I don't think it'll flop unless it's really bad. You've got Nolan's fans, people who are interested in WWII, Styles' fans.
And I agree word-of-mouth is the key to Dunkirk's success or failure. If it gets praised, people will go out and see it.
Willem wrote:I thought about something, maybe the film starts with Tommy reciting the speech we heard in the trailers. As some sort of short audio voice-over introduction of the event. Would be a perfect start.
That would be bass-ackwards though. That speech occurred on June 4, the last day of the Dunkirk evacuation. I also don't think it's Fionn's voice reading it. I think..
I think we will hear it during the return of soldiers to the UK. The general public first heard that speech from a radio announcer who read a transcript of Churchill's House of Commons speech over the radio. I think that is how we will hear it.
CoolwhipSpecial wrote:Hard to market a movie like this. Word of mouth will be key.
I agree. I think if the experience is as intense as I expect, "You gotta see this in the cinema" will help bring people in.
This has decent YT views, FB views, and social media buzz is much stronger than Interstellar, this is a summer movie, and the prologue campaign raised awareness and hype much more than Interstellar's first teaser/trailers did. Counter that with a Chris Nolan space epic is more alluring than a Chris Nolan WWII movie, but Interstellar just helped boost Nolan's footprint.
I still think the safest bet is 450-550m international unless it gets raves and WOM is super strong. But it'll be coming out after Spiderman which looks to be a gigantic hit, and "serious audiences" will have a chance to see the critically acclaimed Apes movie not long before. It's competitive.
Vader182 wrote:This has decent YT views, FB views, and social media buzz is much stronger than Interstellar, this is a summer movie, and the prologue campaign raised awareness and hype much more than Interstellar's first teaser/trailers did. Counter that with a Chris Nolan space epic is more alluring than a Chris Nolan WWII movie, but Interstellar just helped boost Nolan's footprint.
I still think the safest bet is 450-550m international unless it gets raves and WOM is super strong. But it'll be coming out after Spiderman which looks to be a gigantic hit, and "serious audiences" will have a chance to see the critically acclaimed Apes movie not long before. It's competitive.
-Vader
There's definitely an audience overlap with Apes for sure.
It's insane just how competition Dunkirk is facing from every front.
It's the exact antithesis to Inception, which had a weak summer movie season preceding it, Mr. DiCaprio's A-list star power, and top-notch marketing from WB, which was only possible because it didn't have any other tentpole coming out around the same time (like Wonder Woman) to divert its attention.
Nomis wrote:I think word of mouth is going to be key.
This is the most important factor in determining if this film becomes a financial success.
From what we have seen so far along with the 1h 50min run time, it seems this film will play much more like an "experience or "thrill ride". Similar to a theme park attraction that is so terrific that you have to ride it twice. WB is hoping this film will be such a great experience for the audience that it becomes one of those movies that you "just have to see".
Word of mouth is the only way to accomplish this, similar to Gravity or Avatar.
I mean I bet there are going to be people who don't connect with being put there in the moment with these people. It's not your typical WW2 film. I know Nolan says it's a survival film, and it obviously is, but not everyone is going to know that going in. I think most people will still call it a war film/WW2 film.
Anyway, I think that it has some aspects in it's advantage. Nolan's name obviously still means a lot. Newbies get the lead roles which makes it easier to believe their characters (because you don't connect them with anything you've seen before, mostly because you can't lol). side-note: I know Styles will deliver but yeah there'll probably be people who find it distracting that he's in it but I think those will be few in numbers.
Also that it's not a VFX extravaganza like the other blockbusters released this summer. Around 400 VFX shots I mean ffs. Basically all of what you see is real.
Experienced actors get the supporting roles, they'll be able to still make a mark with less screentime and they add some weight. And again, it's not your typical film anyway, I think it's going to be a breath of fresh air for a lot of people.
