Serenity
Has anyone seen the television ads for Serenity ? The one I saw had short images from the movie interspersed with "testimonials" by "real people like you and me", saying things like, "This movie is so realistic," "This doesn't seem like a sci-fi movie," and "Hey, where are the googley-eyed aliens?" and "Now, this is a science fiction I can believe in." Huh??? Since when are science fiction movies marketed based on their believability? Are there people out there thinking, "Gosh, I'd like to go see a sci-fi film, but I don't like things that are at all farfetched on unrealistic"?
Those ads sound horrible. I sense desperation on the part of the marketers.
It's really sad, because the web site is banking on the popularity of Joss Whedon, and the cult following of Serenity, and if the tv commercials are changing course, it means they don't know how to sell this thing, and will change course several times. And audiences have learned to shy away from movies that genre switch in advertising - assuming it equals bad movie. And I never went to a horror movie because "it wasn't all that scarey" or a comedy, because it "wasn't that predictable" or "didn't mention buttocks" or because it was funny, "but also quite meaningful". Can't you hear Joss' temper tantrum from here?
I haven't seen that "this is a sci-fi movie I can believe in" commercial other than the once. I have seen some others that are more fast-paced and genre-appropriate. I wonder if some jumpy executive panicked and made the commercials, and then somebody grabbed him and shouted "WTF!?!"