Two of this summer’s blockbuster hopefuls, “The Happening” and “Wall•E,” bring more than just entertainment to the table. We’re being generous to “The Happening,” but stay with us.
Each contains an embedded green message. Don’t mistreat Mother Nature, or the wind will bring deadly toxins your way (“The Happening”). The Earth will soon be one giant trash heap (“Wall•E”) if we don’t recycle.
The latter goes the extra mile, throwing in a critique of our technology worship plus a jab at consumerism gone berserk.
Try slapping those messages on a Happy Meal.
Do summer moviegoers want to think that much about what they’re seeing? Isn’t this the time of year for pure escapism? For better and worse, that’s what the first summer blockbusters of our era (“Jaws,” “Star Wars”) set in motion 30-plus years ago.
Hollywood routinely cranks out message movies. Their spin usually starts and ends on the left side of the ideological aisle, and the films bow during Oscar season - late fall - for maximum highbrow impact.
So far, the commercial results of the major message movies are mixed. “The Happening” premiered to a solid $30 million, but sank over subsequent weekends. However, “Wall•E” scored big last weekend with $62.5 million despite, or because of, early word that the film involved a lonely robot on a trash-filled Earth.
It’s hard to ignore either film’s environmental message.
Patricia King Hanson, executive editor and project director with the American Film Institute Catalog of Feature Films, contends that while audiences respond to message movies no matter what time of year it is, summer movies have to be more audience-conscious, given the pressure to earn back their large production and marketing costs.
“You need a little bit more entertainment if you’re talking about mass audience,” Ms. Hanson says.
She saw “Wall•E” with a family crowd, and she isn’t sure the children understood the true impact of the film’s themes. Their parents, however, couldn’t miss them.
“In the first 10 seconds, it tells you what it’s trying to say,” she says. “I thought it was a little heavy-handed.”
Meyer Gottlieb, president of Samuel Goldwyn Films, says the studios behind “The Happening” and “Wall•E” wisely kept their messages a secret in their marketing campaigns.
“Message movies are a death knell for moviegoing audiences,” says Mr. Gottlieb, whose latest independent film, “Trumbo,” examines how the Hollywood blacklist affected screenwriter Dalton Trumbo.
Jack Epps Jr., a screenwriter and associate professor and chair of the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts’ Writing Division, says producing message-free movies for summer consumption could hurt the creative process.
“The better the storyteller, the more they’ll use all the tools” at their disposal, says Mr. Epps, whose screenwriting credits include “Top Gun” and “Dick Tracy.”
Mr. Epps suggests a summertime message movie could enhance the existing marketing outreach.
“If you can find that movie that finds its own slot, it becomes the ’other’ choice. People are driven to it by word of mouth,” he says.
That can cut both ways. Audiences unimpressed by “The Happening” might get even grumpier when that film’s enviro-message is laid bare.
One movie this summer offered some less overt messages but wove them expertly into the story line.
Marvel’s “Iron Man” dealt with arms manufacturing and its geopolitical impact. It did so, however, in such an engaging fashion that even those who disagreed with the film’s point of view couldn’t be angry with the finished product.
Samuel Goldwyn’s famous words, “Pictures are for entertainment, messages should be delivered by Western Union,” are as true today as ever - even if few of today’s moviegoers remember what Western Union is.
So any studio intent on inserting a message into next year’s summer tent-pole feature had better not sacrifice an ounce of the razzle-dazzle in the process. Otherwise, audiences will send the studios a message of their own - empty seats.
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