Who to Blame When Your Terrible Movie Flops? Twitter.
Hollywood studios failed to hoodwink the moviegoing public into seeing recent stinkers like G.I. Joe and Brüno. But don't blame overpaid movie executives. Blame Twitter! The microblogging startup is apparently breaking the entire celebrity-industrial complex over its knee like particleboard.
Sure, Twitter will end the year with around 12 million users, or roughly 7 percent of total people on the internet, many of them barely touching the service, according to an analysis by eMarketer. But Twitter is buzzy and trendy, lending it a certain authority when placed at the focal point of a spin campaign. "Twitter can't be stopped," a Weinstein marketer tells the Washington Post. "People will be Twittering during the opening credits," adds the president of Magnolia Pictures. "It's never been this easy to be this influential," says a guy who helped promote a Disney movie.
OK; how has Twitter-crit transformed the movie business in this, the online service's big year? Let's ask IMDB:
Clearly, crap movies don't stand a chance any more. Thank you, Twitter.