4 ms·

I dont have a link handy but I remember seeing a study showing that movie/TV trailers that spoil the content (ie basically show you a 3min summary of the movie)

by dudul 3y ago

I dont have a link handy but I remember seeing a study showing that movie/TV trailers that spoil the content (ie basically show you a 3min summary of the movie) were more successful in getting people to the theater. People seem to want to know before hand what they're about to watch.

nerdponx 3y ago
For $20 and 2 hours of my time, I think I at least want to know if the movie is going to be good. Trading off some element of surprise for less risk of feeling like I wasted my time and money.
cpeterso 3y ago
Related: a couple studies have shown that spoilers actually increase people’s enjoyment of the book or movie, even for mysteries or stories with twist endings. If a story’s enjoyment relies entirely on one secret that isn’t supported by the build up to the reveal, that’s a flimsy story. https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/spoiler-alert-spoilers-make-you-enjoy-stories-more https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/spoiler-alert-sp...
- seanhunter 3y ago
  I don't think that conclusion tells the whole story. If you take a great movie with a very famous twist in in it, they are not good because of the secret/twist, but the secret/twist definitely has greater power if you don't know it beforehand. For example, there are some movies like The Prestige, The Crying game and The Usual Suspects there is a set up and when the twist happens, you look back and realise the movie was hinting at it at various points but you didn't expect it. If you knew, you would see the hints much more easily and the look back would not be as fun. This sort of has the same impact as a magic trick. It's fun to be fooled. Some other movies like Se7en, Chinatown and "Easy Rider" I would call "bolt from the blue" where the impact is mostly like being punched in the guts. It's not fun but again if you are not emotionally prepared by knowing what will happen it is much more powerful. I wouldn't say any of those had a flimsy story. In in all cases the enjoyment comes from the writing, direction, performances etc all being of a very high standard, not just from the twist. The twist really adds something though.

by dudul 3y ago

nerdponx 3y ago

For $20 and 2 hours of my time, I think I at least want to know if the movie is going to be good. Trading off some element of surprise for less risk of feeling like I wasted my time and money.

cpeterso 3y ago

Related: a couple studies have shown that spoilers actually increase people’s enjoyment of the book or movie, even for mysteries or stories with twist endings. If a story’s enjoyment relies entirely on one secret that isn’t supported by the build up to the reveal, that’s a flimsy story. https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/spoiler-alert-spoilers-make-you-enjoy-stories-more https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/spoiler-alert-sp...

seanhunter 3y ago
I don't think that conclusion tells the whole story. If you take a great movie with a very famous twist in in it, they are not good because of the secret/twist, but the secret/twist definitely has greater power if you don't know it beforehand. For example, there are some movies like The Prestige, The Crying game and The Usual Suspects there is a set up and when the twist happens, you look back and realise the movie was hinting at it at various points but you didn't expect it. If you knew, you would see the hints much more easily and the look back would not be as fun. This sort of has the same impact as a magic trick. It's fun to be fooled. Some other movies like Se7en, Chinatown and "Easy Rider" I would call "bolt from the blue" where the impact is mostly like being punched in the guts. It's not fun but again if you are not emotionally prepared by knowing what will happen it is much more powerful. I wouldn't say any of those had a flimsy story. In in all cases the enjoyment comes from the writing, direction, performances etc all being of a very high standard, not just from the twist. The twist really adds something though.