Open Forum Friday: Should Studios Care If They Piss Off Fans?

Posted by on August 15th, 2008   Filed under: Fandom, Open Forum Friday

Yesterday, when Warner Brothers announced that they would be delaying Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince until next summer, they unleashed the wrath of the Harry Potter fan community (just check out the scathing comments over at MuggleNet to see what I’m talking about). Now today there is an article in the L.A. Times about the delay, and it ends with an apology to the fans: “We would never do anything to hurt one of the movies or the series. We love our fans.”

But do the studios really care about their fans? And more importantly, should they care? It’s an interesting question, I think, because within the last few years, Hollywood has started to pay more attention to fans than ever before. There is an assumption that although hardcore fans of comic books and various genre movies are a smaller group, they are very loud and very influential. If you keep them happy, it will lead to good buzz and the mainstream moviegoers will follow. However, as of late, some people are starting to question this assumption.

According to this article by Steven Zeitchik of The Hollywood Reporter, the influence of fanboys in Hollywood is overrated. He points to examples of TV shows like Jericho and movies like Snakes on a Plane and Grindhouse as being fan favourites that still couldn’t break through to a wider audience. He also attributes the massive opening weekend of The Dark Knight to the 25% of the audience that were women over 25. Food for thought at any rate. What do you think, is the reign of the fanboy almost over? Are studios foolish to bend over backwards to meet the demands of a select few? Could the delay of Harry Potter 6 actually create a backlash among hardcore followers? Give us your thoughts here on Open Forum Friday.



  • I doubt anyone that is mad about the delay would actually boycott the film. “If I can’t see it now, then I will just never watch it.”

    Having said that, its lame that they are making this change at this late date purely for the sake of their balance sheet.

  • Ian

    When adapting something you have to shoot for what will work in a narrative feature. So sticking to source material that people are fans of is tough to some degree. I think the reasonable fans (the ones the studio should care about on some level) are looking for the tone and theme of the piece to be maintained. A good test for that will be with this new Watchmen movie which will inevitably have to sacrifice some aspects of the story and modify others but will it still have the same feeling?

  • Danno

    I believe some directors care about the fans and try not to dissappoint but the studios are all about the money. It could be argued that the money comes from the fans but thats not always the case. I think most of the money comes from the casual viewer and if the movie ends up being complete shit, the studios don’t care because they’ve already made their money.

  • Directors? Sure they do. Actors? They better! Studios? Hmmm… See, I don’t think it’s the rule. These guys are mostly business-minded, so they care mostly about how to make more money; if that pleases the fan, well good, but if it doesn’t, I think most believe they’ll go watch the movie anyway. I think studios care more about “focus groups” than true fans.

  • Matt

    Studios care about the fans as long as it’s profitable to care about them. If studios show appreciacion to the fan base, it’s not because they are emoinally vested in the happiness of fans, it’s because they’re smart. When I asked my girlfriend why she liked TDK so much mure than Batman Begins, she had two words: Katie Holmes. She was replaced not because of some scheduling conflict, but because the fans really didn’t like her and found her distracting. They voiced their opinions in various ways, and voila: Fans a very happy and TDK is making money like gangbusters. I’m not saying that that’s the only reason for the movie’s success, but it’s an example of studios being smart and listening to fans.
    (Personally I didn’t mind Katie Holmes. She filled the role she was supposed to fill, imo.)

  • swarez

    The online fan boy influence is way overrated and the studios are beginning to see that. Do people really think that Potter fans will boycott the film? Dream on, they are pissed because they moved the release date at the last minute. They want their Potter fix now now now!

  • Danno

    I agree Swarez,

    The Harry Potter crowd that would care enough to boycott the film are a small percentage. Casual viewers will fill the theatres regardless and for all the wizards and warlocks boycotting, who really cares? They’d just be punishing themselves.

    Maybe then I could stand in line without being worried about getting poked in the eye by a wizard hat.

  • Mitch

    Nope.

  • ShenEvil44

    Hollywood is, and will always be, business first. I mean, c’mon. You think a bunch of top movie executives are gonna care about some stupid fans? They don’t give a shit! They know you won’t boycott the film. Why? Because you’re a Harry Potter fan. And if you do boycott it, casual movie goers will still go watch it and they’ll still make loads of money. Die-hard fans think they have the power, but in reality, they don’t! They never did.

  • “Do people really think that Potter fans will boycott the film? Dream on”

    Exactly. Not one potterfuck (like me) is not going to see this movie. I wish it was coming out sooner so I’d have something else to watch this fall but nothing will stop me from seeing it. It’ll just make for more people having time to pick up the book and even more fanticipation. The studios win.

    Studios should care about pissing off fans in another sense though: casting. Imagine if Patrick Stewart wasn’t tapped to play Professor X (in my mind the most obvious casting choice ever; I’m not alone). That’s when studios need to listen to fans. Stewart was the fan favorite for Professor X (even by anti-trekkies) ever since TNG came out.

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  • I don’t completely understand the switch: It was about three months from opening, November is best time frame for a Potter film besides OTP, The only real compotention during that time was James Bond 22 and Twilight. But since the switch has been made it going to be real hard to change their minds to bring Harry Potter back to the original release date. Even with minor boycotts and protest of WB they won’t because when it all said and done they will still have a fat wallet, and sadly that my friends is what runs Hollywood. Even thought I think they are having second thoughts of moving it: Alan Horn: “I’ve seen the movie. It is fabulous. We would have been perfectly able to have it out in November.” and now this quote: “We would never do anything to hurt one of the movies or the series. We love our fans.”

  • That’s Hollywood for yea. They only reason they do it is to make money off a summer blockbuster. Anyway I just saw the preview for it today and it said November so this was either gotten from a bad source, is a rumor, or they’re lying.