way it’s clear there is some involvement to Twitter, just how much is hard to tell.

  7. One of the best war moviest I ever watch in 2009, I always fall in love in any work done by Quentin Tarantino.

    In its more serious moments, Inglorious Basterds reminds us that the first casualties of war are compassion and the ability to relax, as in almost every elongated sequence of the film, Tarantino finds a new way to build cruel tension to almost unbearable levels.

    I watch Inglourious Basterds twice, one in cinema with friend and by watching it online

  8. @Danish How was it watching it online? I’m waiting for it to come from Netflix on blu-ray so I can watch it.

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