Tom Logan
Journal Staff
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010, Universal) was supposed to be the blockbuster movie of the summer. It was well received by test audiences, it had a director people loved, it was based on a popular comic series, and it was loved by critics who put it right up with Inception (2010, Warner Bros.) as one of the best movies of the summer. Despite all of this, Scott Pilgrim only made about $10 million opening weekend. Fans were shocked that something like this could happen; however, it shouldn’t be too surprising given all the facts.
First it’s important to inspect the source material, in this case, the comics. Even though the Scott Pilgrim series (2004, Oni Press) was well received and had good reviews, it wasn’t without its critics. Some people felt that the artwork and plot-elements were too anime-esque, the video game references seemed like pandering, and because there was a very indie vibe to the comics there were people who automatically deemed the comics as nothing more than “hipster garbage”. It also didn’t help when Michael Cera, the poster-boy for hipsters, was cast as the lead role. While these criticisms may not be shared by all it did give people reason to not see the movie.
Another problem the movie had was finding a niche audience. It didn’t appeal to stereotypical hipsters because the film wasn’t about obscure bands. It didn’t appeal to stereotypical geeks because the geeky aspects of the film seemed to be more of a gimmick, and it didn’t appeal to others simply because of the gaping plot that is “Why would anyone bother fighting seven exes just to date one person and what kind of losers obsessively try to ruin the love life of one girl that dumped them?”
Perhaps the biggest problem the movie had was over saturation. It was impossible to watch television, surf the radio, or go anywhere without seeing some kind of promotion for this movie. Eventually people just got sick of it and wanted nothing to do with the movie. Maybe the big mistake was casting Michael Cera as the lead role. He seems to play the same role in every movie he’s in. It’s no secret that people are sick of seeing Cera play the socially awkward nice guy in every film he’s in and when the trailer for Scott Pilgrim showed up on the television there were probably people who rolled their eyes at the thought of another typical Cera movie.
Despite Scott Pilgrim vs. The World being a total flop at theaters, not all hope is lost. Odds are this film will go the way of Edgar Wright’s other movies such as Hot Fuzz (2007, Universal) and Shaun of the Dead (2004, Universal) in that it’ll have a cult following on DVD.
