Friday at 12:01 a.m., the first batch of non-critic moviegoers will see "Inception", Christopher Nolan's new sci-fi existential heist flick. This week, critics spiralled into an ego war, some lauding the film as a cinematic masterpiece while others decried it as a cinematic con job. Even now, tempers are flaring with the RottenTomato meter hanging in the balance.
Meanwhile, industry execs have kept a wary eye on "Inception"'s marketing campaign, and are even more eager to see the film's opening box office numbers. What has garned all this interest and controversy?
As many reviews have stated, "Inception" is one of too few original films coming out recently that is not based on any pre-existing property and seems to be marketed mainly for adults. If you take a moment, most moviegoers would be surprised by just how many "adapted" materials hit the screens nowadays, as opposed to say the 80s or 90s when spec scripts so frequently were bought and produced.
On top of this, "Inception" has kept many of its main plot points secret, relying on the unusual visuals of its trailers and the star power attached to it to garner audiences interest. The traditional industry tracking agencies have struggled to track interest in "Inception," somehow unbelievingly ignoring it's trending on Twitter and other social networking sites. The hype and interest surrounding "Inception" -- from an industry standpoint -- resides in the abysmal box office summer where nearly every film -- regardless of its proven market pre-existing property or star power attached -- has underperformed miserably. Even "Twilight: Eclipse" saw a 60+% drop-off in tickets its second weekend, spelling doom for the film's box office longevity. The only films so far to over-perform are children's flicks, which guarantee at least two tickets for every targeted member of the demographic (parents have to accompany their kids).
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