{"id":14132,"date":"2014-02-18T19:51:24","date_gmt":"2014-02-19T03:51:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?p=14132"},"modified":"2014-02-18T19:51:24","modified_gmt":"2014-02-19T03:51:24","slug":"paramount-comes-out-swinging-against-varietys-noah-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2014\/02\/paramount-comes-out-swinging-against-varietys-noah-story.html","title":{"rendered":"Paramount comes out swinging against Variety<\/i>\u2019s Noah<\/i> story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>Well this is unusual. Paramount, the studio producing Darren Aronofsky\u2019s Noah<\/a><\/i>, has just issued a press release<\/a> responding to yesterday\u2019s story in Variety<\/i><\/a> which claimed that an online survey had found that the film was not appealing to religious audiences.<\/p>\n

The studio notes, rightly, that Variety<\/i> overinterpreted the survey results in its headline, and that the survey question itself is so vaguely worded that it never actually refers to Noah<\/i> (though the webpage hosting the survey does make the connection explicit).<\/p>\n

The studio then goes on to cite studies by secular and Christian research groups which indicate that over 80% of the self-defined Christian or \u201cvery religious\u201d people who are aware of the film are interested in the film or would recommend it to their friends.<\/p>\n

As my friend Steven D. Greydanus has pointed out, there was never any real story here. Faith Driven Consumer, the website hosting the survey, was clearly looking to cash in on an upcoming blockbuster and stir up some trouble, and Variety<\/i> was clearly looking for headlines that would generate some hits.<\/p>\n

But none of it really means anything because, as my Patheos colleague Rebecca Cusey<\/a> has pointed out, virtually no one has actually seen<\/i> the finished film yet.<\/p>\n

And yet\u2026 and yet\u2026<\/p>\n

As Roger Ebert once pointed out, while explaining how some expensive movie or other flopped at the box office, movies can rise or fall based on the memes (the bits of supposed information) that are spread about them. Even if people haven\u2019t seen a film, they might hear that it\u2019s \u201ccontroversial\u201d, or that it had a \u201ctroubled\u201d production, and this can taint their interest in the film unless there are other<\/i> memes out there that combat those memes.<\/p>\n

Mel Gibson\u2019s The Passion of the Christ<\/a><\/i>, for example, was \u201ccontroversial\u201d, but it was also heavily promoted as an expression of the director\u2019s personal faith. The \u201cfaith\u201d meme trumped the \u201ccontroversial\u201d meme and even absorbed it in a way, so that the film became a major battleground in the so-called culture wars.<\/p>\n

The question now is what sort of memes are out there about Noah<\/i>.<\/p>\n

The ads for the film have played things very close to the vest \u2014 we still<\/i> haven\u2019t had a good look at the Nephilim, even though Aronofsky keeps mentioning them in his Twitter feed! \u2014 and conservative websites like Big Hollywood have been critical of the film for well over a year, based on quotes of Aronofsky\u2019s and an early draft of the screenplay.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s possible<\/i> that there might be a bit of a meme vacuum out there that hostile websites can fill, to the movie\u2019s detriment. The Faith Driven Consumer survey would simply be another example of that.*<\/p>\n

The question now is whether the studio can combat those bad memes \u2014 not just by trashing stories like Variety<\/i>\u2019s, but by putting more attractive memes out there.<\/p>\n

Certainly the studio has had experience turning things around before.<\/p>\n

As Deadline points out, there was lots of bad buzz around World War Z<\/a><\/i> a couple years ago when that film was still in production, but it turned out to be one of the biggest hits of last year, and the biggest hit of Brad Pitt\u2019s entire career.<\/p>\n

But that film went through massive reshoots that utterly changed the storyline, including the film\u2019s climactic third act. Noah<\/i>, on the other hand, has reportedly stayed true to Aronofsky\u2019s original vision all along.<\/p>\n

As ever, time will tell how things pan out. Right now, though, I am curious as to whether people will perceive Paramount\u2019s move today as a sign of strength, or as a sign that the studio thinks it might be vulnerable here.<\/p>\n

\u2013<\/p>\n

* Turning to the non-religious demographic, the impression I get is that a lot of movie bloggers are curious to see Noah<\/i> because of the Aronofsky factor, but they also think the film\u2019s advertising campaign has been pretty lame and conventional \u2014 to the point where some, like Drew McWeeny<\/a>, are worried that Aronofsky might have lost his mojo. A lot will hinge on what the early reviews say, I think.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The studio responds to a poorly-written story that slammed the film’s box-office prospects. Is this a sign of strength, or a sign that the studio thinks it’s vulnerable here?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[54,1900,63,189,886],"class_list":["post-14132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-darren-aronofsky","tag-faith-driven-consumer","tag-noah-2014","tag-passion-of-the-christ","tag-world-war-z"],"yoast_head":"\nParamount comes out swinging against Variety\u2019s Noah story<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The studio responds to a poorly-written story that slammed the film's box-office prospects. 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