I’ve said it before about getting hacked off with trailers giving away a pivotal point of a movie or even the ending itself, and when I used to talk about movies in the Newsgroups it was often the case where someone who had seen the movie before release would lull you into reading a post and then wham hit you with the ending. It happened to me with Sixth Sense, and that was annoying to say the least.
So it’s interesting when the makers come up with new ways of hiding what the ending is going to be, and with the new film Hide and Seek they’ve gone all the way. Coming Soon bring us the news that:
For the first time in its illustrious 70-year history, 20th Century Fox will be shipping prints of a motion picture to theaters across the nation without the picture’s final reel. The unprecedented move is part of a major effort to protect the pay-off of the studio’s terrifying suspense-thriller Hide and Seek, starring Robert De Niro and Dakota Fanning.
Fox has taken extraordinary measures to safeguard the critical final reel, which is shipping separately. In addition to shipping the reel separately, security guards will hand-deliver the reel to all playdate theaters across the U.S. As a final security measure, Fox has numbered all final reels.
That’s one hell of an expense and hassle for them, but if it’s going to keep the ending covered up for the opening weekend, then it could be a godsend. In this era of games and movies being released early on the Internet by some keen insider, it’s not a surprise to see this sort of action going on. John talks about the Blair Witch Project in his last post, and this is a movie I wished I had seen on the opening weekend along with the other people who had no idea it was a fake at all, it might have made it a different experience for me.
However, the explanation from Fox is:
Commented Fox executive VP and general sales manager Richard Myerson: “‘Hide and Seek’ is a terrific picture with an ending that everyone will be talking about. To ensure everyone’s enjoyment of the film and to prevent ‘spoilers’, we’ve instituted extraordinary measures. We think it’s worth the effort.”
Yeah, but this will only last for the first showing. After that it’s open season on the spoilers and you’re not going to be able to stop anyone announcing the ending after that. So it’s not going to ensure everyone’s enjoyment, just everyone’s on the opening day. Still, great idea, and great publicity!
After watching Hide and Seek, in the middle of the night, in the pitch black, I can confirm that it is one of the worst films I have ever seen. There isn’t a single scary moment in this film and dont even get me started on that ending.
Luke…I’m you’re father…
Similarly ingenious!
No John, nothing taking. I’ve got very tough skin!
However, I still think you are missing the point I’m making. I never said I thought that, what I said was that I wished I could have experienced the movie in that way as so many other people did on opening night after the clever build up.
Now I’m not saying everyone, but there was definitely a large proportion of people (for I remember reading about it) who experienced this feeling.
I’m also not saying they 100% believed it, again check my words.
I’d love to have been in that position, it might have given a different perspective and a hightened sense of fear. However I didn’t, but I did manage to put most of that aside and get into it anyway.
If I have got Mark right, then my comparison to Hitchcock was apt… he gave a film a very similar twist. Except he did it in 1960.
And sorry, Richard, for the implied insult in my post… not intended. But I still think you must have been under a complex subconscious dampening effect (aka kidding yourself) if you thought BW could at all be real.
Actually, I don’t think that knowing it was fiction ruined it at all. I loved it.
My message got cut off…
IF what I guessed was, in fact, the correct ending, then all I gotta say…man, that’s beyond super lame and cliche. Exactly how many movies have we had that had that twist?
Notice that I am avoiding describing what the plot twist cliche is. But you all have seen these movies that have done this twist, and done it better. And no I’m not talking about Sixth Sense. One of the other posters above made the same guess as me.
John, I don’t hate you, but what I posted was not a spoiler at all… in other words, I do not know how the movie ends at all — I simply guessed and pulled a twist ending outta my proverbial ass.
Are you telling me that what I guessed was the ACTUAL ending?
>>IF
Cheers John, you’ll be branding me a wanna be idiot then!
BW was released with some clever marketing building it up to be a documentary based on actual footage. A large amount of the people who went to see this on opening weekend knew a bit about the hype and walked in to see the opening sequence talking about how it was made. They were in doubt about it, was it real? Couldn’t possibly be, but there was always that doubt, they didn’t know for sure. That’s a great feeling to experience in the cinema.
After that weekend, the story was absolutely rubbished in the press and when you go to see it then your whole viewpoint is skewed and you’re looking at it as a complete piece of fiction, knowning that 100% from before you set foot in the cinema. Different movie experience.
Now…if we can just get ppl to keep their mouths shut about it after seeing. :P why do they feel the need to do that? If you know someone hasn’t seen the movie yet, what thrill does it give you to ruin it for someone else? /end rant :)
Was that Godsend pun intended? Ethier way this seems , at the very least , like a good marketing move. It makes me want to see it now.
that sounds like an awful ridiculous way of thinking on fox’s part.
all i saw was the trailer and i put together my own synopsis: deniro is the bad guy and charlie is his other personality who has been killing people and abusing the child. kind of like in twin peaks but on a really stupid level. i think the movie will suck ass and bomb because it sucks or it will do really well because american audiences love crap.
**(Comment edited by John for spoiler) Sorry Mark, don’t hate me**
The End. :p
I saw the film yesterday morning, and I can certainly understand why Fox is doing this…
Also, the movie’s not half bad – especially considering how awful DeNiro’s last thriller was (Godsend…Oh, the humanity!)
Seems like they’re taking a page out of Hitchcock’s book.
It doesn’t matter that it’ll only last for the first night… the very fact that they’re going to these lengths is newsworthy and generates word of mouth.
It’ll be interesting to see whether they can really keep it a secret until opening night. My bet is they can’t.
And I have to disagree Richard. Only a total idiot would have gone to see Blair Witch thinking it might be real, first night or not.