I keep seeing these CNN stories about sharks for no apparent reason. The only thing I can think of is that there is some subtle guerilla marketing going on, where someone is trying to create buzz.
So is there a shark movie coming out that would benefit from this buzz?
By the way, I think this type of thing with sharks was going on in 2001 centered around the 25th anniversary of Jaws. THen Sept 11 came along and the marketing push became irrelevant.
No, there’s not a big shark movie coming out.
But “Shark Week” has been going on for 27 years, so talk of sharks during the news isn’t uncommon. People love sharks and stories about them are often either dangerous (The shark ate somebody!) or interesting (This shark didn’t eat anybody!).
Seems like a strange theory to me. It’s easy to see one thing repeated a few times, and think that there’s a much bigger story going on. It’s just more likely that some years there’s just a few shark stories, some years there’s more shark events going on; and some years the news heavily covers shark events because it’s sensational even if none of them are really major news events that people need to know about, and some years the shark stories aren’t covered as much because there’s other things the news is focused on.
I can’t think of any big shark movies coming out this year either. I looked up “shark” keyword on IMDB, and there’s just a few Syfy type shark movie sequels this year.
Also, Jaws was released in 1975. According to Wikipedia, the DVD release was in 2000. I highly doubt that they did a guerilla marketing effort by getting the news channels to talk about shark attacks more often than they otherwise would, one year after the release of the DVD.
Sharknado 2, of course.
They have tons of ocean footage from the endless Missing Plane stories, the weather is getting warmer. Hell, may as well do nonsense about sharks.
Sharknado 2 is out this summer (set in NYC this time), and Sharknado 3 next year (no details). The original film is the new Snakes on a Plane, as a cultural symbol - of our decadence, apparently.
That’s very disappointing news: when are we going to see Jaws V?
According to Back to the Future Part II, we should be getting ready for Jaws 19.
Ahem. That’s Sharknado 2: Squaline Boogaloo.
Actually, it’s called Sharknado 2: The Second One.
There’s always a shark movie coming out. But I agree with your conclusion. Summer is shark season.
I’m waiting for Sharknadoes on a Plane.
“Decadence?” Is that what we’re going with?
I prefer “unimaginativeness” or “brain-dead pop culture.”
the last two days has brought 4 separate stories out on the front page of CNN and Yahoo
I know it’s prepped for summer, but I don’t remember such overhype of shark stories previous summers unless some movie was coming out that could profit from it.
Shark Exorcist might finally come out this year. But they’ve lied to us before.
Has there ever for any movie been a guerilla marketing campaign where they get the news websites to talk about stories related to the movie, but don’t mention the movie? I’m not saying it’s impossible, but I don’t remember such a thing ever happening. And I’m not a marketing person, but I don’t know how successful that would be.
There are sometimes news stories that are movie related. Things like “The army is working on building a suit for soldiers just like the Iron Man suit” or “Teens are going to camps like The Hunger Games (except without the killing)” or “Here’s the real story behind Jordan Belfort of The Wolf of Wall Street and how some of his victims reacted to the movie.” Maybe I’m naive, but I don’t think any of the news stories last year about financial misbehavior or conmen were because of guerilla marketing for The Wolf of Wall Street.
If I kept seeing stories about a certain topic pop up on the news, it would never occur to me that it was the result of marketing for a movie. I would just think it’s because of the laziness of news, and following trends, and going with the most sensational stories.
I think that sometimes ‘news’ stories come from PR firms, marketing departments, or press releases that news sources pick up and run.
Of course I think that sometimes the news hypes things that become interesting to people…because they see it in the news…which continually generates more interest…then more news stories.
If a PR firm can spark some interest and hide it as a more spontaneous event, so much the better for them.
but maybe I’m just cynical by nature
I am anxiously waiting for SHARKSQUATCH, the Movie
Better still: Sharksquatch vs. Humanoids from the Deep-C.H.U.D.s.